The Brandon Sanderson year

[Margaret Note Spelling]

(Don't worry too much! It was very entertaining.)

 

[Axovan Sol]

Hi everyone! Hope you are having an enjoyable week.

I wanted to share some of the latest news about Brandon Sanderson with a video he posted today. You can check it out here.

I won't spoil anything from the video, but if you watch it I would love to know your opinion.
As a big fan of Brandon Sanderson's work, I was completely shocked

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

I'm worried about sharing anything for fear of spoiling the video for people, but this is too good not to mention--the kickstarter is currently at 11.7 million dollars pledged. I've been watching it go up all afternoon. It's even funner than watching election numbers!

 

[The Judge]

In case anyone is confused here, I've merged two threads as they both deal with the same video.

 

[Axovan Sol]

I'm worried about sharing anything for fear of spoiling the video for people, but this is too good not to mention--the kickstarter is currently at 11.7 million dollars pledged. I've been watching it go up all afternoon. It's even funner than watching election numbers!

It's almost at 15 million now!
Besides the amazing content to be released, I'm a bit concerned with the shipping prices. Hope that they can lower the price in the coming days.

 

[worldofmutes]

Very exciting. What a guy!

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

17.5M now.

 

[Toby Frost]

My main thought on this - as a writer rather than a reader - is that it's got nothing to do with anyone writing here, or indeed the vast majority of published authors. I don't know if Sanderson is a good writer (I've not read him, but his lectures are pretty good) but I do know that he has a team behind him and the mechanics to make this work. Business-wise, I think it's best to regard very successful authors as closer to corporations that just a guy scribbling away at his desk.

My own experience with (buying stuff on) Kickstarter has been limited to games and models, where the bonus items are very tangible. This seems to be very vague about what the stretch goals will be.

No doubt Sanderson will make a vast amount of money and will become famous as "the author who..." which can only help his career. However, like many things that bestselling authors do, I don't think it's relevant or useful to aspiring authors.

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

No doubt Sanderson will make a vast amount of money and will become famous as "the author who..." which can only help his career. However, like many things that bestselling authors do, I don't think it's relevant or useful to aspiring authors.

Honestly? I really, really don't care whether it's relevant to me as an aspiring author or not. I'm just absurdly happy to see an author I admire receiving such a blatant, record-breaking proof of his success. As an author, I haven't a hope of ever achieving the same thing as Sanderson is here--and I don't care. I love it anyway, and I'm very, very happy for all the people involved in making something like this happen. He has an amazing team.

 

[Toby Frost]

It wasn't meant as an insult to Sanderson, just a comment that this wouldn't work for almost anyone else.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

It is no secret that Brandon Sanderson has raised £17 million on Kickstarter to self-publish four of his early novels - reported in The Observer newspaper and on Guardian online.
That's astonishing, and on the whole I say good luck to him. He's an excellent and popular writer. But it just shows the vast inequality in the publishing business: to him who already hath shall be given.

 

[Ursa major]

It wasn't meant as an insult to Sanderson, just a comment that this wouldn't work for almost anyone else.

John Scalzi was making a similar comment (amongst others) on his blog the other day.

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

to him who already hath shall be given.

I'd say that effect isn't limited to just publishing, either. You see it in all kinds of professional creative endeavors (and the job market as well)--people who have a track record of successes behind them will always be afforded more opportunities than those who don't. On the whole, they just tend to be a safer bet for the people trying to figure out who to put their money behind.

 

[Parson]

It is no secret that Brandon Sanderson has raised £17 million on Kickstarter to self-publish four of his early novels - reported in The Observer newspaper and on Guardian online.

Doesn't this violate copyright law? If he gave his publisher an exclusive right than he would be in violation. --- Maybe that's dumb. Is all copyright the right publish once? Then what about reprints does an author get a new contract and new royalty for each?

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

Doesn't this violate copyright law? If he gave his publisher an exclusive right than he would be in violation. --- Maybe that's dumb. Is all copyright the right publish once? Then what about reprints does an author get a new contract and new royalty for each?

These are new novels, never previously published, that he wrote during 2020 and 2021 without telling either publishers or fans.

 

[Axovan Sol]

I'm glad that there is more content from Sanderson and that's it.
Four books in two years inspire me to push my writing habits with more time on them.

 

[.matthew.]

I enjoy Sanderson's books but to me, he has too many projects on the go at once. I don't blame him for needing to write different things to keep his creative juices flowing, but at the same time, I've kind of given up seeing several of his series completed. He clearly has the talent and the drive to pump out a lot of books, so it's like... finish a series, or alternate between two maybe, but stop with the constant new projects.

He also has the whole silly metaverse thing he has going on, which seems contrived to (like the comic industry) get his readers to read a ton of series out of fear of missing out on something. He really has become a corporation

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

Well, I won't try to change your mind. Let's just say I, at least, would disagree with your use of the words "silly" and "contrived", and leave it at that. His books aren't for everyone.

I will say, I'm a little curious why--now that we've seen he can literally write five books in the span of two years--we would need to be worried he won't be able to complete all his ongoing series. At this point, I'd imagine if anyone could deliver on finishing all his series within an average lifespan, Brandon Sanderson can.

 

[Glaysher]

He also has the whole silly metaverse thing he has going on, which seems contrived to (like the comic industry) get his readers to read a ton of series out of fear of missing out on something.

The cosmere predates him being published so it seems unlikely that it was created solely to get his readers to read multiple series.

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

And even if it didn't, I would still question why that would be a problem, if all the books were well-written!