On Tuesday, prolific author Brandon Sanderson surprised fans like me by announcing that he had written 4 extra books (beyond his normal publishing obligations) during the pandemic. Even more of a surprise was the Kickstarter campaign he launched for those books, which has raised over $18 million in less than 48 hours.
It’s a rather fascinating project, as Sanderson does a lot of things that probably wouldn’t work for most other creators–I’ll get to those aspects in a moment. But perhaps like you, I didn’t hesitate to back the project (at the $40 ebook level [$10 per book]) for one key reason: I have a very high level of trust in Brandon Sanderson as an author and a content creator.
That trust comes from Sanderson consistently delivering books I love, year after year (he’s one of the few authors for whom I’ve read enough books to compile a top 10 list). It’s reinforced by his communication and transparency through his blog (where he famously charts the status of each of his projects) and YouTube channel.
Clearly I’m not alone–so far, over 73,000 other backers also trust Sanderson enough to back the project despite the following methods that probably wouldn’t work for most other creators:
- The books are a mystery: Backers know next to nothing about the books–literally all we know is that 3 of them are in his extended “cosmere” universe and 1 isn’t (plus some partial art covers). That’s it. Sanderson will be revealing a detailed preview of each book during the campaign (he’s doing this for book 1 on YouTube as I write this), but it’s clear that backers (like me) trust Sanderson enough that we don’t need to know what the books are about. This would not work for most other campaigns. Even if you really like a certain game designer or publisher, you probably still always ask yourself if their next project is a good fit for you–I know I do.
- All or nothing: There’s no option in the campaign to buy just 1 of the 4 books; rather, most of the pledge levels focus on getting all 4 novels (1per quarter in 2023). The foot-in-the-door approach works well for many backers, and this is the exact opposite of it. Yet again, it works, because I’m super excited to get a new Sanderson book every 3 months next year.
- Buying in bulk: Historically, projects offering bulk rewards (e.g., 4 board games) don’t do particularly well. The lack of focus on any one particular game gives a “quantity over quality” vibe, even if all of the games turn out great. I think it helps that this is a book project and not a game project–books are consumed in a different way than games, and they’re less expensive. Even then, I don’t think this bulk method would work for most other authors, but Sanderson has consistently demonstrated the rare ability to be both prolific and profound.
- No third-party reviews: This is much more of a tabletop game practice than for books, but I wanted to mention it because creators often build trust for a product by offering third-party reviews for backers to consume during the campaign. Sanderson doesn’t need to to this.
- No anticipation buildup: This is probably the most minor element, but I think most crowdfunding campaigns benefit from some sort of advance notice for fans so they can start to get excited for the campaign (and set aside part of their budget for it). Sanderson is leaning hard into elements of surprise and mystery, and he’s built a huge platform on his blog and YouTube to make announcements like this to his audience.
I’m not saying any of the above to criticize the campaign; rather, I’m emphasizing how powerful trust can be for any product or crowdfunding project. Trust comes from consistent quality, communication, and transparency. I’ll list some articles below that delve deeper into how creators can build trust before and during a campaign.
Are you backing Sanderson’s new Kickstarter? Did your trust in him resonate with you the way it did with me? Also, if you trust me to deliver a quality product to you in the next few weeks, our preorder for Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is now live!
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42 Comments on “The #1 Takeaway from Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter”
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[…] The #1 Takeaway from Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter: This remarkable project ended up raising over $41 million from 185,341 backers. The project didn’t include a number of elements that are considered “best practices”; however, it fully showcased the value and impact of earned trust from consistent quality, communication, and transparency. […]
It’s not quite the same thing, but when Far Off Games ran their Kickstarter campaign for Arydia last August, a bunch of people were willing to pledge $165 (plus taxes and postage) pretty much sight unseen due to Cody’s history with Xia.
On the other hand, the campaign did include a fair amount of detail (at least of the early game/tutorial) including a full draft rulebook, and there had been a period of anticipation/build-up, and there were third-party reviews available.
Even so, it was Cody’s reputation and track-record that was doing most of the heavy lifting in getting people to back.
As a published author and unpublished game designer with 3 Kickstarters behind me, I find Sanderson’s campaign interesting, but not really relevant to the vast majority of authors, or game designers, regardless of talent.
As you said, and hopefully folks listened, he did things that just wouldn’t work for most folks. Fiction doesn’t normally do well on Kickstarter and expectations for game designers are much higher.
If you are well known, sure you can have much success there, but most would be lucky to fund at all. Sanderson is at a whole ‘nother level. Kickstarter isn’t for the indie designer, with occasional exception. It favors the already successful creators. The rest of us have to do a much better job than Sanderson did.
Most authors can’t even write that many books in that time frame, expect them to be worth reading, and have them all professionally edited that fast. Wow. Interesting post.
Thanks for all the great posts, Jamey!
Thanks for sharing, Bob! I completely agree.
Congrats to Brandon, but the campaign page design is pretty terrible! It’s text heavy, hardly any images, no mention of where he’s been featured etc., and goes against “best practice”.
Certainly shows the power of being established converts into $!
There’s a fair amount of text on the project page…but he’s an author. :) I think there’s a decent mix of text and images. Perhaps the page was a little bit lacking in welcoming people who haven’t already heard of Sanderson, but it looks like he’s already addressed that at the very top of the page.
Since the campaign is for products sight-unseen, it stands to reason that Sanderson is ONLY expecting existing fans who know who he is and what he does to back. He is NOT intending to reach anyone at all who doesn’t already follow him closely.
This would be different than nearly every other kind of Kickstarter, and makes most of these “best practices” irrelevant. “Best practices” largely depend on what you are trying to accomplish and who you are trying to reach.
In Sanderson’s case, what matters is what he put on his social media posts and youtube video announcement, and in his newsletter, where he has already amassed both a huge following and a great deal of good will. The Kickstarter page is irrelevant. Almost everyone who backed had decided to back before they got there. Like, 9,999 out of 10,000 people. The only thing the page needs to do is help them determine at what level they should back–no convincing or social proof required.
This is the literary equivalent of Apple taking orders for a new iPhone, but not giving any specs, or anything else, and announcing it through their mailing list and social channels. Hard Core Apple fans are going to buy no matter what, and Apple obviously wouldn’t be targeting the mass market. Same here. Brandon is only targeting the 100,000 people he already communicates with on a weekly basis, who consume everything he publishes, whether it’s a book, a newsletter, or a Reddit post.
As someone who consults companies in marketing & business development, I’ll be using this Kickstarter as a prime example of the importance of taking care of your brand and having a long term strategy for how to develop it. For the exact reasons you list above. It’s just so easy to get lost among all the marketing tactics and tools available and loose sight of the bigger picture. If you can build an audience, say “Hey, trust me” to them, and they do – mission accomplished. Brands that get lost in the day-to-day tactics of getting just another like, another sale or in this case just one more backer, they don’t even stand a chance of reaching the Sanderson level.
Sadly I can’t justify backing Brandon’s KS even though I am a big fan. Why? Because I live in the UK and the shipping costs double the price of each book and will have to be paid 4 times. It’s a shame BS doesn’t have regional distribution centres like you do, Jamey!
Yes! We have trust for Brandon Sanderson to deliver…you nailed it! Ever since consuming the Mistborn Trilogy back in the day, we have been hooked. Can’t wait for our Year of Sanderson!!!
I backed day one. He’s been my favorite author for a decade.
His book Elantris performed by the Graphic Audio company is my favorite media creation of all time.
Are you going to read the excerpts/title reveals each week or stay spoiler-free and just find out when the books are released each quarter next month?
I’m going to wait for the surprise each quarter. :)
You are correct on the amount of trust his fans have for him.
I also backed the 4 ebooks tier, because I strongly believe that I will enjoy his work, even without knowing anything about them.
Also, another ridiculous thing that I am AMAZED at is that he had time to write 5 extra books on top of the 4 he was already committed with his publisher. That is just insane. There is a level of audacity that you can’t help to admire and reward his efforts by backing the kickstarter.
Sanderson has out-meme’d his meme of being a inhuman writing machine.
I agree, it is quite remarkable, and his approach to writing as a job is one of the things I most respect about Sanderson.
I’m holding out for the “Decade of George RR Martin” Kickstarter where you get one book, a decade from when it was announced.
Followed by the century of Patrick Rothfuss / Harlan Ellison teamup
As you have stated he is so open and transparent with his fans that trust is very easy with him. On top of that his work is all of very high quality, even my least favourite book from him I would rate a 7 so it’s just a no brainer that people will back him. We know it will be as he has said and it’s as simple as that.
I backed in the first hour. We pre-order everything he writes, no question. He could announce he’s writing a novel on the history of countertops and we would be all in. One of his best books is about competitive chalk drawings, for heaven’s sake.
And, yeah, highest tier. I told my husband and all I said about the price was ‘It’s expensive.’ He said, ‘New iPad expensive?’ I’ve needed a new iPad for two years. So now you all know where my priorities lie.
Rythmatist is so good. I really wish he’d write a sequel, but I understand why he hasn’t.
Soooooooo excited!! My husband and I immediately backed. He loves audio books and I kind of really want those hard covers. Plus those swag bags sound so cool. For now we’re all in, which I never do in board games.
I also think it is cool that Sanderson is encouraging people to read these in book club form. Really neat idea!
That’s really cool! I wonder if he’ll formalize the book club format in any way. I’ve seen Simon Sinek do some neat things with that (each month he encouraged people to read a specific chapter, after which he hosted a YouTube livechat for people to ask questions about that chapter).
I somehow ended up as backer no. 3 and basically backed without even reading the page first. Outside of Kickstarter he is one of the most transparent authors in terms of what he is working on and when it will be delivered (he does weekly progress videos on YouTube, has had a progress bar on his website for many years, and does a yearly post on what he completed that year and what he will be working on for the next year and beyond). On Kickstarter, he and his team fulfilled their first campaign in the middle of a global pandemic with minimal delay and great communication/transparency.
I agree that most people could not do all of the above things for their campaigns and expect to be very successful. But this shows what is possible after you build that trust over many years.
Author John Scalzi has some interesting comments about the kickstarter. He points out that one of the core reasons Sanderson (and few other authors) can do this is the years of work that he’s put into the back-channel and infrastructure to make this work…and the trust he’s built up in his brand, not unlike what Jamey has done with Stonemaier. It’s why so many people I know are champions and day-one on the pre-order for SM releases: TRUST.
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/03/01/very-quick-thoughts-on-brandon-sandersons-mega-kickstarter/
Thanks for sharing! Scalzi is an insta-buy author for me too. :)
I cant wait for his new book this month!
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Backed for the Audiobooks. I don’t need to know anything about them to know I’m going to read them.
Are you concerned at all that they will just be downloaded MP3s? I haven’t had the best luck side loading audiobooks in the past. I haven’t actually backed yet because I’m waiting to get some answers on that. I’m 100% positive that the books will be released in audio through regular channels within a year of their release through this Kickstarter. So I’m trying to figure all that out because I’ll probably just buy the hardcovers through Kickstarter. Although of course my daughter wants to swag boxes.
I backed it. Fascinating example of disintermediation. I love the creators getting more $s. The offering seems to mostly affect Amazon by offering ebook and audio book options. The only competition with non Amazon book sellers appears to be the premium hardback. In other words, he’s walking a line that targets some but minimizes impacts on others. I’m clearly a fan. I’d like to see other authors try this path.
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I signed up for the audiobooks. It was definitely a matter of trust. He isn’t my favorite author but I like most of his work. I thought it would be fun to read with friends who are huge Brandon fans
Sanderson is one of the few authors that I will buy based on name alone, so this was an instant back for me… and I’m debating about upgrading to get the swag boxes for the entire Year of Sanderson
I’d say he definitely did some “anticipation buildup”. Not a ton, but he did have some dramatic announcement that would coming tomorrow that would “explain everything”. His team also reach out to popular book YouTubers saying they should watch the announcement while record a reaction stream at the same time.
It was an instant backing for me. I knew I wanted audio books and the physical book so we went with the all formats foe the book.
I think the best part about this kickstarter is the fact he is now the #1 funded kickstarter where no one knows anything about the books their getting. It’s about trust, if Brandon writes it I will read it. I just barely finished the rithmatist and immediately went to read something else from him. I’ve been a long time fan around 13 years. I will continue to be a fan.
I made a joke that fits this perfectly. Brandon Sanderson is the Taylor Swift of the writing world. He has loyal fans. He had fans who try to “convert” new fans to his work. He needs to write a class on marketing cause this was amazing. I also think this is so successful because if you don’t buy these 4 books now you don’t have a way to know when your next change will be to buy them. And doing 4 books was so smart as you aren’t guaranteed that people will buy your books if given the chance to buy one on one. Lastly He didn’t just write 4 others books he wrote/courtesy 6 books in 2021 alone on top of the 5 that were done in secret (cytonic, WW #5, defiant. And the 3 novellas for skyward series.
(Sorry for any typos, typing on my phone is difficult)
Pardon me. Reading the Kickstarter page, it seems like it says that Sanderson wrote four books. Where does it say that he wrote five books?
You know, I thought he mentioned a 5th book in the video, but I must have been mistaken. I’ll correct that.
He did write a fifth book for middle grade readers, which he plans to turn into a graphic novel so it won’t be a part of this campaign.
In his YouTube video he said he wrote 5 but was only publishing 4 at the current time as the fifth needs to be made into graphic novel which will take some time
Yes – this. The 5th book is a middle school aged book he wrote for his kids that he said is likely to be a graphic novel.
In the Sanderson Youtube video where he discusses the campaign. The fifth novel he expects to come in graphic novel form and is not part of the KS campaign.
Instant back for me, at the audiobook+ebook level. Now the biggest decision I need to make is whether I will look at any spoilers over the next year or go in totally blind.