I’m so thankful to Brian Sanderson for changing publishing and giving me the chance to make billions of dollars with the kickstarter for my next HP smut fanfic.
I really thought that this was inferred but clearly not as there has been a couple of videos from booktubers similar to this one... I think that when most people talk about Brandon revolutionising publishing they are mostly referring to that aspect above anything else 🤔
Thank you for the non hyperbolic “publishing is dead” take. I really don’t see this as a huge shift in publishing. What Sanderson had built is totally unique to him. Basically the MCU for books. I think this could change his relationship with Tor though because they see the value in printing special editions of his books, which would make it more accessible to an international audience. I just don’t think traditional publishers would go through Kickstarter because Kickstarter has a platform fee and they probably wouldn’t want to give away any revenue haha.
Ahhh good point about kickstarter. I wonder if the platform fee is worth it if you get big lump sums all at once, though. I can't say I exactly see WHY a publisher would use kickstarter, but I do think it's an interesting thought process. WOW, I just looked it up, and Kickstarter gets 5% of the money, and then their payment processor gets another 3%. So far they've already made ONE MILLION dollars off this collection. Holy moly.
One key point that should be mentioned is that Tor has only published Brandon's adult oriented fantasy. He has published his YA fantasy thorough Delacorte Press, and he initially published Alcatraz with Scholastic. The freedom that he has is not new. His stated reasons for the Kickstarter are twofold. He wanted to give his team the work and challenge of doing it, and he wanted to validate a backup method of publishing. He can put a big check✔️ next to the validation. Now he just needs to see his team raise to the challenge. Edit: multiple autocorrect errors
Very true! He's always had a lot of freedom that other authors don't. I wonder if that will translate, though. Will authors start demanding more? Will Publishers start giving more freedom?
It comes down to how big he wants Dragonsteel to get as a press? Maybe dragonsteel publishing is the stepping stone to a production company? Idk just spitballing
I think Brandon has shown a lot of success in building his brand. His understanding is the digital world we live in has helped him get past hurdles that many authors haven't learned to jump. Publishing companies should learn from this that they can offer additional services to their authors to help them connect to fans. They should help their authors to set up and run video streaming channels as well as social networking accounts to engage with their readers. They should adapt to keep relevant with the times and with the people who will be buying the books they press. That doesn't mean that all authors will enjoy the success that Brandon has found, but they can do better, and publishing companies can help. The investment will likely be smaller than the return. As far as taking the place of publishing companies or becoming one of them . . . I don't get the sense that he wants to go there. He might want to and he might be able to pull it off, but at the end of the day he is a story teller and that is where he spends his time, energy, and talents. I just don't see him loving the administrative work of publishing in a way that would pull him from telling stories. He might set his team up for that. He could write and they could publish. They could all be very successful. We'll have to see, I guess.
Glad I wasn't the only one who made the Taylor Swift comparison, lol. I think this means a lot more to the future of Sanderson than the publishing industry. Sanderson is gonna be more likely to pursue cool ideas like this in the future and I can't wait. What I want to see is how the success of this kickstarter can help or effect any future talks over adaptations.
Well articulated, and yeah, I feel like the best thing for indie authors here is a big name normalizing a Kickstarter campaign. Hopefully this rising tide lifts all ships.
Totes agreed. I really don't see this as a landmark for the industry in any major way. However, it definitely will help Standos get their adaptation I bet
@@ZackArgyleAuthor Mistborn is one of the few Sando properties I think could work as a movie instead of a tv show, but we will take what we can get at this point.
Didn't he say that because he doesn't need the money, he says no to adaptation deals all the time unless they'll do exactly what he wants? But maybe this will help leverage so that he has the creative control he desires.
So in his lecture at BYU this week, he said that his current contracts give the publisher the right of first refusal for the next book in the series, which is why he didn’t have give Tor the option to publish these books.
I always feel smarter when I finish listening to your videos. You so clearly express each point with the reasoning and process behind reaching it. Thanks Hilary 🙂
Thank you for providing this counter to the frenzy. There's only one Sanderson, and he's not doing anything that other *much lesser* writers have done and are doing. It changes nothing, whatsoever. SUBSCRIBED
Like we KNOW, but we don't really *know*. lol Its interesting because I've been a fan since 2014, which isn't early, but isn't late either. So I've really watched him explode. Even the two live events where I got to meet him - which were only 2 years apart- where attended at COMPLETELY different rates.
This will at least make some authors question what's possible. It'll be interesting to see what kind of companies are started in the coming years to support those who chose this route.
Just want to say I love how we both posted videos that run through the same fundamental facts but disagree on our conclusion! 😂 I don't want to dump the script for my whole react video in your comment section, but here are some really big points that need to be considered: 1. We need to separate out the Sanderson factor from the fundamental strategy. Nobody else is positioned to do this at the same level of scale - but when you look at the basic strategy, every successful self-pub author in the world uses the same playbook. 2. As for the Kickstarter itself, we also need to separately analyze the swag subscription component vs the book release component. The swag is pretty much your typical Kickstarter project and if he'd run that as a standalone Kickstarter, I don't think the campaign would have had the same momentum. What's REALLY driving the pledges is the 4 new book releases. 3. When you consider the 4x book release angle, this Kickstarter is really just a straight up long pre-order, except readers only have a 30 day window to pre-order vs any time up until release date for a standard pre-order on Amazon/other retailers if he had gone the KDP + IngramSpark + Draft2Digital/Smashwords route that is standard for self-published authors who are wide (i.e. not exclusive to Amazon). 4. That means, we have a real live demonstration of an author's ability to move copies purely on the strength of their brand, their relationship with their readers and their author platform. Everything Sanderson has done with respect to those three things has been all him; his traditional publishers play no part in that. 5. Barry Eisler put it perfectly back in the 2013 Guardian article when he said "We have to be careful not to conflate publishing services with the entities that have traditionally provided them. The services are essential; the entities are not." Too often, traditional publishers like to frame the conversation around traditional publishing to mean the entities themselves, so they don't need to critically examine all the issues with how outdated their fundamental business model is...because that would be admitting that with the advances in technology have made what used to be a critical service in getting a book to market (financing print runs and print distribution) no longer requires the deep pockets of a traditional publishing company. 6. Getting distribution partners used to be difficult; but the book wholesaling industry has consolidated and since the exit of Baker & Taylor, Ingram Content Group pretty much has a monopoly. Once they opened up IngramSpark, any indie/self-pub author who chooses to go wide has the same notional reach as a traditional publisher. You can get into bookstores as a self-pub author. It's a lot of legwork that might not be worth the ROI for every self-pub author, but many have done it. 7. The traditional publishing business model is all centered on print sales and never adapted to digital formats. No room to elaborate on the point here, but this is the entire reason why they lose so much money and why only a few bestselling authors subsidized every other author. You don't need to move thousands of copies to have a profitable book launch; you just need to not over-capitalize on your upfront investment and be clever about your launch strategy. 8. Sanderson's on record that his arrangements with his publishers these days are non-standard. He doesn't take advances and he retains more control. What's frustrating about traditional publishing is that this scenario should be the norm, not the exception they make for their best money maker. Advances imo are a bit obsolete when you are launching intelligently and financing production with pre-orders. 9. Will Wight is also on record that he doesn't advertise. He relies solely on Amazon's algorithms, his blog/Twitter/Facebook and word of mouth. He has a newsletter (which he doesn't really use) and just started a RU-vid channel to launch his own Kickstarter. This may have changed since he made this statement, but I doubt it. Wight is successful because his fans who crave his books. His whole writing style is geared around breakneck pacing which take the description "page turner" to the next level. Personally, I think his over-reliance on Amazon is a risk strategy but that's a different conversation! 10. The noise-to-signal ratio is a real thing, but recommendation algorithms are getting a lot better (see Will Wight). Per David Gaughran, the market these days is big enough that there will be a niche for what you're writing. If you put in the work to write a good book and do your homework regarding cover, blurb, etc, you will eventually find an audience. How big that audience might be, is a different question. When you look at all the pieces together, the traditional publishing business model doesn't make sense. They're no longer bearing the brunt of the risks and therefore should no longer be surprised that authors don't want to give them most of the reward. The majority of authors who chose to self-publish already know this; Sanderson's example is important because he is going to make those who chose traditional publishing reconsider. There is no way that the traditional publishing business model can continue as it has been; and for those traditional publishing companies that survive the transition, I personally think they're gonna look a whole lot like the self-publishing service providers that currently exist-and I would gladly welcome that because that space is currently filled both with scammers and genuine professionals.
I think people are missing the key thing here. People aren't backing the kickstarter because they want the book. I sure didn't. His first kickstarter was so successful because it offered something you couldn't get anywhere else - a leatherbound copy of the book, which then grew into even more as they added more goodies to it. Many of those things weren't available elsewhere at the time either, and will likely always be available in very limited quantities. Things like the coins became collectibles, and even display pieces (when a fan created and began selling gorgeous cases to hold those coins). The same is true this time around. I'm almost certain these books will be available through normal means when the time comes for their release. Heck, I'd actually prefer to get the books through Audible - like almost every other book I own. However, I also knew there was no way I was missing out on whatever might come in those mystery goody boxes. Most of it probably won't interest me much, but I'm certain there will be a few things that I'd really regret not getting. Getting the audiobooks I was going to get anyway, and a hard cover copy of the books to put on the shelf with my other Sanderson hard covers is just a bonus.
Lol I’m the opposite I don’t love random merch so I truly bought them just for the leatherbound books since I love owning all of them in my collection! But I do know that stuff can be super important to fans
I think this is gonna leave more of an impact on marketing/advertising than publishing itself but then again it's still *way* too soon to make that call.
Thank you! I think his success is amazing. But also NOT surprising. But what is surprising is how many people think it marks massive changes. Um, nope. He's literally doing what most Indies do. And what happens when you have a massive audience.
Thanks for this awesome video. Sanderson said in his last livestream that he asked Tor if they were ok with him doing this Kickstarter, but that it was a courtesy to them and that his contact allows him to do that. Apparently Tor was ok with it, because there was no way they could put them out this fast. That’s at least how I remember it.
I wouldn't say it's quite a courtesy yet, as he stated his books being in bookstores is really important to him (although, let's be real, I'm guessing that B&N and other stores would agree to have him in, but maybe the logistics are a nightmare). I also think worldwide distribution and translations are a huge thing TOR probably handles. Other than that though...
Good take, I think you nailed some good points. I personally see this as an opportunity for Tor because they can come behind this with a second edition for international fans or fans who missed it during the Kickstarter. This has the ability to change things in ways that benefit everybody if publishing houses and authors can cooperate well on it. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out and if it can be replicated.
Mmm good point and I also read that it would help them by selling more of his backlog. I’m sure the crazy coverage on this made people who had no idea who he was interested in it.
I like the comparison to MCU but to take it in a slightly different front, I think what publishers should consider here is the swag. You know how Disney makes tons of money from toys? possibly even more than the movie tickets? I think another point worth discussing here is the possibility of adding swag to other ace authors. Like, would it kill Neil Gaiman to make some David Tenant swag for Good Omens 2? Or Rothfuss to release some pretty printed poems to hang in the kitchen along with Kingkiller 3? idk if I'm pro it personally. Just a point that might be interesting to consider. I did get to sell two posters when I went to a convention that one time :) And if I ever run a kickstarter, I'll be sure to add merch and swag
I mean, I like a little swag personally. That's the sort of thing that you don't have to buy in any way - it isn't affecting the experience of reading or whatever - but as a huge fan it can be fun to have.
@@Bookborn yep I agree. I don't own any but I love what my friends have. It's really awesome haha. Sando rarely disappoints. My point is that if publishers are to learn anything, and change, it's that. Lean a bit more into merch
You mentioned international sales with regards shipping, but there is also foreign language translations to consider. Trying to do all those self published would be incredibly difficult. With regards his contract with Tor, while I don't know all the ins and outs of it, he will be contracted to write a number of books for them, but as long as he is fulfilling that part of the contract there is little they can do to stop him publishing other books elsewhere. I think he already uses another publishing house for his YA books anyway. While I find it an interesting experiment I don't think it is something that is going to have any lasting effect in publishing as only those authors with HUGE fanbases would be able to pull something similar off, and pretty much all of those have gained that fame via traditional publishing houses. But I could be wrong.
Yeah, if anything, we might see it as a starting point for a catalyst in the book industry, but I don't think it'll be a one-for-one sort of thing, and I don't think we'll really changes or effects from it for like another decade...
I actually do think this marks a change in the industry. I just don’t think it will be as immediate as some people seem to think. The biggest impact will be on how authors market themselves and their works in the future. Hiding behind a publisher, or letting others handle it is just outmoded. Now that I think about it, this change has already been happening to a lesser extent for several years now. Sanderson just took it to a whole new level.
This was my first time supporting a kickstarter, but it is because i eat up any Sanderson material as soon as it is available not because i see the industry changing. I agree with the taylor swift analogy.
I’m a fan of a rock-blues artist named Joe Bonamassa. In the early 2000s he left his record company and became his own music company. He did all of his advertising, music publishing, and concert promotions. This was done before streaming services became widely available. He also leveraged social media and encouraged concert attendees to record his shows and post them on RU-vid. In about 2011, he partnered with PBS to show one of his DVDs as a fundraiser. And his popularity went crazy. This is a form of self publishing that has been very successful.
I think the big change for the future, is bundling. Giving customers the right to get the formats they choose for a price. Which Brandon said was a big goal. With Amazon controlling 85% of the digital market inroads to that are good for everyone. Personally i am a physical only guy but many family members user audio or e book formats quite often.
Yeah I completely agree. I'm a physical person too, but it would be nice to bundle and get ebooks, which my husband prefers - that way we could read them together without feeling like we have to buy double the books every time.
I imagine that Tor will still get the option to publish standard hardcover and/or paperback versions of these books, as Brandon has mentioned that he expects them to be released in a cheaper (more traditional format) in the future. We just have the high quality release coming before the mass produced version.
Yeah I think I misunderstood what he said! I thought he meant no hardbacks ever but he meant just not in these editions. So you’re right - Tor will likely still benefit a lot from even these books.
I wonder how much of the publishing industry is tied to libraries? 99% of my reading is through my local library (even audio books). What kind of influence do they have compared to Amazon? 2%, 20%?
That's a great question. I have NO idea. I always assumed libraries order books for themselves based on trends or what they know will be popular. But maybe they have relationships with publishers?
@@Bookborn Indeed they do have relationships with publishers and distributors like Ingram. Baen, for instance, is really good at marketing to libraries and has special discounts. I find a lot of new books from unknown authors from small publishers at my library.
I was on the publishing is changed forever hype train, but have also since changed. I think Sanderson made a huge wave and there might be some changes, but not redefining. I hesitate to think contracts would change to be more "iron clad" for big name authors. Sanderson has shown he doesn't need TOR to be able to publish. But he still wants to work with them, so I think if anything TOR would be smart to be more willing to work to his crazy ideas rather than reject them (for example they thought he was crazy wanting to out art into SA, but once he built a bug enough name they were more willing to give him his way). I don't think TOR should be worried since he has said he still wants to work with them. But I also wonder once he does publish a non-special edition version of these books if he would just have TOR go ahead and publish, print, and distribute them rather than have Dragonsteel do it.
Oh, I don't think contracts will be more iron clad for CURRENT authors, I'm thinking of future authors. Look, I honestly don't know what contracts look like, but if we continue the Taylor Swift example, I know Universal already wrote it into their contracts to make it harder for artists to re-record their work. So that's the sort of thing I'm thinking. I think you're right that TOR isn't worried as far as losing him - he clearly has no interest in leaving and has plenty more works to give. BUt I still think they must be a LITTLE surprised at this 20 million in four days, RIGHT???
@@Bookborn I'm sure TOR is surprised. Though I wonder if they are paying more attention to the number of copies sold rather than dollar amount since most of of money I feel is coming from the swag bundles and the shipping costs.
This was a very interesting and agreed with the points you made. I wonder how sanderson's future contacts would be effected with the undeniable success of his kickstarter projects and the fact that all this is happening before any adaptions from his works have been made. should tor count on the huge surge in popularity that his future adaptions will bring and sign long and extensive contracts with him or would he better of counting on his kickstaters and Dragonsteel? Great job on this video.
I'm super interested to see what sales of his previous books do after this kickstarter. I think many people jumped on board the kickstarter because they wanted to know what it was all about - this author making crazy amounts of money in just three days? Who wouldn't want to see what he's about. I wonder how it'll add fans.
If I'm Tor, I would consider doing a Kickstarter launch for a new book (or special edition) from one of their other big authors, like John Scalzi or VE Schwab, as a test case. Boom Studios, one of the big non-Marvel, Non-DC comic book publishers, has now done two comics Kickstarters, and they are the no. 1 and 5 most-funded campaigns of all time. Notably, these campaigns are either using existing IPs (Power Rangers) or have a huge name behind them (Keanu Reeves is the co-writer of the other project and is basically the main character). Tor already has the logistics/distribution in place; it would really just be replacing their existing pre-order strategy. They would need to find a way to have major bookstores participate, because they don't want to risk alienating one of their big distribution channels, but I think there's really no downside to at least doing a trial campaign. If I'm a traditionally published author with more than one series under my belt, I would consider launching a new IP/series on Kickstarter or doing a project related to an existing series if my contract allowed. MJS's son James is running the logistics of Will Wight's campaign (and David Estes's recent campaign) so now if authors don't want to handle the logistics/campaign themselves, they have a good option and the barrier to running a campaign should be much lower. Again, what do they have to lose? If I'm an indie published author (and I am), I would consider launching my next book on Kickstarter. You could keep it simple and just do a digital-only campaign to get your feet wet, or do a simple e-book/paperback campaign and offer digital stretch goals/bookmarks to keep things streamlined. I did a campaign for a special edition hardcover of the first book in my series, and it completely surpassed my expectations. I may have gone a bit overboard in adding stretch goals to the campaign, and fulfillment was a much bigger task than I was anticipating, but I was able to establish a good foundation to do a launch of book 2 in the series later this year, which puts me in a much better place than if I just decided to launch on Amazon. Although more indie authors have been doing campaigns in recent years (Dyrk Ashton, Benedict Patrick, Timandra Whitecastle, Wraithmarked, and now Wight and Estes), these campaigns are mostly for special editions of existing books. I would like to see Kickstarter become the place where indie authors go to launch, instead of just going straight to Amazon.
Super interesting thoughts all around. My husbands an indie author and I always figured fulfillment would be the hardest, so I’m not surprised to hear that your stretch goals became challenging. I think even traditionally published authors will have that problem if they do Kickstarter. Sanderson uniquely has his own warehouse. Of course, like you said, that means traditional publishers could dabble though since they have the infrastructure.
@@Bookborn Yep, exactly! I tried to keep my stretch goals simple in terms of the things I would need to ship (just art prints, cards, postcards), but we ended up funding a set of 3 character cards and 9 vignette cards, and so making swag packs with 12 sets of individual cards led to a lot of stuff laid out in my apartment for several months. And packing and shipping dust jacket hardcovers so they don't get damaged was something I spent a lot of mental energy thinking about. Being indie, most of my prior sales were digital so thinking about this stuff was not even on my list of things I had ever considered. But now I have that experience to streamline things for the next campaign.
Thank you for your helpful suggestion to watch this (I don't know if you read older video comments, but its more appropriate to say it here). The reasons for Sanderson, as you put them forth, wanting to experiment and change with delivery methods makes sense. Monopolies are not good, which is why many countries regulate to prevent companies doing what Amazon and Disney do in the US, driving competition off the map. And as a business, if you can diversify your income stream further away from a single or majority source, one would assume it gives a more comforting sense of security. But, after taking this on board, I still hold that my original argument stands. The success and size of the Kickstarter campaign is not so much an issue to me, it merely serves to reinforce my assumption about the size of the author's audience. I maintain my argument that a successful artist or business using Kickstarter in this way is purely a method of shifting the larger, perhaps even the whole, part of the financial risk to the consumer. I really think people should be bothered by this, in all cases where this method is used. The Well of Ascension is now off my 2nd attempt list. Not as a protest so much, more because reading it now would leave a bad taste in my mouth. But that leaves more room to try these Joe Abercrombie books you (and others) say good things about! 😁
Well freakin done. This was a great take on the development by Sanderson. It’s exciting and new and great, he is shaking things up, but if anything it changes things for indies and makes the trads take notice
Just as a note to your question about Tor and these books. Brandon was asked in his live stream about Tor's right of first refusal. He basically said he told them what he wanted and they agreed they couldn't do the lootbox type thing he wanted, and then confirmed his contracted books with them will not be effected by this kickstarter.
Ok I had watched some of that live but def missed this part. Thanks for the update! So it was sort of what I expected - I don't think TOR could really say no to him because of his contract. I'd still be...side eyeing if I were TOR though, but what do I know I'm not a publisher 😂
Yes, and in the kickstarter description there is a note saying that non-special editions through traditional publisher are possible in the future. So I think they can get their share later. There still could be a lot of people left in his fanbase who won't get these books through kickstarter.
I'm not really sure a whole lot of people actually go into physical book stores as much anymore with the pandemic maybe it will come back now that it's kind of under control?
I have a feeling he will sell these to Tor after 2023 for regular editions (at least the Cosmere novels) like he did with Dawnshard. It took over a year for Dawnshard to get released by Tor after it was already available from him (though for some reason the audiobook for Dawnshard that was recorded back in 2020 still hasn't been released). It would be 2024/2025 before they showed up in bookstores.
I think you’re right. I misunderstood what he said - I think he just meant these special editions won’t be available, not that the books themselves wouldn’t be. So Tor still gets to make money off of them
Brandon Sanderson is an AI. Yep, you heard it right. That's explains everyting. Everyting. Anyways, I've just read Brian McClellan twitter thread about this, he has really good points. And there was a statement/question from an user "I just don't understand what other authors can learn about this. [...] How are the 99% of authors are supposed to do that?" and McClellan said: "It's not about doing that exactly, it's about learning to do it on a smaller scale in a way that sees tangible benefits. Which is difficult." And thats it and learn from it and discard what is useless. I have spoken.
I'm glad to see this video! I was extremely dubious at the claims that this was changing the publishing game forever, I feel that it was mostly being said by people who didn't know that much about publishing in the first place. Or at the very least it seems to be the opinion of fantasy fans who don't read much outside of the genre and don't know how other publicizing techniques work. You bring up lots of good points! It's interesting you said that Sanderson has a good relationship with his Tor publishers, I had heard people from Tor saying the opposite; it's also pretty clear from his previous books that he barely proof reads anything that he's written, so I wonder exactly how well written these next few books will be (prose has never been his strong point even WITH an editor). I'm most amazed at the amount of money he's managed to raise; considering how successful he is he probably would have been able to self-publish the books himself. Asking for a million dollars and getting 19 seems like overkill. Also the Taylor Swift comparison is on point.
Great video! I have a question it’s off-topic from your video though . I’m 48 years old a male and I just started reading novels in the last year or two I really like comic books like Batman daredevil and some of the novels have been reading is Tom Clancy and Harry Potter and I was wondering where to go from here. Thank you for your help Ralph
Ok you might like The Martian by Andy Weir, or Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Those are more sci fi oriented. For fantasy, I’d try Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson or Jade City by Fonda Lee!
@@Bookborn Last night I purchase warbreaker . I have been reading it throughout the day and I’m really liking it ! It’s my first Brandon Sanders book after watching everybody’s review and yours . Thank you for your recommendations I will check them out also.
Now that established authors can go independent through Kickstarter, publishers can no longer rely on the revenue streams from the sales of those authors' books to cover for the expense of publishing mediocre authors. Publishers will feel greater pressure than ever before to select talent instead of promoting mediocre authors due to their personal connections to the publishers or because those authors espouse a particular ideology.
@@Bookborn They can if they gather an audience elsewhere first before pitching their idea on Kickstarter. I think Sanderson is a good example of this. In my eyes his writing is merely proficient, but he was willing to gather an audience through his RU-vid channel and interviews before trying this. A number of other artistic media (e.g. independent comics) have shown the viability of this approach before Sanderson capitalized on it. The only problem with this method is that you can't treat your potential customers like trash or otherwise act like an odious prick on social media for this to work. That's too much for many authors these days.
I have really taken to Amazon and their fantasy books that are all just digital I used to buy all the fantasy books when they first came out on hardback but there really aren't any books that I care that much about anymore I've read pretty much all the big fantasy series that I was interested in
Thanks I totally agree. The whole “Sanderson is transforming publishing” is just click bait from people. He is only so successful on kickstarter because of his massive fan base as you mentioned. Thanks for the insightful video, you clearly did your legwork! 😊
I think what this will actually change is the CONSUMER's view of being an active fan of a writer (and by extension, musician, artist, etc). It makes being a member of the Club a desirable thing, rather than being a reader who just buys a book when it comes out. I'm not a Brandon Sanderson reader, but I'm a fan of him overall. I am hugely supportive of whatever he does... but I'm not a person who buys in. This Kickstarter is out of my price range for even basic "support". But it has me looking up all the authors and comic creators and artists and musicians that I am a bigger fan of, looking to how I can join their "clubs".
I think so too. The consumer is more aware of the diversity of content in Kickstarter and the possibilities of how to use Kickstarter. Creators will be more aware too, writers, artists, cosplayers etc, who knows. I think more creators will start getting in on Kickstarter. A big factor is visibility though, you'll have to have a following somewhere for it to work. I could be wrong in that last thing, but I don't see a way around it.
@@WoolandFlax Agreed, but I think once the tipping point of people just knowing that this is a thing is reached, there will be less of a barrier to average non-fanatic fan being willing to become a fan that supports the work being done, not just there for the end product. While for most of us who have been following this incredible story the last few days the concept of Kickstarter and Patreons and crowdfunding and self-publishing is well-known to us, I think that a vast majority of the rest of the world (ie, potential fans/consumers) isn't aware of, or trusting of this sort of thing. Even though Sanderson's campaign is the most successful OF ALL TIME, it actually only at the moment has about 100,000 fans, which is a tiny drop in the bucket of people who might call themselves avid readers or die-hard fans of stuff. The available number of people who would do this is just now being activated and will from now on be more willing to join in on a campaign like this.
I have to admit that Kickstarter is new to me, but from what I saw crowdfunded projects seem great. I do agree that the big publishers will probably adapt to this format.
Yeah, crowdfunding is super awesome! I've supported a few kickstarters and it's all been really great. Of course, the book sphere in crowdfunding doesn't usually go NEARLY This well lol
People don't realize this kickstarter is essentially just a long-term presale campaign, except he's the one taking preorders, not his publisher, not Amazon, not any other bookstores. It's good for him because he is able to assess just how much he is worth and how much people would be willing to give him, but let's all take a moment to think hard about this: Would other fantasy authors right now be able to pull this off? Top-tier authors like Martin or Rothfuss could never because their reputation is that they don't deliver on their promises. And everybody els just doesn't have enough of a fanbase or that great of a reputation to be able to pull this off. On much smaller scale, yes, perhaps sometimes even a couple tens of thousands, but definitely not any more than that.
Ohhhh very interesting point about Martin and Rothfuss I didn’t think about. Because I was thinking they could pull in numbers this close if they promised those last books… but I never thought about people not believing them. I think if they put their finished manuscripts on the table like Sanderson did people might.
All he has demonstrated is the power of the fan base and that the author MAKE SURE they have direct access to the fan base and that it belongs TO THEM and not to the publishing company for marketing purposes. All things indie publishers have been talking about for more than 10 years as something essential to your author business.
This demonstrates that authors however they choose to publish really need to treat writing and publishing as a business if they want to be successful. As such, they benefit from exploring multiple avenues and not sticking to one way of doing things. Additionally, I looked at Sanderson's kickstarter then looked at four other publishing kickstarters, and these four had all surpassed their goals and were 2, 3, even 10 times over them. So kickstarters may actually be a viable option for authors.
I think there's a misunderstanding that Kickstarter is changing the Industry. But really the reason this works is because of Brandon's work on the social media side of things. Without it Brandon would not have had even close to the amount of success he's seen on Kickstarter. So it is not Kickstarter, but social media that has the potential to completely change the industry.
I'm not so sure. I think he has a pretty big audience just on the traditional side of things. My parents have never heard of him (and they're readers), but I meet BS fans in the most unlikely places. I once met a friend's mother at his kid's birthday party. She was a rabid BS fan and had never even heard of The Wheel of Time. That was weird.
@@JoelAdamson while I'm sure Brandon has a large following through traditional means. He would not have had the success he's seen on this Kickstarter if he wasn't interacting with fans and building an audience through social media. It would difficult to even know there was Kickstarter without social media. And that's the point, not that authors can't have fans through traditional means. But if the industry wants to keep up they will need to encourage and help their authors with their online presence.
But I think it's all about perception. The most important thing Sanderson's kickstarter has provided is legitimacy to the idea of self-publishing. There is a growing tidal wave of authors asking themselves what publishers are doing for authors, and more and more the answer is, not much. Bookstores are becoming irrelevant, and most people expect the big chains (chain) to close their doors any day. You even provided a quote from a publisher admitting that authors are now expected to be entrepreneurs. Authors are expected to build their own platforms and market themselves. Advertising is well within the reach of most authors. The point about Sanderson's and Taylor Swift's publishers working for them rather than the other way around - that should ALWAYS be the relationship between the content creator and the distributor. Not just for the big names. But that's not the case today, and authors are more willing now to say goodbye rather than submitting to a broken system. Long way of saying, Sanderson has given legitimacy to the idea that hey, while you may not make $20M on your own kickstarter, there is a way forward away from trad publishing, and it's already underway.
All great points. Except about the irrelevance of bookstores I will DIE IF THEY SHUT DOWN. You can't browse online like you browse in a store, it's so much harder 😭 (ALthough that's really why we've got to think of the Amazon thing and start trying to buy less books through there and more locally, even if it is at a big name store).
@@Bookborn oh my gosh whoops - I didn't mean bookstores are irrelevant to me as a reader 😵 I LOVE going to the bookstore and I always buy there rather than online anytime I can. I meant as an indie author, aside from dream fulfillment, I don't know if not getting into a bookstore is a deal breaker anymore.
Ha I thought my friends did well by writing 2 books in 2020 and 2 more in 2021. Thanks Sanderson. They are not worthy. LOL. While Steven Erickson is my favorite, I am impressed with Brandon's success. I just hope the 5 books are good. I mean we'll see if the speed detracts from the good, it will be interesting. As for authors and publishers I think a lot of them will still want the help that they won't get from self pub. Promo, pro editing tours, all that isn't always easy to manage if a person isn't gifted at such things. Bellatrix L
I mean writing two books a year is pretty fantastic, I think Brandon just like LOVES writing and it's literally his day job too, so he can devote crazy amounts of time to it. I don't think it was really that much faster than he normally writes - more just that it was secret and he had more time, so I'm hoping quality will be the same!
Hi 👋 I saw the kickstarters kit was too expensive for me.... sorry 😐 it’s not for me... I will wait until it’s gets published normal way... they more thoughts.... great video 🎥🦋🎬 happy reading to you!!
I think this will inevitably change publishing. But it will probably lead to less self publishing if anything. It'll just lead to publishers changing to more relevant advertising for the modern era. Publishers will be looking at how Sanderson grew and how people learned about him. He's built an online personality that keeps him in the minds of his consumer base on a weekly basis. I've never read any of his books but he's one of the most relevant writers in my everyday life because of the presence he's built.
Even though this Kickstarter is a monumental event, I don't think it's really going to spark a ton of change. I suspect it'll mostly be one of those things that is looked back on as "hey remember the time Sanderson published four books in a year and raised a boatload of money through Kickstarter?" All in all I think the biggest impact will be the amazing amount of publicity this has garnered for Sanderson, which will drive up sales for a little bit. It might open doors for some authors, but I doubt it'll change the industry
The thing all the writers are talking about is not changing the structure of the publishing industry, but more openness by publishers to epic fantasy. Brandon raising 90 bazillion dollars in 30 minutes proves not just that he has a lot of fans, but that there are plenty of fans of epic fantasy. Publishers, agents, editors, etc repeatedly tell authors not to write epic fantasy, that epic fantasy is dead, that no one wants it and yet go to Barnes and Noble and what do you see? EPIC FANTASY FANS browsing for epic fantasy. It's right next to the RPG section! If there are whole stores dedicated to Magic: The Gathering and D&D then why wouldn't there be tons of people who want to read epic fantasy from new and established authors? It could be that publishers live in a bubble called New York City and just don't know about these fans, or they consider them stupid working class people with no buying power. Either way, Brandon's little stunt shows that epic fantasy fans are out there. I don't really think publishers will notice unless someone shows them a chart, although the convention-goers among the editors and the people who know Brandon probably will take notice.
Ah I like this take. My husband and I joked that we never understand why people think nerds don’t have buying power. Nerds are the ones making all the money! Lol I kid. But still, you’re right - it proves fantasy buyers have a LOT of power.
@@Bookborn I know "nerds" and "geeks" are a huge class with a lot of economic potential, but I'm thinking more of my nephew the airline mechanic. He's not really a nerd even if he's related to me. I mean he plays MTG and D&D and reads epic fantasy. If the publishers don't put out new stuff he'll just re-read LOTR. I don't think he's alone. This is why the bestseller lists on Amazon don't change. Tolkien and Harry Potter are always going to dominate those lists. The only significant change in bestsellers in fantasy over the last fifty years WAS the addition of Harry Potter. Publishers just don't seem to get that.
I think it's hard to say either way. Sanderson is Sanderson. And he has the audience, the work, and the content. But I think someone else might be able to do something like that, although obviously not to the same level of success..
According to my research, sales of physical books have gone up recently, especially among millennials. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean just pretty editions, which you’re right are probably only important to a few, but I think physical copies are still more relevant than we think.
I think Sanderson can do this because he is Sanderson. I doubt there are more than a handful of other authors who could break half a million dollars in sales. As for self-published ebooks, the ebook market has evolved into the pulp market of the 21st century. It mostly serves avid genre readers with what they want -- familiar books served up as fast as they can read them, i.e. fast. I don't think that is going to change.
Who are these people? Not to be a downer but with inflation getting worse and a global depression most likely going to hit within the next year. I see too many people especially in America acting like everything will be fine and there's always a happy ending waiting for us.
Board games?! Nerd (just…don’t look at my kickstarter history :p I spend waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much money on board game kickstarters)
LOL honestly the board games that come out of them are just SO FREAKING cool and the art always blows me away. Kickstarter is dangerous though...I really do try to stay away haha
@Bookborn if you have a few moments to amuse yourself, check both my RU-vid and FB for #bigtrucktinytable for a glimpse of my board game nerddom (Super-ghetto recording, but...)
Well freakin done. This was a great take on the development by Sanderson. It’s exciting and new and great, he is shaking things up, but if anything it changes things for indies and makes the trads take notice
