“I’d always wanted The Way of Kings to be my calling card to the fantasy genre. Tor was also interested in The Way of Kings, but Sanderson, in an unusual move, decided “something wasn’t quite right” and pulled it. In 2003, a publisher, Tor, finally showed interest in one of his novels: Elantris, an epic fantasy set in a former city of the gods, now devoid of magic. In 2002, he finished writing The Way of Kings. If he died with 100 unpublished novels in his closet, he would be “a bigger success than if I give up now because I’m discouraged”. Photograph: © Michael WhelanĪfter so many rejections and some soul-searching, he decided to keep at it. His attempts to write grittier books were terrible, he says, so he became “kind of depressed”.Īn illustration by Michael Whelan from the anniversary edition of The Way of The Kings. But publishers kept telling him that his epic fantasies were too long, that he should try being darker or “more like George RR Martin” (it was the late 90s, and A Song of Ice and Fire was topping bestseller charts). The books were written over a decade while Sanderson was working as a night clerk at a hotel – a job chosen specifically because as long as he stayed awake, his bosses didn’t mind if he wrote between midnight and 5am. Most writers have novels that never see the light of day. All this for a book that was just one of 13 Sanderson wrote before he’d even landed a publishing deal.
With 15 days still to go, he’s raised more than $5.6m. In less than 10 minutes, it became the most-funded publishing project of all time when it topped $1m. The fantasy author initially set out to raise $250,000 (£198,500) to release a 10th anniversary, leather-bound edition of his doorstopper novel, The Way of Kings. I don't know what happens next, but I know that I am excited by the different possibilities.W atching the numbers tick up on Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter is a remarkable way to pass the time. In the future, this might be the day we look back on and say is the one when the publishing industry changed completely. This is an absolute first that a book has seen such success in terms of crowdfunding, and definitely speaks to where the publishing industry might go next. At the moment of writing this article-and it's still hard to put a number down because the counter is continuously rolling as more people pledge to the project-around 14.5 million dollars have been raised by the campaign, with almost 55,000 people backing the project. So, it makes sense that his team is aware of how successful crowdfunding a new book can be.Īnd, well, they were right. Dragonsteel Entertainment's previous Kickstarter campaign celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Sanderson's Stormlight Archives had nearly 7 million dollars by the end of the campaign. This has enabled him to not only reach a large audience, but to build the sense of community with his readers over the years. He is a fan who loves fantasy and also gets to write it at the same time. The beauty of an author such as Brandon Sanderson is perhaps that he is, in his heart, one of us. While crowdfunding has been used in the past to publish books, I doubt any have been done at this scale. To further add to this facet of a community, he has also started a Kickstarter campaign, where "backers" pledge their money for rewards and/or to support the creator. Video of It' s Time to Come Clean - Brandon Sanderson
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