Support NeoGAF

[Dural]

Brandon Sanderson breaks record, launches most funded Kickstarter ever - Good e-Reader

Popular fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his latest series. Incredibly, it has become the most funded Kickstarter ever.

goodereader.com

I've read a couple of his books and found them enjoyable but wouldn't call myself a fan. Pretty freaking amazing that he was able to generate that much interest in such a short amount of time. Wonder if we'll have a bunch of copycats jump on the kickstarter bandwagon?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

A bunch of (endearingly) nerds voted his Stormlight Archive series over Tolkeins work.

There's always "prisoner of the moment" influence but that's kinda saying something about him as an author.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Absolute respect for the work ethic of this guy and being able to keep publishing at the speed that he is doing it. Plus Mistborn is a very good saga as well.

 

[Fbh]

Dude's a monster, I really don't know how he does it. He has multiple book franchises running in parallel and most of them are really well liked with sizable fanbases, good reviews and good sales.

Good for him though if he can just skip past the publishers.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Listening to Stormlight Archive series on audible. They are fantastic. Highly recommend his work

 

[Catphish]

Looking forward to getting to his books in the Wheel of Time series.

 

[Dural]

Dude's a monster, I really don't know how he does it. He has multiple book franchises running in parallel and most of them are really well liked with sizable fanbases, good reviews and good sales.

Good for him though if he can just skip past the publishers.

Yeah, I find this crazy. Not sure how he's able to do this.

Listening to Stormlight Archive series on audible. They are fantastic. Highly recommend his work

I'll probably start this next, I like to listen to books while at work.

 

[IDKFA]

I tried. I really tried to get into Brandon Sanderson, but I just found his books so......bland and unnecessarily long. I could have cut the Mistborn series in half and nothing of value would have been lost. Clearly, I'm in a minority here.

 

[Dr Bass]

Yeah, I find this crazy. Not sure how he's able to do this.



I'll probably start this next, I like to listen to books while at work.

Write outlines, hire ghost writers, check on their work, put your name on the books?

I could be wrong.

 

[Hari Seldon]

I think he is highly mediocre. He is really good at plotting though, so his writing is very comic-book-esque which I guess is popular these days. But his actual writing and characters are terrible and extremely YA.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Huge fan of his Cosmere Universe. Can't wait for Stormlight Archive book 5

 

[Javthusiast]

If only GRRM could be as productive.

 

[Hari Seldon]

If only GRRM could be as productive.

Seems like modern fantasy writers employ a team. Sanderson definitely has one. GRRM I believe had one, at least the people who wrote Expanse did actually work with GRRM (on what I do not know), but the Expanse crew pumped out like a million books and a TV show after being cut loose from GRRM so maybe he needs to get those guys back lmao.

 

[Illiterate Actual]

Waiting for the GRRM Kickstarter so he can afford a word processor from this millennium and wrap up that obscure series which he has been having mild struggles with completing.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

If only GRRM could be as productive.

I accept that he will never finish A Song of Ice And Fire. I just moved on and read other books

 

[Javthusiast]

I accept that he will never finish A Song of Ice And Fire. I just moved on and read other books

I basically also gave up completely after the tv show ended with a wet fart. And made piece with the fact ASOIAF will never be finished. GRRM really needs to get a spine and say he is done with it.

 

[Spaceman292]

I tried. I really tried to get into Brandon Sanderson, but I just found his books so......bland and unnecessarily long. I could have cut the Mistborn series in half and nothing of value would have been lost. Clearly, I'm in a minority here.

There's not much of an edge to his stuff. You can get away with so much sex and violence in books, but his stuff is fairly tame, especially compared to some of the other series on that reddit list. I just read the Poppy War series. It starts out innocent, a little like karate Harry Potter, then by the end it has the highest body count of any book series. Imagine if Chamber of Secrets ends with Harry commiting genocide.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I basically also gave up completely after the tv show ended with a wet fart. And made piece with the fact ASOIAF will never be finished. GRRM really needs to get a spine and say he is done with it.

Yeah I agree. I just think he's just coasting off the shows success. Which is fine

 

[Rest]

Many of his books are adapted into audio plays by Graphic Audio, if you're curious about his books I like these as an alternative to reading them or listening to a regular audio book.

Brandon Sanderson - A-E - Authors - Our Productions

GraphicAudio 'A Movie In Your Mind' - Full Cast Dramatized Audiobook Entertainment

www.graphicaudio.net

 

[FunkMiller]

I keep meaning to get back into some fantasy reading, so when I've finished Elden Ring (in about eighteen months) I might pick up the first Stormlight Archive book.

 

[AJUMP23]

Brilliant move on his part, took a risk and it paid off to self publish.

 

[Horatius]

I think he is highly mediocre. He is really good at plotting though, so his writing is very comic-book-esque which I guess is popular these days. But his actual writing and characters are terrible and extremely YA.

100% agree, the prose is inoffensive usually but the character writing and dialogue especially can be very... bad is the wrong word because it sort of ticks all the boxes in a structural sense to consider it functional but boy is it not good either sometimes. like just overly clever, fake sassy, trying to be funny and witty stuff, gets very rote

definitely still good books imo, plotting alone is worth it

i remember the good parts of mistborn etc. much more than any of their flaws and am glad i read them. some great twists and turns there.

 

[Fbh]

I tried. I really tried to get into Brandon Sanderson, but I just found his books so......bland and unnecessarily long. I could have cut the Mistborn series in half and nothing of value would have been lost. Clearly, I'm in a minority here.

I like him but every book of him that I've read has been a bit on the bloated side. They could all have been trimmed down by like 20% without being negatively impacted.

 

[jason10mm]

My issue with Sanderson is that you can literally write the rules of the universe from his text. The magic systems are TOO predictable. Like 2.345 grams of iron lets me do this thing, but if all I had was 2.344 grams it just wouldn't be enough.

I appreciate that he doesn't let emotions drive power level like virtually everyone else but there is going too far in the other direction as well.

And good grief, why even have women in your books if all men are going to do is swoon at the thought of seeing a bare ankle? I don't need Grrm or Abercrombie levels of rape but all them people had to get there somehow dude

He needs a chaste euphemism for sex like "... and then they had hot tea together, 2 cups each!"

 

[Torrent of Pork]

A bunch of failures all over the internet are getting pissy of this man's success.

It's quite funny.

 

[Yoboman]

I dont understand why someone so successful needs crowd sourced funding?

 

[Yoboman]

My issue with Sanderson is that you can literally write the rules of the universe from his text. The magic systems are TOO predictable. Like 2.345 grams of iron lets me do this thing, but if all I had was 2.344 grams it just wouldn't be enough.

I appreciate that he doesn't let emotions drive power level like virtually everyone else but there is going too far in the other direction as well.

And good grief, why even have women in your books if all men are going to do is swoon at the thought of seeing a bare ankle? I don't need Grrm or Abercrombie levels of rape but all them people had to get there somehow dude

He needs a chaste euphemism for sex like "... and then they had hot tea together, 2 cups each!"

Its cause GRRM fucks and Sanderson doesn't

 

[Cyberpunkd]

My issue with Sanderson is that you can literally write the rules of the universe from his text. The magic systems are TOO predictable.

Joke post? Because magic system in Mistborn is probably the most innovative one in the last 15-20 years.

I dont understand why someone so successful needs crowd sourced funding?

Because this will allow him most likely to bypass a publisher and get a much higher cut of profits.

 

[IDKFA]

I like him but every book of him that I've read has been a bit on the bloated side. They could all have been trimmed down by like 20% without being negatively impacted.

This. Mistborn could be lose half its page count and nothing of value would be lost.

However, credit where credit is due. At least Sanderson can complete a series in a timely manner. At least he doesn't string fans along with broken promises. Maybe George Martin can learn something here.

 

[JimmyRustler]

I tried. I really tried to get into Brandon Sanderson, but I just found his books so......bland and unnecessarily long. I could have cut the Mistborn series in half and nothing of value would have been lost. Clearly, I'm in a minority here.

You are not the only one... I tried several time to get into the Stormlight books and by now gave up. The books are just way too bloated. I mean, here in German each book is cut in half due to the length. I didn't know this for quite some time and was stunned to learn it as I already thought that the books were too long - and I was only ready half of it!!

 

[Spaceman292]

My issue with Sanderson is that you can literally write the rules of the universe from his text. The magic systems are TOO predictable. Like 2.345 grams of iron lets me do this thing, but if all I had was 2.344 grams it just wouldn't be enough.

I appreciate that he doesn't let emotions drive power level like virtually everyone else but there is going too far in the other direction as well.

And good grief, why even have women in your books if all men are going to do is swoon at the thought of seeing a bare ankle? I don't need Grrm or Abercrombie levels of rape but all them people had to get there somehow dude

He needs a chaste euphemism for sex like "... and then they had hot tea together, 2 cups each!"

After reading something like Hyperion which has a graphic sex scene in the middle of the battle of Agincourt, you can't really go back to this YA level crap.

 

[IDKFA]

You are not the only one... I tried several time to get into the Stormlight books and by now gave up. The books are just way too bloated. I mean, here in German each book is cut in half due to the length. I didn't know this for quite some time and was stunned to learn it as I already thought that the books were too long - and I was only ready half of it!!

Same in the UK. The first two books in paperback are cut in half due to their insane length.

I'm not opposed to long novels, but as you said, Sanderson's books are just a lot of unnecessary filler. I can't imagine what the unedited version of his books look like before the final edits, that is they even get an edit at all .

 

[macfoshizzle]

bridge 4 all the fucking way!

 

[Yoboman]

Joke post? Because magic system in Mistborn is probably the most innovative one in the last 15-20 years.


Because this will allow him most likely to bypass a publisher and get a much higher cut of profits.

Lots of authors self publish without a crowdfund and much less capital at their disposal

 

[Fbh]

This. Mistborn could be lose half its page count and nothing of value would be lost.

However, credit where credit is due. At least Sanderson can complete a series in a timely manner. At least he doesn't string fans along with broken promises. Maybe George Martin can learn something here.

For sure, I'll take a bit of bloat with consistent releases instead of having to wait a decade hoping the author bothers to continue his ongoing franchise

 

[Bernd Lauert]

I dont understand why someone so successful needs crowd sourced funding?

At least half of crowdfounding nowadays is mostly for marketing purposes.

 

[Bragr]

I dont understand why someone so successful needs crowd sourced funding?

He doesn't, but he saw an opportunity to exploit people.

 

[jason10mm]

Joke post? Because magic system in Mistborn is probably the most innovative one in the last 15-20 years.

Perhaps, but you can see the rigid structure underlying all of his magic systems. It's too obtrusive IMHO.

A DnD example would be "El'cat'rail needed to torch those orcs. She summoned the knowledge of her 3rd level Fireball spell and pulled out some bat dung and a well worn fire drake scale. Rubbing them together with the specific finger gestures and a short command word 'Propanus-strike!' she mentally elevated the 3rd level spell to a 5th level spot and enhanced the blast radius and heat levels by 1 each to catch all of the grovelling orcs in an arcane blast that exceeded their hit dice and left them all cinders."

See what I mean? The magic mechanics are too much at the forefront for narrative fiction and they are too rigid to feel organic and natural.

 

[sircaw]

That fundraising is Ridiculous,

Opening a page now for my little books.

 

[Doom85]

At least Sanderson can complete a series in a timely manner. At least he doesn't string fans along with broken promises. Maybe George Martin can learn something here.

 

[MMaRsu]

A kickstarter for a book?

Lmao wtf man

People are absolute morons these days

 

[Rest]

I dont understand why someone so successful needs crowd sourced funding?

He doesn't want a 20% royalty from a publisher, he wants to publish it himself. After that, he doesn't want to deal with trying to sell it to Walmart, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This isn't crowd funding in the typical sense, this is a presale, direct to consumers with no middle men except Kickstarter and whoever he uses to print and ship it. Publishers, wholesalers and retailers all would take a bigger cut than Kickstarter does, and there would be shipping costs either way. This way he gets the lion's share of the money, has direct oversight of printing quality, doesn't have to deal with marketing and book tours after the fact if he doesn't want to do them, and gets to release the books on his schedule and not a publisher's.

Plus, since it has done well, when he sends it to a traditional publisher for the second run he has a ton of leverage to demand a higher royalty. This is all about making as much money as he possibly can and putting himself in a stronger position when he deals with the industry.

 

[Hari Seldon]

My issue with Sanderson is that you can literally write the rules of the universe from his text. The magic systems are TOO predictable. Like 2.345 grams of iron lets me do this thing, but if all I had was 2.344 grams it just wouldn't be enough.

I appreciate that he doesn't let emotions drive power level like virtually everyone else but there is going too far in the other direction as well.

Yeah this is a big problem, it takes me waaaay out of the fantasy to all of a sudden find myself reading a D&D manual. I much prefer Tolkien or Black Company style where magic is rare and well... magical. If I wanted to learn a byzantine set of rules I will pick up a C++ book.

 

[Darryl]

he writes to the crustiest degenerate neckbeards. his writing is to that tier and is borderline unreadable + cringe inducing to anyone who actually reads books

no slight to the author though. he's obviously a genius and knows what he's doing. all he had to do was rebrand routine book releases as a spectacle and he could print money. some people need to find god