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Personally, Im a bit pissed at Sanderson. He has series he hasnt finished-- including teh Alcatraz which has been abandoned for around 5 years. If he has free time, why doesnt he finish those instead of writing new books??
The final book will be coming out September 20, 2022.
Personally, Im a bit pissed at Sanderson. He has series he hasnt finished-- including teh Alcatraz which has been abandoned for around 5 years. If he has free time, why doesnt he finish those instead of writing new books??
I guess the question would be: if he writes a book solely out of obligation and his heart is no longer in it, do you really want the end product?
I've never heard of this author. Anyone have any good recommendations on where to start? Specific book titles would be appreciated (its hard to find the starting point in a given series sometimes for example)
"The Cosmere" is his overarching fantasy universe, with The Stormlight Archive as its big fantasy epic (beginning with The Way of Kings). That series has references to his other fantasy work, including his other big series (Mistborn), but you don't necessarily need to have read anything else first. I think there are 4 books now with 10 planned, I haven't read the latest one yet but I enjoyed the first three.
It's been a couple of years but I remember really liking The Emperor's Soul, and it's a $5 ebook novella so you're not investing too much time or money to check it out. DRM free from Kobo, not sure if that's the case via Amazon/Kindle.
I feel like I'm missing something here. Isn't the idea of kickstarter to help fund new projects that wouldn't get support from traditional funding channels? But in this case the stories are already written and Brandon already has a publisher willing to print and distribute those stories? Why would you use kickstarter in place of a preorder system?
People will use tools for whatever they can. The idea of Etsy was that it was for just genuinely hand-made stuff but the rules have changed over time so it is full of mass-manufactured stuff too.
> Why would you use kickstarter in place of a preorder system?
Why not, if you can and it works?
This way the money comes in up-front instead of after production
And you have a very good guide for sizing the first production runs (instead of taking a chance on producing too many and having to sell at a discount or store at a cost).
Also, there is the chance that the crowdfunding status will generate free advertising, as is happening here.
And with this high an interest, with proof rather than it being a guess/belief, he can probably negotiate better rates with that publisher for these runs.
I've never heard of this author. Anyone have any good recommendations on where to start? Specific book titles would be appreciated (its hard to find the starting point in a given series sometimes for example)
Was a time George R. R. Martin could've pulled off something as splashy. Doubt he could do it now. I wonder if this will be the inflection point in Sanderson's career, I can already hear the "everything sucks" critics sharpening their knives over the amount of money raised. He could drop something with the impact and longevity of "Lord of the Rings" and there's still gonna be people bitching about that much money for…
I think Scalzi had a good point about this not being a nail in the publishing industry's coffin: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/03/01/very-quick-thoughts-o...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A little confused. I assume he is already quite wealthy as a very successful Fantasy author with a long list of books written. What is the point of this? I doubt he needs the money and could already self publish and is well known enough that his fans will buy what he puts out. What does this achieve other than a cashgrab?
My understanding is that Brandon thinks fans benefit from more flexibility than the standard "publish book through big company" strategy -- he's helped start an audio company, has his own company for merch (Dragonsteel books, etc). I think the Kickstarter is more about giving people unconventional purchase options (pack of 4 books! Monthly swag deliveries!) that aren't possible through the usual "buy a book from amaz…
Personally, Im a bit pissed at Sanderson. He has series he hasnt finished-- including teh Alcatraz which has been abandoned for around 5 years. If he has free time, why doesnt he finish those instead of writing new books??
Something he has spoken of in the past is he if dropped his side projects, like people sometimes ask, his output is likely to go down because these projects help recharge him so he stays motivated for the mainline projects.
I pay him money every month, and he gives me books.
This model clearly wouldn't work for GRRM, but for Sanderson, it seems like it'd be great.
Was a time George R. R. Martin could've pulled off something as splashy. Doubt he could do it now. I wonder if this will be the inflection point in Sanderson's career, I can already hear the "everything sucks" critics sharpening their knives over the amount of money raised. He could drop something with the impact and longevity of "Lord of the Rings" and there's still gonna be people bitching about that much money for…
This isn't really a nail in the publishing industry's coffin. The number of authors who can do this and even do okay let alone insane amounts of money is miniscule. If you don't already have a huge name, making people even aware a book exists is HARD. Some writers have managed indie only by being found by someone with a big enough audience to catapult them into making very very real money, but it isn't the norm. The…
On the other hand, there are plenty of opportunities for those writers to be successful outside the traditional publishing industry. So, if every big name writer switched to crowdfunding (which is not by any means guaranteed) I don't think literature would necessarily suffer. The publishing industry would suffer, but I don't feel the need to protect their business model.