Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

stonemaiergames.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 54 posts

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#41

Post by VikingCoder »

seanalltogether wrote: post #8

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?

I want to manufacture something. The more I order, the cheaper per unit price.

Picture two different business plans:

I will sell them. I have to gamble on how many to order. I have a ton of risk.

I sell it on kickstarter. I know how many to order. I have way less risk.

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#42

Post by VikingCoder »

shantnutiwari wrote: post #25

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??

Personally, I'm a bit pissed at shantnutiwari. They have a job to do. If they have free time, why don't they get back to work instead of posting comments on Hacker News?

We all have our own ways of balancing work and life, and relieving stress, and trying to master new things. Creativity comes in bursts. We just happen to be spoiled that Sanderson is basically a fire hose that we get to sip from.

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#43

Post by Auracle »

anderiv wrote: post #13
vikingcaffiene wrote: post #9

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 author has a page dedicated to this question. :) https://www.brandonsanderson.com/where-do-i-start/ I started with the Mistborn series, which I found to be fantastic. I'll be diving into the Stormlight Archive in the coming weeks.

Oh man, have fun. I wish I could wipe my mind and read Stormlight fresh. Be sure to read Warbreaker before book 2 if you haven’t already, and don’t sleep on the novellas.

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#44

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

LanceH wrote: post #27
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Publishers definitely still have a role in the world to play. I've looked at self-published stuff that has embarrassing and, frankly, appalling typos in them (like, did you even look at the red underlines in Microsoft Word before publishing this?). The good ones go beyond just editing, though: they are "curators" and establish a brand or reputation for quality. "Penguin Classics", for example, is usually a few bucks…

There is a very strong selection bias with publishers. Publishers aren't necessarily worth something because they reject bad material.

Sure, but if they have a track record of publishing material you like, it stands to reason that you might have a better-than-normal chance of the pulling a random book off the shelf by this publisher and liking it, no?

I consider it comparable to record labels. I follow some small/mid-sized record labels on Bandcamp that have signed several bands I like. Their releases tend to stick to a particular sound or genre that I enjoy. If the label drops a new album by an unknown artist, I am more likely to give the artist a try, because the label has a good track record in my mind. It certainly helps if the album is free to listen to before buying, but you get the idea.

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#45

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

shantnutiwari wrote: post #20
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Publishers definitely still have a role in the world to play. I've looked at self-published stuff that has embarrassing and, frankly, appalling typos in them (like, did you even look at the red underlines in Microsoft Word before publishing this?). The good ones go beyond just editing, though: they are "curators" and establish a brand or reputation for quality. "Penguin Classics", for example, is usually a few bucks…

>>I've looked at self-published stuff that has embarrassing and, frankly, appalling typos in them 2010 called, they want their attitude back. This whole "Self published stuff is low quality, only legacy publishers edit their books" is such a terrible meme, it needs to die. It might have been true in 2007-10 when indie publishing really took off, I can't believe people are still repeating this.

I take it you've never looked at the self-published stuff on Kindle Unlimited or put up for Free/$1 on Amazon Kindle. I've seen programming books published in the past year that are supposed to be "C Programming Exercises", but in reality are little more than poorly-copied solutions from Stack Overflow.

It's still a problem. I'm not knocking every indie author who wanted to self-publish their first Sci-Fi novel. Far from it. Traditional publishers can churn out low-quality garbage with the rest of them, particularly when trying to make a quick buck by reprinting Public Domain works. My point is that it's always a race to the bottom for some people, and digital publishing has made it much easier, since it has largely eliminated the cost associated with production.

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#46

Post by rk06 »

VikingCoder wrote: post #39

...I kind of wish Sanderson would switch to Patreon... 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.

You mean something like serialised novels? I know there are Chinese and Korean web novels. I don’t know if it is popular enough in western world

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#47

Post by ASalazarMX »

sanj wrote: post #7
BeefWellington wrote: post #4

It's impressive from a business perspective that he's turned marketing from a cost centre to a revenue source in its own right.

This isn't marketing. It is distribution.

The four books are mystery books, in the sense that people paid without even knowing what were they paying for. Keeping the books secret even when they're already written looks like a marketing stunt.

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#48

Post by ryzvonusef »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #17
h2odragon wrote: post #2

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…

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?

I've seen this sentiment on twitter a lot, but why is an established person doing a kickstarter considered a cash grab?

Kickstarter is not only a crowd funding platform but also a pre-ordering system, it's mighty convenient, why not use it as such?

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#49

Post by ryzvonusef »

vikingcaffiene wrote: post #9

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)

I suggest you first read some of his free stuff available on his website before going in.

https://www.brandonsanderson.com/brandon-sanderson-online-li...

Re: Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter

#50

Post by akmarinov »

shantnutiwari wrote: post #25

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??

He specifically explained that in the video.

He liked how in the beginning when he started to write he could create new things and work on what he was most excited about, but as he wrote books he started getting shoehorned into writing the sequels to the books, limiting him in what he could do and what he wanted to write.

When some unexpected, free writing time opened up - he used it to go back to that and enjoy himself writing books that didn't have any preexisting limitations.

Post reply on HN