Brandon Sanderson has crushed the previous record for biggest Kickstarter campaign two days after launching his surprise project. Early Friday morning, Sanderson’s Kickstarter campaign to fund publication of four full-length novels and 8 subscription-style loot boxes surpassed the $20.3 million record set back in 2016 by a watch manufacturer. With almost 27 full days remaining, it seems likely that Sanderson’s Kickstarter will set a high bar that could be $5 million or more higher than the previous record. The Kickstarter as of press time has reached $21.1 million in pledges.
Earlier this week, Sanderson stunned fantasy fans by announcing that he had written four full-length novels and was planning to self publish them rather than release them via traditional publishing channels. Sanderson launched a Kickstarter for fans to pre-order the books, initially announcing no details about the books besides that three of the novels were set within the writer’s shared Cosmere universe. Sanderson asked his fans not to “spoil” the campaign initially, instead directing them to a video where Sanderson explained how he had found the time to write four novels in addition to his already packed writing schedule.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Sanderson was an up-and-coming fantasy writer back in 2007 when he was tapped to finish The Wheel of Time series after that series’ author Robert Jordan passed away. Sanderson was listed as the co-writer for the final trilogy of books, taking Jordan’s notes and crafting them into a finale for The Wheel of Time series. During that time, Sanderson continued to build out his own Cosmere universe, which features a collection of novels and short stories set in the same universe. The Cosmere books share a common mythology but aren’t part of a single series. Instead, the Cosmere acts as a shared universe of sorts, with a meta-story building up over time in the background without taking away from the main plots of his novels. The Cosmere is anchored by two main series – the epic-length Stormlight Achives series and the Mistborn series that launched with a trilogy of novels before moving ahead hundreds of years with a cast of (mostly) new characters.
Sanderson’s record-breaking Kickstarter was helped by several causes. The lowest pledge amount (for eBook versions of the four novels) was $40, and nearly 15% of the campaign’s 86,000 backers chose the $500 option to receive loot boxes featuring swag and exclusive merchandise tying in to several of Sanderson’s books.
The Kickstarter doesn’t end until March 31st, so you still have plenty of time to see what the hype is about.
