I've been studying Kickstarters for the last couple of years. It's been interesting to see what artists want to accomplish, how they appeal to backers, and what kind of rewards motivate which kind of fans. All of this was in preparation to launch my own Kickstarter with a brand-new series, Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse.
In the midst of 2020, the year of isolation and hell, sci-fi/fantasy author Brandon Sanderson launched a Kickstarter to put out a a tenth anniversary, leather-bound edition of his novel The Way of Kings. His goal was $250,000.
Brandon set the record for a publishing project with $6,788,517 in pledges. His Kickstarter opened a lot of eyes about what could be possible with a campaign, including mine.
As I was finalizing my own Kickstarter for launch, Brandon started another one call Four Secret Books last Tuesday. That's right--four brand-new novels and eight swag boxes through the twelve months of 2023. His goal was $1,000,000.
Wow! I logged into Kickstarter to see how he was doing, and the pledged dollar amount was whirling like a Vegas slot machine. People were thoroughly excited about this project. To the point that on Day 3, Four Secret Books became the largest grossing Kickstarter to date.
I have the window with his project up on my laptop as I write this. He was in the $25.2M range when I started typing this post. It'll be $25.4M by the time I hit publish.
The whole thing is blowing my mind about what's possible for writers.
Of course, the whiners and naysayers have already started their trolling and bitchfests. They simply can't imagine being this successful.
But this weekend, DH and I did some brainstorming about doing something special when A Question of Balance's tenth anniversary comes up in 2026.
Crowdfunding gives us writers a way to fund and launch IP where we get the profits. It's such an awesome time to be a writer!
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