I saw this thing go live on Facebook two nights ago, because I live in Utah, and Brandon Sanderson is a friend of my co-worker who watches movies at his house. I've never met the guy, but he's going down in history as having produced the largest Kickstarter ever seen since the company's founding. As far as authors go, these are like J.K. Rowling numbers he's generating from books he wrote during covid. He's obviously got a legion of fans who support him. A few years ago I watched a kickstarter for a book that he'd already written and published (and which was widely available...this was for a special edition) top 7 million dollars. With 28 days to go this one is sitting at 19.25 million or something like that...but honestly, the numbers change about every second on this thing.
To give you some context, I regularly watch very successful authors put out books on Kickstarter (and sometimes I buy them) that generate about $300,000 per Kickstarter. So, I figure that's maybe in the neighborhood of take home pay of around $150K after all is said and done. That's not bad at all, and they are obviously living well. It's more than I make. Seeing something like what Brandon Sanderson has done is outside the norm by a huugge margin. But it is fun to watch the numbers change, even if I don't necessarily read or like his literature. And that isn't a critique at all. I'm also not a fan of Adele (the singer) who has legions of fans, many of whom are gay and are flabbergasted and browbeat me over and over for not listening to her music. I always take the stance, "Just because it doesn't resonate with me doesn't mean it can't be a beautiful experience for you. You do you, and I celebrate your joy."
The Sanderson Kickstarter is also a little weird. The comments are filled with "super backers," whom (I think) have poured in $500 or more. The average donation on this Kickstarter seems to be around the $250-$300 range, which seems excessive to me for like four books and some stickers with some foil bookmarks. But the super backers seem to be acting like some kind of cultish army trying to get people to buy in more, even if they don't get any kickback from this. So, it's just really strange. I chalk it up to another thing that I don't understand, kinda like the cultish appeal of those Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer. Even weirder is when you spot (in the comments) things like, "This is one of those rare times when I say 'LET'S GO BRANDON!' and I'm actually rooting for someone." I suppose that's a telltale sign of the audience, I guess. It kinda reminds me of stuff I've read about "The Villages" which is some retirement community in Florida in which the residents are like 2 to 1 pro-Trump and really aggressive with their golf carts and their pickleball, and they have tons of money to spend on things they are passionate about like alcohol, fitness equipment, and boob jobs.
I also like to play mental games on the logistics of this self-publishing venture. For example, where does one get 300,000 books printed? That seems like a lot. How many trees is that? Also...where does one receive 300,000 books? Do they get backed into a warehouse? Do they come in multiple semi's? Additionally, who ships all of these to the backers? Who packages all the stickers and bookmarks and what all else...maybe socks or beanies with Sanderson's mug on them into swag bags? Are these people going to get paid or is it an unpaid internship or an opportunity to "work for the exposure?" I do live in Utah...so exploitation gets branded in all kinds of ways by the ruling class here. Sorry, did I say "exploitation?" I meant "job creation." I wouldn't be a Utahn if I didn't use the lingo (sly wink).
In any event, money is money. Sanderson is proving himself to be the next J.K. Rowling. I'm kinda hoping his Kickstarter hits $100 million for no reason at all other than spectacle. For what it's worth, I think it has an excellent chance of doing so with 28 days remaining. Don't you think that's just crazy? That a Kickstarter for fantasy books could hit $100 million, and he hasn't even disclosed what the books are about (they are secret projects). I'm like...whaaattt? Every Kickstarter I've ever participated in was one where I knew exactly what I was getting. With these...ya just gotta have faith. It's a business model that I just can't explain. Maybe he'll make NFT's of them next. I mean...it's gotta be worth some money, right?
I'm off all of next week from blogging to take care of a bunch of things. I'll be back on Monday, March 14th, so see you all then.
Rusty Webb mentioned this Kickstarter yesterday on Goodreads but I wasn't really paying attention to it. Sounds like a good scam for the author. If you can make $100 million for writing four books and giving away some cheap swag that's a huge profit.
ReplyDeleteI assume with that kind of money he can get a commercial printer like Big Publishing uses. Obviously for that many books you're not going to FedEx Office or Staples and I'm pretty sure Amazon or Lulu or one of those wouldn't allow you to order thousands and thousands of books all at once. The logistics of that is probably a nightmare when you're doing it yourself, which is another reason people like you or I could never do it. There's also that I've never sold 300,000 books ever let alone all at once.
Anyway, people once gave that potato salad guy thousands of dollars, so why not millions for a book?
I got an email the other day that Rifftrax is doing a Kickstarter to show Swamp Thing Returns live and simulcast in theaters. They were most of the way to their $250K goal when I checked in. Again that's a pretty good way of doing it as it gets the fans to cover most of the costs and then they (and the theaters) keep the money from sales as mostly profit.
I've only contributed to one Kickstarter in a while though and that was for my blogger buddy Arion's comic book. I donated like $35 and got a paper version of the comic and my name in the back as one of the donors. It's a little pricey for one comic book but it's nice to help someone out, though someone like Sanderson doesn't really need it, especially at this point.
@Pat: One of the weird things I'm watching with this spectacular Kickstarter is how emotion driven things are. I'm from an era where you needed to "prove your existence." This was browbeat into me. With the Sanderson Kickstarter, you have no idea what you are buying. The books are written, yes, but there are no details to them. It is all secret. There's no cover art, there's no plot synopsis, there are no titles. It's all in the dark. Let's assume this thing goes to $100 million. So given that, is there another example of anyone "investing" in a thing to which they didn't know what they were buying except maybe some stickers and foil bookmarks? To me, it represents another seismic shift toward emotion being the bedrock upon which people base their decisions, which has me just in awe. Imagine if our justice system worked that way, where someone could downvote a person on trial simply based on their appearance or how they "felt" about a person. The Orville did a rip on this very idea in their first season. In the episode "Majority Rule" it starts out with a coffee barista awaking from her bed to start her day. From a television monitor in her kitchen, two men can be seen on a live morning talk show called "The Breakfast Show." They apologize for a crime against society, and the lady comments that one of them looks strange, presses a down-pointing arrow on her monitor, and leaves for work. The Orville realizes that votes are social currency in this society...downvotes mean isolation, discrimination, and lobotomies.
DeleteAnyway, what we are seeing today are similar type things powering financial markets. It doesn't matter how profitable a company is. If what they do is boring, the stock is just going to sit there and do nothing. But if people get excited, experience anger, or want vengeance, it can go in all sorts of directions. This is why Tesla has a trillion dollar valuation despite barely making a profit after years and years. It's also behind Game Stop and its crazy swings in stock valuation that minted some people a lot of money. It's also behind Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and NFT's. Emotion is all that is guiding the tiller.
That Orville episode was mostly a ripoff of the Black Mirror episode "Nosedive" starring Bryce Dallas Howard.
DeleteIn something like this or that potato salad one a few years ago I think part of it is people want to be part of something and claim part of that notoriety. Kind of like being part of one of those Guinness Book of World Record things like the "most people to do some dance" or whatever.
It would be nice if people used that money for something more useful like helping Ukranian refugees or something.
I'm not a fan of Adele either. And if those are the comments from his fans, I think I'm not one of them. Sigh.
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