Before I finish writing this post, I am sure the record-breaking publishing Kickstarter by Brandon Sanderson will have drawn to a close. I made a blog post yesterday doubting that he would be able to reach 40 million dollars, but I was wrong. As I’m writing, the numbers are constantly climbing, and the 7th and 8th digits are currently sitting at 41 million dollars. That’s more than DOUBLE the previous Kickstarter record.
Congratulations, Brandon Sanderson!
Hats off to one of the biggest self-publishing success stories of all time. I can’t imagine how he has to feel right now, seeing the counter climbing and climbing. All the effort he put into writing books during the fear, confusion, distress, and other emotions that rocked the world throughout the isolation period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Somehow, he turned his experience into this.
I can’t imagine writing 4 books in the amount of time he had to do it, but I would love to have the opportunity to try. Working full-time and running a blog slows things down. I’ve written 50,000 words in a month while working full-time and doing other projects, but Sanderson doesn’t write mere mortal 50,000-word novels. 150,000 words hardly seem like enough for the types of stories he tells.
What Comes Next?
Imagine the responsibility of getting all that material drafted, edited, proofed, formatted, printed, recorded, and distributed. 41+ million dollars shifting into your bank account has to be a powerful, if not frightening feeling. One of Sanderson’s recent videos reflected on this thought. How could you possibly top this? There’s two ways to look at it: either he completely jumped the shark and will never get this kind of fame again or this is the moment that many will remember as just the beginning of Sanderson’s meteoric rise to legend status.
I think the only way Sanderson can realistically create bigger hype than this Kickstarter would be to announce a television/streaming series has begun production for Mistborn or The Stormlight Archive. If not a show, maybe a major Hollywood movie. If not that, a video game series like how George R. R. Martin collaborated with a game studio to create Elden Ring.
I’m Inspired
With a bit of shame, I must admit my collection of Brandon Sanderson books is almost completely unread. I’m making crawling progress through Mistborn, and I have the first three The Stormlight Archive books sitting real pretty on a shelf. I’ll get to them eventually. For now, Sanderson’s achievements have inspired me to put more effort into this blog, my own writing, and spreading word of my own book. But I can’t do it alone…
Help Share my Book
Even if you don’t have the money to buy my book right now, you can do me a huge favor by sharing my blog posts and links to my book page on Amazon through the social media logos below:
Share this blog post wherever you can, it is huge for the various algorithms at play on the internet today. Liking, sharing, following, retweeting, subscribing, clicking the bell icon and any reaction helps spread the word about my book. I’m a self-published author starting from the bottom, so I need others to talk about it. The best way to sell a book is by word of mouth, so please, tell your friends and family!
Buy Withered Kingdom Today!
If you DO have the money to buy the book, you would absolutely make my day by buying a copy. It’s available right now in paperback and ebook formats. I will soon have it ready as a hardcover too! Here’s a quick summary of it:
A man with no memories befriends a half-giant, discovers he has phenomenal magic power, and wins the heart of a nation. But in a privative world at war, the only path to peace lies on the other side of the battlefield.
The Phyronian Chronicle 
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