Photo: CNN
With more than $20.3 million, fantasy author Brandon Sanderson broke the record for most-funded Kickstarter recipient since March 1.
Sanderson initially sought $1 million in 30 days for four new books in his book series, which involves the Cosmere universe wherein multiple stories like “Mistborn” occur. He had written the four new books in secret over the last two years.
In just under 35 minutes, he hit the $1 million target.
Sanderson has been self-publishing the new books and has many other self-published novels. He co-wrote “Wheel of Time,” which was adapted into an Amazon Prime Video TV series. According to his website, he has been on The New York Times best-seller list 15 times and established his own book company, DragonSteel Entertainment.
With the million-dollar target achieved in minutes, Sanderson set the record for the most money raised in 24 hours, gaining $15.4 million, which is more than double the previous record, Kickstarter says.
Sanderson’s proposal broke the overall Kickstarter record of $20.3 million from 78,741 backers, set by the Pebble Time smartwatch in 2015. Kickstarter has also revealed that Sanderson’s project had, at one point, brought in $20,000 per minute. It set the new record for the most funding and the most backers in its first 24 hours.
With the 27 days left to run, the project could bring in even more funding as it currently has 84,000 backers.
On the backers’ investment, several pricing tiers start at $40, which gives backers quarterly e-books. The tier goes up to $500, where backers are provided the author’s books throughout the year on all formats and other merchandise.
Sanderson has announced that the books are expected to be delivered next year.
He wrote on Kickstarter: “Our goal is to deliver these to you all through 2023, along with—for those who want it—a swag box of cool items relating to one of my already established worlds or concepts.”
He added: “So please, join us for a Year of Sanderson and experience for yourself the secret I’ve been keeping these last few years.”
