Photo: CNN
Fantasy author and Cosmere universe creator Brandon Sanderson set the record for most-funded Kickstarter recipient since March 1, bringing in more than $20.3 million.
With an initial target of $1 million in 30 days for his four new books, Sanderson managed to break the record by hitting the target in just under 35 minutes. This sets the record for the most money raised in 24 hours on the platform. Kickstarter says Sanderson’s project gained $15.4 million, which is more than double the previous record.
His four new books had been written in secret over the last two years, which, like many of Sanderson’s novels, will be self-published.
Sanderson’s book proposal unseated the overall Kickstarter record made by the Pebble Time smartwatch in 2015, which brought in $20.3 million from 78,741 backers. Kickstarter revealed that Sanderson’s project had been bringing in $20,000 per minute at one point.
The project is set to bring in even more as it currently has 84,000 backers and 27 days left to run.
With its various pricing tiers, backers who invest on the starting tier of $40 are given quarterly e-books. A $500-tier will give them the author’s books on all formats throughout the year, including other merchandise like apparel.
Sanderson announced that the books are expected to be delivered next year.
Sanderson said 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.”
“So please, join us for a Year of Sanderson and experience for yourself the secret I’ve been keeping these last few years,” he added.
Sanderson is also a co-author for “Wheel of Time,” which now has an Amazon Prime Video TV series. He has his own book company DragonSteel Entertainment and has been on The New York Times best-seller list 15 times.
