What Brandon Sanderson Does Is Incredible

So I want to talk about Brandon Sanderson for second.

Sanderson, if you weren’t aware, is a prolific fantasy author. Last week, he did something pretty extraordinary. He created a Kickstarter for a new series of books, which quickly became the single most funded crowdfunding event on the site, ever. He scored something like $17 million in the first day. (it's now at $34 million. At one point, I was watching the number go up like a freaking stock ticker.)

It's not hard to see why. He has legions of diehard fans, stemming not only from his own voluminous works, but also from his incredible run finishing up The Wheel of Time series, after the original author died. Clearly, this is a guy who knows how to leveraged his fan base for something extraordinary.

But from the way this rather impressive Kickstarter was received in the publishing world, you may as well have offered to personally send everyone a rotten egg wrapped in an old sock. Here are some of the delightful responses via Twitter:

Now, for the absolute avoidance of doubt, let's set a few things in stone.

I'm not talking about his writing here. Believe it or not, I'm not actually the worlds biggest Brandon Sanderson fan. His stuff just isn't to my taste. But that doesn't stop me being absolutely flabbergasted at the degree of difficulty here.

A little context. Sanderson, in this case and many others, is not actually going through traditional publisher. He has his own publishing company, Dragonsteel Books. It is now, obviously, a multi million dollar company, and employs thirty people(Including a dedicated human resources person) and has its own warehouse in its home base of Utah.

Which means that Brandon Sanderson cannot get writers block. Ever.

If I get writers block, it sucks. I have to deal with it, obviously, otherwise you lot wouldn't get any more books, but the world does not end. However, Brandon Sanderson has thirty people working for him who quite literally stake their livelihoods on his ability to produce words.

I couldn't handle that pressure. YOU couldn’t handle that pressure. Imagine trying to write fiction—already an annoyingly difficult act—with the knowledge that if you fuck up, people you work closely with and, presumably, like quite a lot might lose their jobs.

In addition, Sanderson is not your regular CEO. To be perfectly honest, most CEO jobs can be automated. They do not produce the product; they have employees who do so. That's not case here. The CEO of Dragonsteel quite literally creates the product. The company and its ecosystem exist to produce and promote the words he puts down on paper.

No matter how much you dislike the fact that Sanderson, a white male author, is getting all the attention and all the money, you would have to be batshit crazy to deny the level of difficulty. In the past two years, this man has not only produced four entire novels (which, knowing him, are probably about 2,000 pages each) but done so a) in the middle of the pandemic, and b) with the express knowledge that if he screws up, he will cost real people real money which they may not be able to get back.

This is a level of pressure that most of us will never, ever experience.

I am entirely in agreement that authors and publishers (including myself) need to do a better job of promoting voices from marginalised communities. At the same time, let's just look at the Brandon Sanderson Kickstarter, and appreciate just how freaking impressive it is.

Also—and consider this a parting thought—if you think Sanderson's writing sucks and you can't understand why better books, in your view, don't get enough promotion or a better reception, you need to step out of this cute little imaginary world where quality is the defining factor as to whether people buy anything.

Maybe Sanderson does suck...but 113,754 backers (and counting) think you're an ass.