Sanderson’s Neopatronage Masterclass

Back in March, this blog reported on rock star author Brandon Sanderson’s all-time number one Kickstarter campaign.

At the time of that writing, Sanderson’s crowdfunder had amassed over $35 million, an unprecedented sum not only for a book project, but for the crowdfunding site itself.

But in a recent update on the campaign page, Sanderson’s team reported an eyebrow-raising new development.

Now that things have settled down, we can look at the numbers. Including backers who joined via the pre-order store in BackerKit and all add-ons, our final numbers were:

• Approximately 192,000 backers

• Approximately $45.5 million* raised

• We will be shipping just under 100,000 premium hardcover book boxes each applicable month

• We will be shipping just under 42,000 swag boxes each applicable month

*Emphasis mine

You read that right. Sanderson’s campaign raised an additional $10 million from BackerKit and add-ons.

That’s like scoring an extra touchdown after the game ends, but they let you keep the points anyway.

Neopatronage isn’t the future.

It’s here, now.

And Sanderson just ran a masterclass in it.

You know that other name authors are taking notice of the fantasy king’s success.

A list writers who would’ve towed the oldpub party line before are now going off the reservation. If there’s one author who could outdo Sanderson’s crowdfunding performance, it’s James Patterson. If I were him, I’d ditch my ossified publisher and go straight to the readers.

Which I can say because I skipped oldpub altogether and built relationships with reader patrons from start.

In fact I’m about to wrap up my sixth successful crowdfunder. Though not (yet) on par with Sanderson’s success, we’ve funded each book and several stretch goals every time.

My current campaign is no exception. We’re a little over 1K away from our third stretch goal with less than two days left. And based on past performance, I know you guys are capable of getting us across the finish line.

Be a neopatron, support newpub sci fi, and get awesome perks – like an early copy of Combat Frame Ƶ XSeed and a sweet deal on pro editing for your own book!

Back the campaign now: