Writing Process: Brandon Sanderson’s Excellent Kickstarter

How’s your writing process?

I’m asking because I first heard about novelist Brandon Sanderson’s amazing success on Kickstarter a few days ago, while skimming Yahoo News.

At that stage, his Kickstarter (KS) campaign for his four secret novels was at $31 million.

“Secret”… as a copywriter, I LOVE it. What a brilliant tactic to arouse people’s interest, curiosity, and imagination. Much better than sharing his books’ blurbs, and cratering the interest of a percentage of his campaign’s visitors.

If you check KS, you’ll see that the campaign ended at $41 million—$41,754,153 to be precise. The campaign’s goal was $1 million.

It’s excellent news.

Excellent news for you too, if you’re happily writing with your own writing process

When I spotted the news story, I was thrilled. For him, of course, as well as for novelists everywhere. Darling author, there’s a market out there for your books. Of course, I know this, but the Kickstarter campaign brought it home to me.

A friend told me that there’s been considerable envy and backbiting about the campaign, especially among traditional publishing professionals. I’m not surprised and it gave me a laugh.

There’s zero reason to be envious. Many reasons to be thrilled. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. Anything which promotes books and gets people reading is a Very Good Thing.

Here are some stats on reading. A stat which intrigues me:

Print book sales have increased approximately 9% year-over-year since 2012.

Hmmmm…. Makes you think. I know it’s print books, but Apple launched the iPad in 2010 (April 3, in 2010, to be precise); I’m sure the iPad helped ebooks to take off, and got more people reading—print books as well as ebooks.

Whatever has caused the uptick in readers, it’s excellent news, right?

Brandon Sanderson’s amazing Kickstarter is excellent news too, so if you write fiction, I hope it’s inspired you to keep writing, or start writing, as the case may be.

So… your writing process.

Stay motivated: get interested in your writing

Are you inspired by Brandon’s success?

I talked about your writing process and staying motivated, and why I believe interest matters, more than motivation:

Over the years I’ve read a lot about motivation. Much self-help advice on motivation reminds me of the old joke: “The beatings will continue until morale improves…”

In my experience “motivation” is ephemeral. It’s just a mood, so it comes and goes.

Interest stays however. So, if you want to write and win readers, get interested in your own writing. Remember that rising tide. It will lift your boat too, and I want to read your books, and read about your success.

Let’s keep writing. People are reading. Excellent.

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