This is what the special edition of “Words of Radiance” should look like. Image source: Dragonsteel Entertainment LLC
The fantasy author Brandon Sanderson gained fame for his Mistborn series of novels. The American has already launched successful crowdfunding campaigns in the past, and his latest project is financing a leather-bound edition of a novel from the Stormlight Chronicles.
$17 million crowdfunding
What book is it about? The campaign aims to produce a special edition of the novel »Words of Radiance« financed. In Europey the book is published in two volumes called “The Words of Light” and “The Storms of Wrath”.
It’s about that second part of the Stormlight Chroniclesalready the first book »The Way of Kings« was published in 2020 as a leather-bound special edition, also financed through crowdfunding. The goal at the time of $250,000 was reached in three minutes, raising a total of almost $6.8 million.
What is the status of the current campaign? In a week they found themselves on the platform Backerit almost 61,000 supporters together so far $17.8 million have contributed. The goal was $2 million. The platform’s old record was $5 million. The initiator of the campaign is the author’s company Dragonsteel Entertainment.
Lots of merch and a new secret project
The campaign offers tiers in a price range from 10 to 650 US dollars. The special edition of “Word of Radiance” is only available starting at $250.
A new secret project is included in all stages. This is a new novel that also takes place in the cosmic sea. This is how Sanderson describes his own universe in which most of his books take place.
In the higher levels there are many merchandise items such as bookmarks, card games and pins with characters from the books.
Previous Kickstarter record
At a Kickstarter Campaign in 2023, $41.7 million was raised from approximately 185,000 supporters. Sanderson sent out a total of four new novels over the course of the year, which can now also be purchased individually and regularly in stores.
The different levels also contained ebook and audiobook versions as well as packages with merchandise. It is still the most funded project on Kickstarter.
