Nobody reads books anymore.
If they do read, they don’t read fantasy.
If they do read fantasy, the long, epic fantasy genre died in the nineties.
There isn’t an audience for it.
No publisher wants that anymore.

Good thing Brandon Sanderson didn’t listen to any of those criticisms. His kickstarter campaign for a special edition of his epic fantasy, The Way of Kings, hit $4 million in one day.

While I’m sure there will be some who attempt to deconstruct his process and emulate what he did in hopes of similar results, they miss the big picture:

He did what he loved and found an audience for his work.

Despite the repeated attempts by major conglomerates to manufacture a mainstream interest, it’s the niche audiences that show up and prove somebody still wants it.

And that audience is usually much larger than people think.