I know that this is a band-aid over an open wound, but in case it might cheer up someone out there, remember that "Sandman" isn't all Neil Gaiman.
Now of course, yes he did create the Sandman comic, yes he was the writer and leader of the main series and various little complementary stories, and yes everything with the "Sandman" title on it probably has him gain some money in his pockets (I don't know exactly the legal ramifications of the Sandman franchise).
But you can remember that "Sandman" became a franchise part of the DC Universe and a property of the DC Comic. As a result, there is a LOT, a LOT of spin-off series where Gaiman was not involved or barely. Series he did not write, he did not chose the artists for, and where his involvement usually goes either "I was proposed X author to do a spin-off series and gave my blessing", or "I gave advices to the creators of the series from time to time but they kept ignoring me so I left" or even "I just checked the basic premise and then walked out to let them do their thing", with even some where it was "I never had anything to do with it".
In fact, it was why these spin-offs series had such a hard time getting popular and couldn't fly of their own wings easily ; why so many people did not bother looking at them (If the original creator isn't there, it's no good, it's just "glorified fanfiction") and why a lot of people dislike them ("Only Gaiman does it right"). Mind you, on the later point I have to admit the quality of those spin-offs is very varying, especally since they expand in a lot of different ways and retcon a lot of different things, resulting in conflicting timelines.
But if you are curious about checking them out one day, here are the Gaiman-free parts of the Sandman franchise:
1/ The Dreaming (1996-2001)
An anthology about minor inhabitants of the Dreaming and the adventures of various dreamers, created by various guest-artists. Neil Gaiman was merely a creative consultant on this series, but he was apparently dissatisfied or un-seduced enough by the worldbuilding elements introduced in "The Dreaming" to complete counter-it with the release of "Endless Nights", making Dreaming "not-canon" (and the series also did poorly because of how it was constantly compared to Gaiman's Sandman in unflattering terms).
Originally, "The Dreaming" (90s run) was an anthology series but then shifted into a continuous storyline. However, to keep the idea of bringing guest creators and one-time artists each adding their fragment to the Sandman universe, the line of "Sandman Presents" was created, a set of mini-series and one shots. "Thessaly: Witch for Hire" ; "Bast: Eternity Game"; "Love Street", "Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of DREAM", "Petrefax", "The Furies", "The Corinthian: Death in Venice" and far more yet...
Several of these mini-series proved popular enough that they spawned their own series. Such as...
Created by Mike Carey in 2000, this series was a follow-up of the very successful "Sandman Presents: Lucifer - The Morningstar Option". It is currently one of the most famous Sandman spin-offs thanks to the TV series adaptation "Lucifer", despite... the TV show being VERY very different from the comics.
The other most famous spin-off of the Sandman, thanks to the recent series adaptation, and just like "Lucifer" it was originally a "Sandman Presents" line (also called "The Dead Boys Detective"). However beware, if you want to have the full continuity between "Sandman" and "Sandman Presents: The Dead Boys Detetive" you'll have to go through a Gaiman-written story, in "The Children's Crusade".
A mini-series exploring the characters of the Three Witches. Had a sequel, "WitchCraft: La Terreur".
6/ Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
A mini-series about Destiny by Alisa Kwitney.
A 2007 series also made by Mike Carey and about a big crossover of Sandman, The Dreaming (90s edition) and The Books of Magic.
The biggest and most recent spin-off project of the Sandman comics. Created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sandman in 2018, it started with a series of comics overseen by Neil Gaiman though written by different artists (Gaiman wrote nothing in these series). It started with the introductive one-shot "The Sandman Universe", opening four different reboot/continuity series: The Dreaming reboot (by Simon Spurrier), House of Whispers (by Nalo Hopkinson and Dan Watters), a Lucifer reboot (by Dan Watters) and a Books of Magic reboot (by Kat Howard and David Barnette). [I have not talked about the Books of Magic franchise despite it being closely linked to the Sandman one, but that's because this post is already getting way too big].
After these four initial series, tons of other mini-series and reboots were launched, again written by many different people outside of Gaiman, several of them still going on to this day. The Dreaming reboot got a sequel (The Dreaming: Waking Hours), Hellblazer series, a Locke and Key crossover, and the "Nightmare Country" series by James Tynion IV (which got a sequel, "Nightmare Country: The Glass House").
All of that to say... Sandman hopefully isn't just Neil Gaiman. Its branches spawn into many different universes of the DC world, and there were many other authors who poured their ideas and concepts into the Sandman world.
(And I have not even covered ALL of the Gaiman-free spin-offs. The Sandman franchise is REALLY big)
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