Saturday 19 December 2015

Who earns money from my book?

I’ll be honest here, statistics are bleak. Chances are that no one, myself included, is going to earn much. However, I’m with Fantastic Books Publishing who work on a profit-sharing model so whether the book does well or badly, we will each earn the same. Added to this, they skim 10% of the book sale profits and give them to charity – a charity of my choice.

This gives me a problem.

I like the idea behind this charity donation. The world is too small a place these days for people to struggle on alone. We don’t live in our own bubble any more. People travel the globe, flying vast distances in very short times. Ocean currents and jet streams move more than people. Weather, pollution and disease are global considerations. The actions of one group can affect everyone. That’s good and bad. Good ideas can be implemented fast. Teamwork can bring quicker results and ever speedier progress. 

And any little thing that I can do to keep that balance firmly on the good side of the scales, I’m happy to do. That includes sharing my book profits with a charity.

But which charity? 

Horse of a Different Colour is a children’s adventure tale, so maybe a horsey charity is the right one. Or I could lean towards the book’s dedication and go for a charity that revolves around space travel. Or I could go in an entirely different direction and pick a charity that has nothing whatsoever to do with the book.

I don’t need to decide:-

  • until the money rolls in <optimism mode>
  • because it won’t sell <pessimism mode>
  • until the money trickles in <realism mode>


But before then, I’m open to suggestions.


3 comments:

  1. Hi Melodie,
    Why not consider a charity with ties to writing itself? First story do some interesting work. http://www.firststory.org.uk/
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you, that's a great suggestion. I've had a few others, but that one is definitely on the short list. Very much an enterprise after my own heart. I don't have to make a final decision for a while yet, but I'll let you know when I do. Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
    Melodie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you to everyone who contacted me on and offline about which good cause to attach to my book. I have decided to go with an outfit that facilitates riding for children. It seemed the most appropriate to the subject of the book. However, my publisher has an anthology coming out soon which will also be looking for good caused and I have passed on the other suggestions.

    ReplyDelete

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