So, as you know, I decided to do some good with this book and donate proceeds to the Ottawa Caring and Sharing Exchange, a local charity that does great work helping struggling people have enough to get them through difficult times. You can read more about them on their website here.
Since C.O.N. was this weekend, I set that as the cut-off date; when I would do all the calculations and get all the reports to figure out how much we raised for them. So I did it this morning the minute I got into work.
In the spirit of total openness, below is the final spreadsheet listing the final amounts for this year as per the reports generated from Square, Smashwords and Kindle Direct:
That's a good start to the charitable side of my business that I want to get underway. Naturally, I would have liked to send them a cheque for hundreds of dollars. Perhaps one day we'll get there. As it is now, this is brilliant!
A note on the Smashwords eBook amounts: the eBook is available as a pay-what-you-want book if purchased directly from Smashwords.com. Of the 17 copies sold, 15 were purchased at $0.00. The other two sold for $2.95 and $0.99 respectively. For ease of reporting, I took the total amount of $3.17 and averaged them out across all copies sold. In future reports, the amount donated per sale will vary, depending on what the buyer decides to donate per book.
The cheque has been written and will go into the mail tonight.
I'm so happy, and want to thank you all for supporting this effort to raise funds for a great charity. It pleases me no end to be able to do something for my community.
I've been wanting to make a difference for some time now. I've been mulling over how for years before I even started the first Your Very Own Adventure Story. I don't have enough money to donate on my own, and I find myself far too busy to volunteer often. I wanted to do more.
One of the few things I have is the ability to write. So, I figured that making a book or two fundraising efforts, I could make something of a difference in the world around me, even if only a little bit.
You made this possible, and I really am grateful.
So well done you!
Now I must go and start on my new story. My word goal is 2 000 per day. Wish me luck!
Ciao!