M. L. Wang here, author of the Theonite Series. Last year, I donated 100% of my December royalties to charity (specifically the Against Malaria Foundation) and ended up selling triple the number of books I had in previous months.
Since I am relying more heavily on my books for income this year (last year I worked a full-time job and wrote on the side), I will be donating 50% of my royalties this December. On the other hand, my book sales have been much better this year and I fully expect to exceed last year’s donation amount on that 50%.
This year, I also wanted to invite other authors to participate with me, using the tag #AuthorsAgainstAffliction (I know it doesn’t roll off the tongue, but I needed something general enough to cover everyone’s charity of choice and I like alliteration, sue me).
How it works:
If you are an author and want to participate, you can make a social media post or video including the following:
- Name of the charity you will be supporting this December (if you’re undecided, I recommend checking out GiveWell.org for a list of the most transparent and effective charities currently accepting donations)
- Percent of your royalties you plan to donate, bearing in mind that any amount helps.
- Titles of your published book(s) and where we can find them! (I also include a breakdown of how much I’ll be donating per title in each format, though this is optional)
Tag your post #AuthorsAgainstAffliction and I will share it to support your work!
In December, I will compile a list of all participating authors and share it via my author newsletter and all my social media channels to encourage readers to buy the listed books either for themselves or as holiday gifts for others.
Last December, I did this alone and saw a huge spike in sales while raising over $200 in donations to combat malaria in the developing world. This year, I’m excited to have company!
Don’t have any books published? Please consider sharing this post with a published author you know!
Hopefully, we can get as many authors as possible onboard!