My 2024 Annual Report

Show me the money! Rather...please don't.

Well, here it is folks… the good, the bad, and the ugly of my book sales. I did not want to look at it, and never had until today. I did not want to know. Ignorance is bliss.

But I had to look. I promised my readers that I would donate 100% of my book sales to charity, and that obligated me to do some accounting and bring it out into the sunshine where all of you can see it.

Book Sales (rather, the lack thereof)

So let’s start with the ugly. In the entirety of my lifetime of book writing (and faux selling), starting with “Map of Dreams” in 2010 (65 sold); followed by “Blue Skyways” in 2019 (94 sold), and finally “Making the Second-Half Man” in 2024 (five sold), I have, in total, earned $620.82 in commissions.

Let’s start with the Amazon sales, which earned me $470.46 in the lifetime of book sales.

Most of those earnings came from years past. In fact, I only earned $5.69 this year (thank you, whoever you are.)

My earnings from “Making the Second Half Man” on Substack were slightly better, coming in at $150.36 thanks to five brave subscribers. Here is the 2024 report:

The total for 2024 is then $5.69 plus $150.36 or $156.05. Whoopee.

2024 Donations

I absolutley hate tooting my own horn about how and where I donate. I’d much rather follow the advice of a wise teacher (Jesus) who said: “But you, when you practice charitable giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Ugh. What to do. How do I keep both hands in the sunshine? It’s a connundrum.

My decision is to hide this report in a place where most won’t find it but that is still “public.” In other words, it’s here if you really want to see it.

My donations to charity this year (2024) were considerably greater than what I earned in book commissions, so there is no risk of my failing to keep my promise. I gave to two: charitywater.org ($40/month) and Doctor’s Without Borders ($500 one time). Here is the proof:

CharityWater.org

I love these guys. 100% of my donations go to develop sustainable, community-owned water projects in some of the world’s most remote locations. I started supporting them in 2023 and kept it up through 2024. To date I’ve donated $1,000, which helped bring clean water to Nepal, Tanzania, and Bangladesh.

Doctor’s Without Borders

These guys need no introduction. You’ve probably seen them on the front line of the war in Gaza and wherever there is a need for medical care. I started supporting them in 2015 after writing “Map of Dreams” in 2006/7, a work of fiction in which the horrible disease ebola is a character. That was before the major ebola outbreak of 2014.

Not wanting to profit from other people’s misery, I usually make a donation once a year. Here’s the report from this year:

That’s it. For the eagle eyed person who might have found an error, or for the simply curious, please feel free to ask questions. As for now, I think I can safely say: 100% of my book sales (and then some) go to charity. It’s a groovy thing.