Self publishing a charity book brings with pros and cons. The most important pro is that people are actually prepared to buy the book knowing that the proceeds are being donated to a great cause. I am the first to admit that the majority of people have bought it on this basis rather than of my creative talent! :) Another pro is that if there was to be another book hopefully the uptake would be pretty similar.
One of the down sides is that because every penny I receive is being donated to the charity, I am unable to invest any of the profits in marketing as there are no profits of course. A popular marketing tip is to send out free copies for review, but by using Amazon 's print to order scheme free copies even for me the author do not exist, and I have to buy it like everyone else. Another marketing suggestion is to do free promotional periods where the book is give away for free. Obviously in this instance this defeats the whole object of raising money for the charity. I wonder whether I have got the pricing right, and in all honesty I think trying to raise about £1 from both the paperback and kindle versions is fair.
The book was released about 3 months ago, and the sales total is currently 144, which along with the justgiving donations means about £250 has been raised so far, which I am delighted with. However sales of the book have slowed right down now and I am wondering what else I can do boost sales. There has been great local media coverage and I have worked hard at pushing it on social media sites. So I am open to suggestions and am waiting for something to happen to give it fresh impetus.
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