Donation Made: Save the Children campaign for the Nepal Quake

You might remember that back at the start of May, in the wake of the disastrous Nepal earthquake, I pledged all of the May/June author profits from the Armadaverse to the Save the Children relief campaign.

That donation has now been made.

It's sod's law of course that May and June were the slowest sales months so far this year for the Armada Wars books on the Kindle store. The paperback sales were surprisingly healthy by comparison to previous months (although still in single digits most months; I don't think my target audience likes paper very much.)

Towards the end of June I went to the length of promoting List of the Dead with a double-pronged attack: a Kindle Countdown discount on that book, with a giveaway of Steal from the Devil to get people interested.

Obviously many, many more people downloaded a free copy of Devil than bought a discounted copy of List, but I am fairly certain from looking at the monthly and daily trends that this tactic meant there were more sales than there would have been without the offers. Which meant a larger donation for Save the Children!

The total profits that would have gone into my pocket came to just under £50 GBP, which is not very much at all but it will still save lives. I rounded it up of course, from my own money. Because I am a UK citizen there is also an additional 25% whacked on top of that through the "Gift Aid" tax relief system, so the campaign will actually receive £62.50.

I look forward to the day when regular sales are good enough that I can donate much larger sums!

The effects of the quake have still not gone away, even though the world's reporters appear to have done. If you wish to make your own donation, you'll find the option on this Save the Children donation page.