Hello all,

I apologize for not updating the blog in a while. I've been very busy writing book 2 of the Academy (which I'm proud to say is complete! Now, I'm working on obtaining a cover and  editing). At this time, I owe a few months worth of donations to MSF. My PC's internet is not working right now, which makes it difficult to generate a detailed report as I have before. As the charity goes on, more factors need to be taken into account, such as foreign currency exchange, taxes, and I've purchased more book covers and paid for more book editing services. Nonetheless, I will be posting a detailed report, as before, when my PC can again connect to internet.  Today, I have made a  $4,000 donation to MSF and will be posting my internet receipt (I am writing this and made my donation via smartphone). $4,000 is approximately what is owed, currently. Though the charity ends at the end of March, I will not receive payment from amazon 60 days after that time (around June 1, 2014). At that time, I will make an itemized post in which all prior months' earnings are accounted for.


I'm very excited to see the final results of the charity,
Chad Leito


PS: I am hoping that book 2 will be ready for publication in early April!

Cover

Just an update on how the new cover effected my sales:

In the first twenty days of this month the Ebook, the Academy, made $400. This adds up to $20 per day. Since adding the new cover, the Academy has generated $190, meaning that the book is averaging $63 a day in profits, which are going to the support of Doctor's Without Boarders.

I'm very excited to see that the cover appears to have been a good investment.

Chelsey Bateson did a fantastic job, and I am very pleased.

Chad Leito

chadleito@yahoo.com

http://www.amazon.com/The-Academy-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00BT29504

May and June donations

Hello,

As you guys are aware, Amazon authors get paid 60 days after the last month of a month that they earn royalties. So, I have two months of donations to make today, May and June! These two months resulted in $2,922.21. As I've stated before, I'm going to withhold 35% of the earnings initially, to see what I have to pay for taxes. Whatever I don't have to pay the government for book royalties, I'm going to donate after the taxes are paid. So, 35% of $2,922.21 is $1,022.77, which leaves $1,899.44 that's going to the support of Doctor's without boarders!

Now, in August (which I haven't recieved a royalty check for), my books made a little shy of $1,000 in the US, which means that sales have dropped significantly. So, I've been thinking a lot about how I can combat this, in order to make more money for the charity. I've noticed that accross the board, books do better when they have a professional cover. I'm worried that my cover is limiting the amount of money this charity will be able to make. So, as part of this month's donation, I decided to invest some of the money back into the charity by paying for a new cover for the Academy, which cost $700, and was made by Chelsey Bateson, who made the incredible covers for Will Wight's books! So, in addition to posting a donation reciept below, and the sales reports for May and June, I'm posting the new cover!

I truly think that this cover will help the charity greater than its cost! This cover will help to bring a lot of support to Doctors Without Borders, by helping to gain more money for this charity!

Thank you all for your support!


I hope that everyone has a great day!
Chad Leito
wleito@yahoo.com

April Donation

Hello all!

As I shared in my last post, my April sales generated $1,635.46. I have just recieved the check for this amount from Amazon, and am going to make the donation today! However, I have been warned by a friend of mine that donating the entire amount could lead to me owing money in taxes in the future, because Amazon does not automatically withhold funds for tax purposes. This being said, my plan is to withhold 35% of the ebook money, and then wait until I have to pay taxes. At that time, I will post documentation proving how much I had to pay to the government, and, if I have there is extra money, I will then donate it. I want to assure everyone, that I will not be keeping any money, but am holding onto some of this check so that I can pay the government the legal amount it requires by law.

This means that today, with the help of all supporters, I will be making a donation to Doctors Without Borders for $1,063.05!

It's really amazing how this is all turning out! I'm very pleased with this amount and feel as though this will make a very real, very significant impact for some who really could use some help!

Thank you all for your support,

Chad Leito

A Very Good Problem to Have

Hello Readers!

I wanted to give an update on how the charity is going. For the month of April, my books have generated (as will be shown in the excel picture from Amazon, posted below) over $1,630.00 that is going to doctor's without borders. For all of those who have either read or supported the books in any ways, you should feel fantastic! The money will make a true difference. Unfortunately, I will not be donating the money yet, because it is not in my possession. I'll explain.

It is Amazon's policy that they do not pay authors until 60 days after a month in which they make more than $100. So, I will not recieve a check for this money until the end of June. Previously, I paid before I actually recieved the check, out of my own money. But, because this amount is so large (which is great), I will not be able to make the donation until I actually recieve the check.

This is a very good problem to have! The charity has made too much money!

Rest assured, the moment that I recieve the check, I will make a donation and post proof of that online.

If anyone knows of a way that I can recieve the funds more quickly so that I can turn around and donate them, please let me know and I will impliment.

In other news, I am steadily clunking along in outlining book 2 of the Academy. I am very excited about how this series is turning out so far.

Also, I now have hired a friend of mine who has a journalism degree to edit the first volume of the Academy. This has been one of my complaints in the past. I'm sure that she will do a great job and make the first novel read more smoothly.

Regarding the book cover: Another friend of mine is designing a really great cover for book 1 that I will share as soon as it is finished.

Hope everyone is having a great month, and I will post the May report when it is ready.

Chad Leito

chadleito@yahoo.com

Dear Readers,

I am pleased to report that an additional $105.65 has been donated due to the contributions and efforts from readers and supporters. This is great.

I'm also pleased to report that I anticipate April sales to produce much more money for MSF than March. So far, the Academy alone has made (drum role, please)--$312! It's only the fifteenth, and the store has already brought in more money than any other month.

Way to go! Keep up the good work!

Chad Leito

End of March Update

March earned quite a bit of money that will go to medical attention for the sick!

         Posted up above is the last screenshot that I took of my sales in March. The photo was taken at 12:03 AM, central time, April 1. The report was available until 1 AM that morning. 

        I don't yet know how much money the ebooks brought in this month, mostly because I tinkered with the pricing several times, and that is not reflected in this reports. Amazon will post an excel of my sales on the 15th of this month. At that time, I will make the donation, and post the reciept and a picture of the excel document onto this blog.

        Again, I want to stress that I will do everything in my power to make this operation as transparent as possible. Transparency promotes the success of a charity, and I want nothing more than to give a substantial donation to Doctors Without Borders every month.

        Overall, I'm very pleased with this past month's turnout. I'm surprised, in fact. I didn't expect to sell this many copies of my new novel. There were a few things that I think contributed:

        Number 1: Being a new novel, the Academy, Book 1, was placed on Amazon lists that tagged it as "new." This gave my novel more traffic than it would normally have gotten.

        Number 2: I believe that the fact that all the money goes to charity contributed to this month's success. I gave away a few hundred free copies of my novel, via Amazon, and wrote a note in the back of each novel that talked about the project. Maybe some people thought that it was a good cause and wanted to tell their friends.

       Number 3: I've built a small fan base. I keep in touch with fans through email, and had people that were excited to read my new book.

       Number 4: The quality. I spent a lot of time on this new novel, and I think that people can tell. I'm a long time writer, and I think that this new novel is at a quality level that people will want to tell others about it. I'm trying hard to entertain, and based on the increased sales, and reviews I've gotten so far, I'd say that I hit my mark.

        Number 5: I distributed approximately 300 flyers in neighborhoods around Lewisville Texas. I took my dog, and we spent about 4 hours walking around neighborhoods putting flyers that explained my project onto people's doorknobs.

       I don't know which of these five contributions had the biggest impact, but I would guess that they worked together. You can look back and see, based on the last excel spreadsheet that I posted that I sold many more books in March than I did in February. This is an exciting start. I hope that it only grows from here!

If you are not yet familiar with my work, you can check it out here:

http://www.amazon.com/Chad-Leito/e/B00BZDKDU8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1364848843&sr=8-1