Comments on: Thankful for authors who give

By: Tina Czarnota

Tina Czarnota — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:45:55 +0000

I’ve an Authors For Animals And Others page on my website, encouraging authors to donate signed copies of their books to favorite charities. The charities in turn auction, sell or pass along the books for a profit which they keep and put to good use in their organizations.
I also do author signings where a portion of my profits or sometimes total profit goes to animal foundations.
I also feed feral cats in my neighborhood and donate to various organizations.

By: Patti Abbott

Patti Abbott — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:36:56 +0000

My daughter, Megan Abbott, writes grants and does development for a non-profit in East Harlem-Union Settlement, which services 15, 000 people. I encourage donations to this NPO whenever the opportunity arises. Union Settlement has been badly damaged by this downturn in the economy and many programs have been slashed. Thanks for reminding me. I can put this on my blog.

By: Mary Kennedy

Mary Kennedy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:03:33 +0000

These are wonderful ideas, very creative! I’ve given gift baskets of autographed books to animal charities for silent auctions, but I can see that there would be a much bigger return if I try the techniques that Chris, Elaine and Clea have used so successfully. Very glad you posted this, Oline.

By: Clea Simon

Clea Simon — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:42:54 +0000

Elaine and Chris are totally right! I frequently donate pets’ names in my books to local animal groups (most recently, the wonderful Animal Rescue League of Boston) to auction off at fund-raisers, and I know many other authors offer similar naming rights. To people, too!

By: Chris Grabenstein

Chris Grabenstein — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:32:43 +0000

I agree with Elaine. The mystery world is extremely generous — to each other and in reaching out to do good. I’ve heard rumors that just about every name in an Elmore Leonard book comes from a charity auction!

By: Elaine Viets

Elaine Viets — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:01:30 +0000

Authors from Martha Grimes to Sara Paretsky to Nancy Cohen have given a portion of their book proceeds to worthy causes. The mystery community is generous.