ILONA ANDREWS

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

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First Innkeeper Pandemic Donation

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In March we released the first three books in the Innkeeper series as a collector edition at a price of $0.99. It was meant as a gift, and we were never planned to make money from it, but it was faster and easier to release it at $0.99 than to release it free. This way we didn’t have to get Amazon to pricematch. We promised to donate our portion of the proceeds to CDP Covid Fund. Here is the original blog post.

We finally received the first batch of sales from that charity event. We both believe into accountability, so here we go.

From Nancy Yost Literary Agency:

The March total is: $2,198.69 for all retailers. Less agency commission means that the total for this title remitted to you goes as follows:  

  • March Total:  $2,198.69
  • Less Commission: $329.80
  • Paid to Author: $1868.89

We haven’t processed April, May, or June yet and I don’t have the conversion rates, but once we process each one of those months, I’ll send you the new total for this title. 

Sarah Younger

Screenshot of the royalties. Please click to enlarge.

We decided to donate an even number and cover CDP’s fees. Supergiant screen shot including the entirety of the mail box, so you know I didn’t type it up in MS Word. 🙂

Screenshot of the donation. Please click to enlarge.

For the purposes of accountability, this is one of the rare times we did not donate anonymously, so CDP should be able to confirm the donation under Ilona Andrews, Inc.

Phew. Done.

I am so glad that’s over with because this was giving me no end of grief. I don’t like feeling like we owe things and this took a little bit of time, because we had to wait for Amazon’s official statement. We’ve had the US numbers for a while, but we also had sales in other countries and the conversion is a nightmare, so we let Amazon do it. We will still have the other months, but we expect the sales to be much less. We will post those donations as they occur.

Please note that if you bought this collector edition, it is now gone, so if you want to keep it, don’t delete it from your device. Sorry, guys, but we can’t afford to keep it up at that price. It was a one time thing to help with the burden of the shut down and pandemic.

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Comments

  3. I believed you when you said that you would donate the profits. You didn’t need to prove it, but I think it’s interesting to see the numbers, so thanks for sharing! ????

  8. Bless you for your generosity and transparency. Sorry for any stress and headaches this caused.

  9. Some how I missed this was a “donation sale” or I’d have purchased more. You 2 are wonderful with your charity donations. Great job! If there are any other sales of this kind, I hope I don’t miss them.

  10. Thank you for your generosity and your transparency. I just introduced my 13yo to Innkeeper and she loved the entire series.

  12. Is it possible to get the collector’s edition at the not special price? I seemed to have missed this opportunity, but I would still like to contribute if possible. Totally understand that it’s been a huge headache for you, so no worries if you’re ready to move onto more fun, less owe-y, things. You do so much for us, your readers, that I don’t want to burden you.

    • Unfortunately no. 🙁

      The three separate books are priced at $4.99 each, on the lower end of a traditional ebook edition of mass market. The total price is roughly $15. Amazon imposes penalties on the books that are more expensive than $10, so we would have to drop the price of the collected edition to $9.99. We crunched the numbers and we would be losing a lot of money at that price point.

  13. Thank you for doing this. To strengthen your initiative, and in appreciation for the pleasure your stories give me, I donated $500 to CDP just now. Much appreciated.

  16. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of something that needed doing. I appreciate you taking the time to take care of the minutiae involved. You are all amazing in so many ways.

  17. I made sure that I told my friends to get it then. And the incentive to help others made it irresistible. You guys are amazing.

  18. This shows me once again that you are the greatest authors around! Thank you for supporting your agencies during this difficult time and at the same time giving us a chance to snap up the collector’s edition and keep our spirits up.
    I enjoy my special reread very much 🙂

  19. Thank you so much for the thoughtful generosity!! You all are the best.

  20. Thank you for the update and also for doing this. Shows how a small amount $0.99 can snowball into a much bigger amount. This offer was a sneaky way for me to get my sister hooked on your books. ???? I then gifted her the other two volumes for her birthday.

  22. Wow, that is indeed accountability taken seriously! Kudos to you, many can learn from it 🙂 I don’t even recognise all the currencies XD I could Google that, but I’m pretty sure if I come back to this post later the BDH will have figured it all out already so I’ll be lazy and wait it out 😉

  25. I think you are both totally wonderful. Thanks for the follow through which was very detailed. I’m so glad that there is a fund to help out.

  27. It was a lovely thing to do. I for one did not need this level of transparency, but I appreciate the respect it shows.
    You two are awesome.

  28. I just read through the comments and saw a statement that Amazon levels penalties for book prices over $10. I think all authors on Amazon should get combat pay for navigating all the “rules” they have. I made a personal decision that for any other I read I won’t use Kindle Unlimited. I want to pay an author for their work. I appreciate what they do and what you do.

    • I think penalty was probably the wrong choice of word on my part. Amazon pays 70% royalty on books priced $2.99-9.99 and 30% for all others. So a $9.99 book would earn the author roughly $6.97 while a $14.99 book would earn $4.50.

      • No, I think penalty is the correct word here. I understand trying to keep prices low so more people will buy, but dropping author payment that low is ridiculous.

      • I understand why Amazon does it, but are iBooks any better for you?
        I hate that our local library uses Kindle rather than iBooks because I Hate doing business with Amazon –I’m tired of having to send stuff back, because the Amazon”partners” lie about their products and there are no consequences.
        They are still allowed to continue selling on Amazon.

  29. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this. As authors (with great imagination) and people, you guys rock.

  31. Thank you for your generosity. I own all 3 in paperback, but bought the kindle collectors to help support things (and hello?! $0.99?? I bought it for several friends as well!). Thank you for doing it!!!

  33. Thank for doing the donation. The cause is worth supporting.

    I wish the large organizations that promise a donation of “X%” of one’s money would do something similar.
    I basically don’t trust them to be honest about the amount donated, so unless the item or service is something I’d pay for anyway, they don’t get my money.

    If I want to make a donation, I do it direct to the organization. They have to tell you what they spend the money on.
    I hate to be that way, but non-profits only have to use 10% of donations for the advertised cause to keep their non-profit status. The rest can be “expenses” and salaries.
    I always check the numbers. You might be surprised at how much of the budget goes for salaries and fund raising…

  36. I want to thank you again for this lovely effort for both your readers and for charity. It was and continues to be a source of entertainment and peace on crazy days. 🙂 Oh how fun a magic house would be during “safer at home” restrictions! heh heh I bought it even though I have 2 of the others already. So I got to read the full early series and feel good that it contributes to charity. You guys rock!

  40. Thank you so much for the opportunity to purchase and then donating! You guys are the best!!

  41. Your transparency and accountability are benchmarks. Thank you for doing what is done by so few: modeling the behavior you want to see in the world.

  42. you guys rock and are so earnest which i love and appreciate, you let us into your lives and your home and there are no words to describe that trust, so much so that if you say you did something there is no need to paper it w support – but you guys are that type of people and we love you for that reason – oh and of course your writing, wordplay and creativeness. thank you for supporting others in the era of pandemic.

    Be safe, be kind and be smart 🙂

  43. Thank you for doing this. Both the 99 ¢ and the accounting. I believed you when you said that was what you would do, because that’s how you operate. But your example is good for all those dead beats that are all show, no go.

  46. That was really nice of you! Not only making the donation, but letting us all know. Frankly, I’d forgotten about it. Thanks all around.

  48. Well done. Had so much fun beaming you guys up to new group yesterday. They couldn’t believe both quantity and quality. We re entering prolly 118 days of daily temps over 101 degrees for EVER. The kiddos are all just sad and ruined so we re prolly gonna start with innkeeper than SOB. Of course we re doing maps ABC study guides with pictures A is for Arland drawing bio and vocabulary sheets, thanks for giving us so much quality to work with.

  49. Yes, I purchased it. Because it was a donation. I also have the Subterranean version. Birthday present for me. Remember when it started . Bruno , Dina, Sean and the great fight in Costco.
    The innkeeper was a great solace to me during some very stressful times.
    Thank you.

  51. I was literally drowned by work in the last ten days, so I had a lot of your posts to read all at once. So far, we have a book recommendation for one of your friend, your daughter giving home to a sick abandonned puppy, a Ryder post for your readers, and an extremely rigourous and transparent update about your donations….
    At time when we may lose hope in humanity, it fells good.
    I think you guys can stop wondering why people love you so much…

  54. I already owned the kindle and audio versions of the books but because of what you were doing, bought them again, simply for the donation. I think what you are doing is amazing and I wish the wealthier people in our societies could take a leaf from your books. (Pun intended lol).

  55. Love you, love your books! So, LOVE × 2! Your books have given me hours, and hours of pleasure. My birthday is August 23rd, so Emerald Blaze will be an awesome present!

  56. I agree with other comments, I had no doubt at all that if you said you would donate, the money would be donated!

    Be well and again, thank you for your generosity in general and your kindness to the BDH!

  59. Thank you both for your donation and, though the BDH obviously believe you, your transparency.

    Just wondering… When you do something like this, do you have to run it by your people first? The Innkeeper is self pubbed, I think, so you’re the boss, but what about your agent? Does the same apply for trad published books? Can something like that (a % to be donated on both ends [publisher and author] be negotiated in a contract?

  61. Thanks for the great sale. I was able to turn my Dad onto you and your books. That it was also for charity is a bonus. ????????

  62. I was going to say if I’d noticed this, I would have bought it for my daughter… Turns out I did see it and did buy it… Huh…:)

    Thanks for your support…

  65. Thank you as well for doing this. Even though I already owned all the books, I bought it again because having all of them in one volume just tickles as well as recommended it to everyone I knew due to the stress of the times and the fundraising. Since then I’ve had friends text me things like, “Sorry too busy reading how Dina and Sean are going to save a species with a fart ???? gun. Bahaahaa”. 😀

  67. Lovely thing you did. A lot of fuss but it is to be hoped, the monies will provide some relief. Blessings.

  69. I wish that we (your fans, friends, general well-wishers, etc.) could somehow give you guys a virtual free pass on having to “sweat the small stuff”! You all must have enough on your (collective and individual) plates to deal with!
    Personally I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be to try to do something nice, only to have to wade through a bunch of red tape to make it happen.
    So thank you again for all you do and how you do it!

    By the way, am I the only one who is dismayed by the paltry share of the sale price that you guys receive??!!!!

    Thank you, thank you, thank you again for all you guys do.

  70. That’s awesome that you went through all that work, the transparency is absolutely refreshing. have an awesome day.

  71. Like many here I already had the books but bought Volume 1 as its nice having them together & it was for charity.

    Thank you for showing the donation “red tape nightmare” transparency, even though I didn’t need to see it, its refreshing that you go above & beyond what most people do!! Which is why the BDH loves you both 😀

  72. I learned something today. ISO 4217, currency codes. Reading expands one’s knowledge.

  73. I own the series but admire where your heart is here. So, I’m sure like many readers I bought the set to support your giving. I know it might not seem like a lot. I believe that all giving comes from the heart and I appreciate your accountability on this House Andrews. Thanks for all you do for your readers and the greater community.

  75. If I understand your numbers, Amazon pays you $0.35 per copy, iBooks pays $0.70 and nook pays $0.40? If this is correct, I am glade I use iBooks when I get your books.

  78. You have always been so incredibly generous of your time and talents to your fans. I cannot think of any author(s) whom I admire and respect more.

  83. I love the Inkeeper books and can’t wait for the next one. What is the first series you wrote? I need a new series to start.

  84. Thank you for sharing this e-book, especially at such a generous price and contribution to charity. It was an incredibly kind thing to do.

    Also, Sean and Dina are my favorite couple of yours, so it made me very happy just to see the illustration in this post. ❤️ I’ve missed them.

    Thanks for everything. 🙂

  86. Newer reader here! Your generosity let me to buy the collection. Of course I got hooked on the Innkeeper world and had to get Sweep of the Blade too!

  87. Already thought you were fabulous, but love you even more for this! No need to provide proof, but it’s nice that you did. So lovely of you to support a good cause!

  88. You guys are amazing. You took on something that was a headache, for you, to help out others. You guys do so much for your fans, I hope you know how VERY much we appreciate it. Heck, you started a NEW book in kate’s world to help us through, and it has. I have lost so many friends, I aline in taking care of my parents and my kids. I have been re-reading all about kate and Curran….and look, everytime I can, to read about Julie….it has been my bridge to sanity. I will never be able to express my gratitude. The closest I can come, is I recommend you to everyone who is looking for a new author. You guys are more than amazing. I am trying not to “fangirl” out on you guys (too late). So, just an overall THANK YOU. Thank you for being real, thank you for talking to us, thank you for caring about not only your fans…but everyone. So, thank you!!

  89. Is it wrong that the thing that makes me happiest about this whole post (apart from knowing that my favorite authors are transparent and follow through on donations) is that one of the emails in your inbox in this picture has the subject “I bribe with a kitty”? Thank you for your books and your carefully thought our activism.

  90. That was incredibly generous in both the donation and the reduced price for the 3 books. Unfortunately, I already own the full series. However, it will provide others with the impetus to read one of your great series!

    Stay well!

  91. It was kindly done. Thank you for your honesty and transparency. I already had all the books, but I am sure that these were a blessing for many.

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