Two stories crossed my inbox this morning on the rise of the fudnraiser book. The first was a review about an anthology called Orange Karen that was conceived as a fundraiser for author Karen DeLabar, who is recovering from a battle with toxic shock syndrome. Fellow authors, both amateur and professional, contributed to the book, with the proceeds going to fund her medical expenses and recovery efforts.

fundraiser bookMeanwhile, numerous sites (including MediaBistro, where I read the news) are reporting about sci-fi author Dave Wolverton (aka Dave Farland) whose teenage son has been injured in a sports accident.

There is no specific fundraiser book for sale per se, but fans are spreading the news and have organized a book bomb, which has propelled one of Wolverton’s books to number 84 on the Amazon best-seller list.

According to the story at MediaBistro, his son’s condition has thankfully stabilized, but the family has no insurance and are anticipating million-dollar medical bills.

Personally, I am not sure what to make of stories like this. Because I live in a country that handles its health care system a little differently, I don’t feel qualified to comment on the reasons such things become necessary. But I suppose the silver lining in these two cases is that a principal player has a skillset which gives them a product for ready sale and a public platform on which they can promote it. If Wolverton had been an accountant instead of a writer, the story might be a very different one.

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  1. Is this how we want to fund our books? Based on sad stories from the authors? Not based on whether the book is good or not? I have thrown in a few bucks to some of these projects, but I really think, in general, people should buy books because the books sound interesting to them, not because the author is particularly needy.

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