$250K books sold. $250K to save lives.

$250K books sold. $250K to save lives.

By Derek Sivers

Six weeks ago I emailed my private(ˈprīvit) email list with a secret link to buy my new books.

They’re not even officially(əˈfiSHəlē) released yet, but they’ve already sold over $250,000.

I made 5000 limited edition hardcover copies of each, but those have sold out now.

I’ll admit, it made me ridiculously(rəˈdikyələslē) happy to make $250,000. I was expecting way less than that, so it was a big surprise. I had a spring in my step for days.

Then I thought about what to do with the money. There’s nothing I want to buy. Should I put it in an investment account? Eh. For what purpose? I don’t want more money.

So, I decided to donate(ˈdōˌnāt) it to charity(ˈCHerədē). Which charity? I want to save the most lives. So I let GiveWell decide.

Yesterday I wired the entire $250,000 to the Against Malaria(məˈlerēə) Foundation. That will buy 125,000 malaria nets, protecting ~225,000(approximately(əˈpräksəmətlē)) people, averting(əˈvərt) ~65,000 cases of malaria, preventing(prəˈvent) ~125 deaths.

Yeah. That’s worth doing.

Afterwards, a friend reminded me that I had just repeated my “232 sand dollars” story, so go read that if interested.

You can buy the books now, directly from me. They won’t be available anywhere else for a couple more months.

“Your Music and People” is a philosophy(fəˈläsəfē) of getting your work to the world by being creative, considerate, resourceful, and connected.

“Hell Yeah or No” is a collection of thoughts around what’s worth doing, fixing faulty(ˈfôltē) thinking, and making things happen.

https://sive.rs/250k