As I promised almost 4 years ago when I first published my little novel about the 173rd Airborne Brigade during the Tet Offensive in part to thank the soldiers — mostly Vietnam Veterans — who contributed so much to my development as a young Army officer, I am continuing to donate half of my earnings from Youth In Asia.

With a generous matching contribution from my employer, this brings the total to about $2,300. And I am again donating to the VFW National Home for Children and Families. There are a lot of good charities staffed by hardworking, caring individuals. This is the one I picked to donate to. I value the focus on helping familes get back on their feet, and taking care of children.

From one perspective, $2,300 is not much money. From another — that of an aspiring novelist — that my first work of published fiction has done so well is gratifying.

Sales have certainly slowed, and last month (November of 2018) was the first month out of 45 months that I sold less than 1 copy a day. December has been a better month of sales, and I’m going to be back above 1 sale a day. The trend though is clear: sales are continuing to slow.

Of course, it is never too late to buy a copy to help me generate more money to donate, and leave a 5-star review to help drive more sales.

I can’t complain about how it has done so far. Almost 4,000 copies sold, 4.4-star rating from 67 reviews on Amazon US, more reviews WW (4.3-star rating from 16 reviews in the UK, 5.0-star rating from three reviews in Canada, etc.), and 105 reviews on GoodReads with a 4.1-star rating. All and all, it has been well received and I have gotten some good feedback on how to write a better story next time.

My goal when I published it was to sell 365 copies and get no less than a 4-star review average. My more important goal was to learn as much as I could about self-publishing, and I certainly have.

So in all ways this has a been a huge success for me and modest help to a few charities. With that, I’ll call it a good year.

And a big thank you to everyone who has bought a copy and left a review which helps me reach more people.

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