Help choose military charities receiving donations from "The Military Guide" sales
The book is a non-profit project. All royalties (after income taxes) will be donated to military charities.
A number of issues led to this decision.
First there's the question of credibility. Very little of it is shared among the "journalists" paid by the financial media to write retirement articles. Sure, they seem to be writers and they might even be researchers, but if they're slaving away on deadline for a paycheck then what the heck do they know about retirement-- let alone early retirement?!? At best they're biographers documenting the success of others without actually being able to emulate their examples. At worst they're perpetuating bad planning and poor execution.
Other ER authors have been hit with this too. "If you're really financially independent, then why do I have to buy your book? Shouldn't you be giving it away?!? Or, hmmm, does your ER plan have a few leaks in it that you're plugging with royalties?" As you writers already know, the irony is that there are very few ER'd authors-- the bestselling ones enjoy writing too much to stop, and their royalty dollars just help them keep score.
A second problem is the conflict of interests. One ER author got serious pushback from an editor who disagreed with his conclusions, and she felt his book wasn't "ready" for publication until the offending material had been "revised to appeal to a larger audience". Other retirement authors are associated with companies selling financial products or website analysis. If they recommend that retirees buy an annuity, is it because annuities make sense or is it because they're sponsored by an annuity-selling company?
Everything you read in "The Military Guide" has been tested by me or by another ER. They didn't get paid to tell me about it, and I'm not getting paid to share our knowledge. Our methods seem to be working for us (so far so good!) and they're backed by financial & historical research (for whatever that's worth). We'll let you know if there are any changes or potholes.
A third problem is the "all-volunteer force". How was I going to collect material for the book? How would I find people willing to review and proofread it? How could I appeal to a huge viral audience? I didn't think they'd be eager to enrich me with their efforts, and I wasn't going to pay them for their contributions. Yet over 50 volunteer veterans and families told me what worked for them-- and what didn't. A few of them wrote substantial drafts of a couple chapters. Several of them spent hours helping me slice the first draft to ribbons before I discarded it and started over. (Thanks, guys!) One reviewer even traveled all the way to Hawaii to share his comments during lunch next to the beach. They're proud of their accomplishments and they're paying it forward.
Last but not least, it's a great marketing gimmick. The vast majority of military publishers want to help veterans improve their military careers or find lucrative civilian ones. (Believe me, if there was a book on military ER I would have found it by now.) Donating the royalties lets a publisher proclaim their philanthropic support, too. Initially I was afraid that a publisher would pay next to nothing if they knew that I was "just going to give their money away", but Impact Publications offered a very generous contract. We're worth it.
Oh, yeah, one more reason-- the donations will be helping a lot of people who've already made tremendous sacrifices for our freedom. That's another way to pay it forward.
So... what charities should we consider?
The book is a non-profit project. All royalties (after income taxes) will be donated to military charities.
A number of issues led to this decision.
First there's the question of credibility. Very little of it is shared among the "journalists" paid by the financial media to write retirement articles. Sure, they seem to be writers and they might even be researchers, but if they're slaving away on deadline for a paycheck then what the heck do they know about retirement-- let alone early retirement?!? At best they're biographers documenting the success of others without actually being able to emulate their examples. At worst they're perpetuating bad planning and poor execution.
Other ER authors have been hit with this too. "If you're really financially independent, then why do I have to buy your book? Shouldn't you be giving it away?!? Or, hmmm, does your ER plan have a few leaks in it that you're plugging with royalties?" As you writers already know, the irony is that there are very few ER'd authors-- the bestselling ones enjoy writing too much to stop, and their royalty dollars just help them keep score.
A second problem is the conflict of interests. One ER author got serious pushback from an editor who disagreed with his conclusions, and she felt his book wasn't "ready" for publication until the offending material had been "revised to appeal to a larger audience". Other retirement authors are associated with companies selling financial products or website analysis. If they recommend that retirees buy an annuity, is it because annuities make sense or is it because they're sponsored by an annuity-selling company?
Everything you read in "The Military Guide" has been tested by me or by another ER. They didn't get paid to tell me about it, and I'm not getting paid to share our knowledge. Our methods seem to be working for us (so far so good!) and they're backed by financial & historical research (for whatever that's worth). We'll let you know if there are any changes or potholes.
A third problem is the "all-volunteer force". How was I going to collect material for the book? How would I find people willing to review and proofread it? How could I appeal to a huge viral audience? I didn't think they'd be eager to enrich me with their efforts, and I wasn't going to pay them for their contributions. Yet over 50 volunteer veterans and families told me what worked for them-- and what didn't. A few of them wrote substantial drafts of a couple chapters. Several of them spent hours helping me slice the first draft to ribbons before I discarded it and started over. (Thanks, guys!) One reviewer even traveled all the way to Hawaii to share his comments during lunch next to the beach. They're proud of their accomplishments and they're paying it forward.
Last but not least, it's a great marketing gimmick. The vast majority of military publishers want to help veterans improve their military careers or find lucrative civilian ones. (Believe me, if there was a book on military ER I would have found it by now.) Donating the royalties lets a publisher proclaim their philanthropic support, too. Initially I was afraid that a publisher would pay next to nothing if they knew that I was "just going to give their money away", but Impact Publications offered a very generous contract. We're worth it.
Oh, yeah, one more reason-- the donations will be helping a lot of people who've already made tremendous sacrifices for our freedom. That's another way to pay it forward.
So... what charities should we consider?
[/-] Ooops, just read Leonidas' post. That is OUTRAGEOUS. 
