A new book came out the other day, and it almost immediately went to a number one position on Amazon.com. In fact, at the time of this writing it’s still #1 in several categories.
Most people didn’t buy the book for the book, though. They bought it to fund a worthy cause. The book is more like a memento, a gift from 62 renowned authors who contributed essays to the project.
Michael Bungay Stanier put the project together, inspired to do something for a good cause on a global scale. Ending malaria became the goal. The promise of a readily available, affordable solution to a deathly problem is readily available – $10 mosquito nets. And so the book project was born.
Stainer got Seth Godin involved. Godin, a bestselling author, top marketer, and founder of a new publishing company (The Domino Project) got behind the effort and helped to take it to the next level. Now, the Kindle version of the book is selling in the number one spot at about double the normal price for a Kindle book – $20. And all the money goes to the cause. (There’s also a paperback version for $25, $20 goes to the cause.)
It’s pretty amazing to see that sort of clever and impactful campaign in action, emerging suddenly one day and immediately becoming a huge success. And I bet the book is good too (I bought one).
You can buy the book here, and read more about the project here.
