CEA distributes books at scale, right? Seems like offering more different books could boost name recognition of other authors and remove a signal of emphasis on you. This would be far from a total fix, but is very easy to implement.
I haven’t kept up with recent books, but back in 2015 I preferred Nick Cooney’s intro to EA book to both yours and Peter Singer’s, and thought it was a shame it got a fraction of the attention.
Presumably it’s easier to sell your own book than someone else’s? I assume CEA is able to get a much better rate on The Precipice and What We Owe The Future than How To Be Great At Doing Good or The Most Good You Can Do. The Life You Can Save (the org) even bought the rights to The Life You Can Save (the book) to make it easier to distribute.
[Edit: This may have been a factor too/instead:
“In my personal case, all of the proceeds from the book — all of the advances and royalties — are going to organizations focused on making sure we have a long-term future.”—Toby
“All proceeds from What We Owe The Future are donated to the Longtermism Fund”—Will
I can’t find anything similar for Peter’s or Nick’s books.]
It will always be easier to promote nearby highly popular people than farther away, lesser known people. One person being the “face” is the natural outcome of that dynamic. If you want a diverse field you need to promote other people even when it’s more effort in the short run.
If you want a diverse field you need to promote other people even when it’s more effort in the short run.
Agreed, sorry, I should have been clearer: I was aiming to offer reasons for why Nick Cooney’s book may have gotten a fraction of the attention to date (and, to a lesser extent, pushing back a bit on the idea that it would be “very easy to implement”).
CEA distributes books at scale, right? Seems like offering more different books could boost name recognition of other authors and remove a signal of emphasis on you. This would be far from a total fix, but is very easy to implement.
I haven’t kept up with recent books, but back in 2015 I preferred Nick Cooney’s intro to EA book to both yours and Peter Singer’s, and thought it was a shame it got a fraction of the attention.
Presumably it’s easier to sell your own book than someone else’s? I assume CEA is able to get a much better rate on The Precipice and What We Owe The Future than How To Be Great At Doing Good or The Most Good You Can Do. The Life You Can Save (the org) even bought the rights to The Life You Can Save (the book) to make it easier to distribute.
[Edit: This may have been a factor too/instead:
“In my personal case, all of the proceeds from the book — all of the advances and royalties — are going to organizations focused on making sure we have a long-term future.”—Toby
“All proceeds from What We Owe The Future are donated to the Longtermism Fund”—Will
I can’t find anything similar for Peter’s or Nick’s books.]
It will always be easier to promote nearby highly popular people than farther away, lesser known people. One person being the “face” is the natural outcome of that dynamic. If you want a diverse field you need to promote other people even when it’s more effort in the short run.
Agreed, sorry, I should have been clearer: I was aiming to offer reasons for why Nick Cooney’s book may have gotten a fraction of the attention to date (and, to a lesser extent, pushing back a bit on the idea that it would be “very easy to implement”).