Introduction
Boxed sets, book sets, bundles, anthology, or collections.
Whatever you want to call a multi-author book set. They
are a hot item in the book publishing industry.
So someone has asked you to join a group of authors. They
want to publish one of your books under one cover. So you ask yourself.
What am I getting into?
How much time will it take from my writing schedule?
If I do this, what am I getting out of it?
Is there a downside to a multi-author
book set?
It was time to do a study of the publishing pros and
cons involved in multi-author book sets. As
I usually do, I seek advice from my Spotlight Crew. They are a group of authors
I have interviewed during the years (over 400 interviews since 2012). I have included
some of the information from their answers related to book sets in this study.
For authors, there are advantages to going the multi-author
book set route. Book sets are differently
a good way to get your book in front of more readers. Here is what a couple
of authors had to say about multi-author book sets.
Uvi Poznansky
Uvi is a
bestselling, award-winning author, poet, and artist. She is the author of Contemporary
and Historical Fiction novels.
I thrive on
reaching out to my audience. Every day I discover new ways to create this connection
and strengthen it. By far the best way is forging alliances with other authors,
whose work is of outstanding quality and whose audience appreciates creativity.
To this end, I review fellow authors on my blog, which is my way of recognizing
their talent. I organize author events on Facebook to showcase our work. I read
a lot of novels, note their reviews, and actively seek out book recommendations,
all of which allows me to choose the best and the brightest for the most ambitious
team projects I created to date: boxed sets. In my mind, they are meant to celebrate
excellence in writing. They allow you to discover new authors and from there, it
is up to you to read more of their books.
S.R.
Mallery
Sarah is the
award-winning author who writes Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction, and
Mysteries.
I was graciously
invited in by Uvi Poznansky, who knew my work and wanted to include me if at
all possible. This was my first bundle experience, and I couldn’t be happier.
Adam Croft
Adam writes
Mystery & Thrillers and Crime novels.
Box sets are an absolute
must for indie authors. They are regularly my biggest sellers, and without taking
any noticeable sales away from the constituent books. Box sets are big business.
A low eBook set price (Usually $.99) - Complete set of books in one volume
The reader gets a
collection of books, usually in a specific genre, at a great price. It’s a digital
book. There is no paper book creation to oversee and no physical delivery to
coordinate. The reader can read the set anywhere they want.
Author
opportunity
For the author,
it's an opportunity to get their book in front of new readers. (exposure)
Also, its easier for
the author to get a bestseller tag. All sales of the book set count toward
gaining that tag for the author because it's based on volume sold from all
sources.
The author gets
to work with other amazing authors. The process of developing, publishing, and
marketing the set is a team effort.
One good thing about
an eBook, if you find a mistake or a problem, you can fix it on-line.
Startup
Good Manager
All successful multi-author
book sets start with a good manager. The captain of the crew, so to
speak. Someone who has the experience, the management skills and will put the
effort into the success of the project.
They develop the
plan, set goals, and invite the authors. That, in itself, is a major task. Some
create the group from previous experience, others from writing groups. They
just ask for a commitment of effort. Here are some of the experiences of our
group of writers.
Nancy Fraser
Nancy is a Top 100 Bestselling Author. She
writes Romance novels and short stories.
The main objective
was—obviously—sales. More than that though was to widen our collective audience.
Being that all the authors belong to our private group, The Romance Gems, we posted
a call for participation and were delighted with the results when over half the
group joined in this first joint venture. The actual process of creating the
box set fell to the group of fourteen, with volunteers taking up different jobs
under the watchful eye of our leader, Joan Reeves. For hovering over thirteen
highly talented and opinionated authors, she deserves sainthood.
Bonnie
Edwards
Bonnie is the author of The Brantons and the
Tales of Perdition series. She writes Romance, Contemporary and Paranormal
novels, and novellas.
Team efforts work if
you have a dedicated team.
I'm not surprised that with multi-author sets we see some who
ride coat-tails and some who dig in. Human nature, I suppose.
It's been a good
experiment to do this box set. Not sure if short stories are snapped up the way
full novels or novellas would be though.
Sylvie Grayson
Sylvie is the
author of The Last War series. Sylvie writes Romantic Suspense and Fantasy
novels.
The sales impact has
been good—we are all pleased with the action on the collection itself and the effect
on sales of our other books. I belong to a group of authors who critique and
support each other, and we worked together on this. It was a first for us.
Pauline
Baird Jones
Pauline is the
award-winning author of The Lonesome Lawmen and the Project Enterprise series.
The author
bundles have been GREAT. From both of them, I’ve seen good follow-on sales of the
other books in the series. I’ve also met and worked with some amazing authors
and some of us are involved in other cross-promotional activities.
Amy Manemann
Amy is the
International Best-selling of the Lightkeeper Series and the Hartley Series.
She writes Romantic Suspense and Young Adult Paranormal Romance novels.
These sets are a fun
way of collaborating with a large group of authors and getting your name into
places it wouldn't have otherwise gone. The main objective of boxed sets varies
depending on the group, some are solely in it to make one of the lists where
others are about getting sales and boosting their readership.
Cheryl
Kaye Tardif
Cheryl is a Bestselling Canadian Suspense
Author. She is the author of the Divine Trilogy. Also, Cheryl writes Romance
novels as Cherish D'Angelo.
When you bundle,
you're sharing a much larger audience, and that helps to bring in more sales of
other works and new readers. The main objective of our two bundles was to give
the authors involved increased exposure, especially since all authors involved
did their own promoting of the bundles.
Jaclyn
Weist
Jaclyn is the author
of the Luck Series.
Wendy Knight originally
came up with the idea of doing a series together with other authors. She asked
a few people and we came together. A few had to back out because of other time
commitments so we brought in a couple of other people. Atlantis was born that
way. We wanted to do Middle Grade which is something only a couple of the
authors had ever done, but it was a fun new adventure for each of us. We had
our struggles as we’re all artists and have our set ways, but they’re all among
my best friends now.
Joan Reeves
Joan is a NY Times
& USAToday best-selling author of Contemporary Romance.
I designed Romance Gems from the ground up. We had the
grand opening in Feb. 2019. It's been a lot of hard work. I'm constantly torn
between being proud of it and being dismayed at all the time it takes from my
writing. You probably know what I mean because I can tell your website takes an
enormous amount of time. Most good ones do I guess, and yours is very good.
Goals
The goal is the
guiding light to how the book set is put together. You could be looking for exposure
and cross-promotion. Or you may want to be on a bestseller list to help sell
your other books. Or you are looking for new readers. Or you may want to expand
your newsletter signup list.
Exposure and Cross Promotion
Toni Anderson
Toni is a New
York Times and USA Today international bestselling author who writes dark,
gritty Romantic Suspense.
Author bundles help
cross-promotion between authors of similar types of books.
Bundling serves two
purposes. One, avid fans get the chance to buy multiple books at a cheaper
price than the individual books sell for and, secondly, some readers actively
prefer the box set format.
Brett Battles
Brett is the
award-winning, bestselling author of the
Jonathan Quinn, Logan Harper
Thriller and Project Eden Series.
The main reason to
participate is to expose my work to readers who might not otherwise have found
me. By bundling with authors who write in similar genres, we are creating
something perfect for our target readers.
Jenna Bennett
Kathy is a
bestselling suspense writer. She is an author specializing in Mystery & Thrillers
with Women Sleuths.
The purpose was to
use the bundle as a sort of loss leader and to – hopefully – boost sales of our
other books. We all put in the first books in our series, and I do know of
people who have gone on from the bundle to read the other books in the Cutthroat
Business series, so it does work.
Jacquie Biggar
Jacquie is a Romance,
Contemporary, and Suspense writer who writes the 'Wounded Hearts' series.
Book sets have been
a positive experience all around. I’ve made new friends, new fans, and best of
all, the cross-promotion has helped my other books get recognized. I met the
others in the set through a Facebook group.
Russell Blake
Russell is the
best-selling, award-winning author of The JET series, Assassin series, and BLACK
series.
Well, they were
overwhelmingly successful. The first bundle sold over 170K units, and the second
turned in a respectable performance. The objective was purely to find new
readers who otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to our work.
M.A. Comley
Bestselling Thriller
author M.A. Comley is the author of The Justice series, The DI Sally Parker
thriller series, The Hero series, & Intention series.
The main objective behind
releasing the author bundle books was to make readers aware of the other
stunning mystery/thriller authors out there. My fans have discovered authors
they might never have noticed amongst the millions now available on Amazon and
the other sites.
Jamie
Lee Scott
Jamie is a USA
Today Bestselling Author and an Award-winning Screenwriter, Producer and Director,
and the creator of the Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries series.
MMM [Mirth, Murder
& Mystery], as it is lovingly called by the seven authors involved, was the
brainstorm of Lucie Charles. She wanted to get a group of like-minded authors
together. We could split the advertising costs and split the profits if there
were any. The main reason for doing the bundle was to get our names out there.
MMM put me on the USA Today Bestseller list, so I’d say it was a success.
Marcia
James
Author Marcia James
writes comic romantic mystery and suspense novels, as well as humorous
contemporary romance.
Not only do I get to
work with a great group of authors, but we each get one of our stories in front
of the other authors' readers. This can and does lead to an increase in sales
of our other books and novellas.
Bestseller List
Tamara
Ferguson
Tamara is an award-winning author who writes
Romance and Suspense novels.
What many authors
don’t realize is the category rankings for anthology sales will also be
associated individually with your numbers.
Heather Day Gilbert
Heather is an
Amazon Norse Bestseller author. She is the author of Hemlock Creek Suspense,
Vikings of the New World Saga, and A Murder in the Mountains series. Heather
writes Historical Fiction and Mystery Novels.
The purpose of
boxed sets is generally to increase newsletter signups for individual authors
and to bring new readers to each author, although some sets specifically target
making the USA Today bestseller list and other lists.
K.M.
Hodge
Kelly is the award-winning
writer of The Syndicate-Born Trilogy and the Book Cellar Series. She writes
Mystery and Thrillers.
I was invited by
the marketing person for the Wedding Dreams box set to be a part of the
collection. The goal of the project is to make the USA Today Best Seller list.
The ladies in the group are super talented and a lot of fun to work with.
Emma
Jameson
Emma is the NYT
bestselling author of the Lord & Lady Hetheridge series and Dr. Benjamin
Bones Mysteries.
The bundle is possibly
the best thing I ever did for my career because it allowed me to reach a lot of
readers who’d never heard of me. It also put me on the New York
Times bestseller list. A host of new readers were waiting for
follow-ups, thanks to the bundle.
Ian
Sutherland
Ian is the Author
of the Brody Taylor Thriller Series. Ian writes Crime, Thriller, and Mystery
Novels.
Website -
Twitter: @iansuth - Facebook - Goodreads
Deadly Dozen has done incredibly well, nailing three
separate spots on the NYTimes Bestseller list and hitting the USA Today list
for seven consecutive weeks. Bundles are attractive now to voracious readers
who like to fill up their Kindles and e-Readers on the cheap…When we first
started our collective, I never expected to sell anything. I assumed we'd share
marketing ideas and that would be that. But it's grown into this publishing
monster with a life all its own.
Vincent
Zandri
Vincent is the
No. 1 International Bestselling Amazon Noir Author.
Deadly Dozen has
done incredibly well, nailing three separate spots on the NYTimes Bestseller
list and hitting the USA Today list for seven consecutive weeks. Bundles are
attractive now to voracious readers who like to fill up their Kindles and e-Readers
on the cheap…When we first started our collective, I never expected to sell
anything. I assumed we'd share marketing ideas and that would be that. But it's
grown into this publishing monster with a life all its own.
Wayne
Zurl
Wayne Zurl is the
author of the Sam Jenkins Smoky Mountain Mysteries series. He writes Mystery
& Thrillers, Crime, and Suspense Novels
DEATH OF CHOICE wasn’t
the first multi-author anthology I contributed to. It was the first offered for
free as a way to introduce readers to our work. I did several others that were
sold to make money for charities.
Creation
As was mentioned
before, the manager is the key. I have seen book sets that didn’t come together
because of various reasons including poor management. Also, there are costs
involved so you need to look at funding.
How you put the eBook set together is very
important. That includes editing, formatting,
cover design, set banner, etc.
Tamara Ferguson
Tamara is an
award-winning author who writes Romance and Suspense novels.
The romance bundle
for A Touch of Passion is comprised of full-length novels. When my dear friend
Uvi Poznansky invited me into the group, I immediately said yes.
She is the most
amazing organizer I’ve ever met when it comes to putting together an anthology and
setting up promotions and Facebook events, and she’s a very talented graphic
designer as well. It takes a lot of patience to work in a group; particularly when
some members can’t contribute as much time as others, because of previous commitments.
Denise
Moncrief
Denise is a Romantic
Suspense author of the Colorado series, the Haunted Hearts Series, and the
Crisis Series.
It’s a process: Gathering
a group of compatible authors in the same genre. Organizing the funding and
submission of promotions. Agreeing on cover design and book order. Engaging a
service to format the book. Then promoting it. It took all of us doing our part
to make it work.
Anita
Philmar
Anita is an
Amazon Best Selling author of Western Romances.
I enjoy being in a
box set. Mainly, I like working with other authors on a common goal. This has
helped my sales. In that, it exposes me to new readers and spreads the cost of
promotion over the group, giving each of us more exposure. I haven’t been the one
to put a box set together. Luckily, I have been associated with other authors
that have invited me to be in the group, which makes my part in the group much
easier.
Effort
and Time delegation
Joan Reeves
Joan is a NY Times & USAToday
best-selling author of Contemporary Romance.
One of my goals, when I gathered the 2 dozen authors of
Romance Gems together, was to publish a box set this year. Once I no longer had
to oversee every aspect of the blog—I started delegating everything I was doing!
My motto for everyone involved in the blog and this box set is: No free rides.
Everyone works. Some authors don't seem to realize that success takes hard
work.
By delegating, I made time to get the box set publishing
goal a reality. The result is Last Chance Beach: Summer's End.
Promotions
Promotions
For eBooks and on-line marketing, the amount of social media
activity is very important. You should link to everything you can. Websites,
Amazon, social media sites, and other retailer’s sales pages, etc. Hitting every
on-line book group can help. And paid advertising is always an option.
The low
price will get the reader’s attention, but they need to hear about the book set
and you need to get them to buy it.
Marcia James
Author
Marcia James writes comic romantic mystery and suspense novels, as well as
humorous contemporary romance.
So these boxed sets are a way of co-promoting
with other authors. That saves time and money since we're splitting the jobs
(running a Facebook page, contacting advertisers, coordinating the cover and formatting,
etc.) and the cost (paying for advertising, the cover, the formatting, etc.) And
the boxed sets are a great deal for readers, too, since most of them include at
least ten stories for 99 cents.
Leslie
Kohler
Leslie is a
mystery writer with a Southern border flavor.
The great thing
about being published in this anthology is when the group schedules appearances
and signings, I not only help sign and sell So West, So Wild, I have the
opportunity to market my own novels. This is huge, and I’m grateful for Sisters
in Crime for giving me these opportunities.
David
VanDyke
Author David VanDyke
is a bestselling author. He writes Science Fiction and Fantasy novels.
The readers get an
inexpensive collection of works and they often find at least a few stories among
the many to like. Then they go on to get books from those authors. This is another
great win-win for authors and readers.
Jaclyn
Weist
Jaclyn is the author of the Luck Series.
Doing the series
with other authors made marketing easier because it wasn’t just one of us doing
all of it. We were able to help each other out. We attended Salt Lake Comic Con
and had a booth there. We were able to get a lot of sales of both the series
together and as individual books. Four of us went back together again for Fan
Experience and we had several people come back and get other books because they
remembered us.
What Makes a Book Set Successful?
Let’s ask a couple
of authors their opinion on this one.
Bonnie Edwards
Bonnie is the
author of The Brantons and the Tales of Perdition series. She writes Romance,
Contemporary and Paranormal novels, and novellas.
I've been in a
few and I believe a theme or common setting is key. Last Chance Beach has
the fictional town we all had fun creating. Joan Reeves came up with the
concept and we added things like street names and businesses. My
characters booked into a B&B run by Kathryn Hill's characters, for
instance. Without a theme or other unifying thread it's more difficult to come
up with promotional themes. Just my opinion, of course. And I'm convinced that
every member of the set must share the promotional load and do their part.
I've stepped up considerably from previous sets I was in...but that's how you
learn.
Nancy Fraser
Nancy is a Top 100 Bestselling Author. She
writes Romance novels and short stories.
I think the primary
goal should be to find a group of authors who are like-minded as far as the way
the set will progress, as well as have the same level of commitment for
promotion. I also think it's best to limit the number of books/stories. I know
it's a promotional advantage to say "14 authors/14 new stories".
However, putting 14 authors in the same virtual room isn't always a good thing.
To me, ten authors who can all agree on the basics like length, heat level,
genre, and then share information is key.
Suzanne Jenkins
Suzanne is a Romance and
Suspense Author. She is the author of the Pam of Babylon series and The Greeks
of Beaubien Street.
A set made up of new stories seems to do the best. Like with any
book, a beautiful cover is helpful!
Promotion is important - I've led about ten sets and the key is
that every author needs to promote. If you don't have author involvement in
promotion, it's difficult to keep the ranking up so there is an income
produced.
Libby Fischer Hellmann
Libby is an
acclaimed crime writer. She is the author of the Georgia Davis and the Ellie
Foreman series.
I’ve been involved with several book sets or Boxed Sets,
both large and small. I can tell you from my experience what works, but
it may be different than others’ experience.
The most successful Boxed Set I did involved 5 authors,
all of whom were traditional authors now self-publishing. In other words, they
were known and respected authors.
Although the novels were not new, they were new to some
readers since readers might have read one or two of the authors but not all five.
So the variety of authors helped introduce readers to all of us.
The Boxed Set must be novels, not short stories. People
feel cheated if they’re short. However, a novella could work.
There should not be too many authors in the set… the
boxsets I see with 10 or 12 authors are silly. Readers just aren’t going to
plow through all of them. Plus there’s a big risk that the contributions will
vary in quality. I think 5 is a good number.
Multi-Author Book
Set Cons
There will be problems
along the way. Let’s call them obstacles. Here is a list of some of the ones I came
up with.
Multi-Author Book sets Life is Fixed
The book set is sold
on various sites for a set period. Then it’s taken down from the sites.
Large File Size
If the multi-author
book set contains more than a few books, the size of the eBook can be a
problem when it's loaded to a mobile device or a Kindle. Either it is slow
reading or it takes up most of the memory.
Also, downloading from
the cloud can take a long time. The retailers download the complete file, not
just the book you want to read.
Bad Look Inside
On Amazon, the LOOK
INSIDE feature is of no value unless you’re the first book and you have your
marketing materials and links included with your book.
No Author Picture and Limited Information
Most multi-author
book sets do not include much information about the author like links to
their contact information and a picture.
Create and Setup Time
Creating the multi-author
book set and the pre-order marketing can be very time consuming,
especially if you’re a key player in the group. It does cut into your writing
time as mention above.
Prep Costs
There are actual
costs involved if you need to hire someone to set it up, do the cover, do paid
advertising, and all the little things that come up.
Social Media Activity
The success of the
book set will depend on how much social media and Internet exposure you get. It’s
an eBook with no physical presence. All the buying activity is on-line.
Book Placement in a Multi-Author Book Set
A general problem is if you draw the short
straw and your book is last or near the end of the book set, the reader may
never get to your writing. Especially, if the reader gives up on the book set. The
exposure you’re looking for may not happen. Here is some input from my
spotlight crew.
Catherine
Lee
Catherine is the
author of the A Cooper & Quinn Mystery series. Catherine writes Mystery and
Suspense novels.
It’s hard to tell what
the impact of the bundle has been on my other sales. My book is about halfway
through the bundle, so there are still probably a lot of people who bought that
bundle who haven’t read it yet. But I have a few reviews on Dark Heart who
mention they got it in the bundle, and they’ve become fans, so there’s been some
impact. It’s hard for us indie authors to get noticed in the crowd, and bundles
like these are another way to get your work out there.
Barbara
Silkstone
Barbara is the bestselling
author of the Mister Darcy Series, the A Wendy Darlin Comedy Mystery series,
the Pride and Prejudice and Witches series, and The Witches of Longbourn.
Multi-author bundles
are put together for the short run. Usually only 6 months. It is a wonderful way
to introduce your work to new readers.
Conclusion
That’s
the good news and the bad news. At least, most of the authors who have been
included in a book set like the experience. The author gains exposure. It may
bump sales and you may even get your name on a bestseller list. When asked the ‘What would you do differently with the next Book set?’ here are
the responses.
Suzanne Jenkins
Suzanne is a Romance and
Suspense Author. She is the author of the Pam of Babylon series and The Greeks
of Beaubien Street.
Personally, I prefer sets that aren't going to be published
longer than six months. Also, again, for me personally, I don't like to be in
sets with more than ten authors because someone has to be near the end and that
diminishes the purpose of attracting new readers if no one is going to read my
book.
In conclusion,
the group that I am lucky enough to be in breaks all my rules and is
successful. We publish sets with older titles, have more than ten authors in
many of the sets, and keep the titles up forever.
That’s the Pros and Cons
The readers get a deal.
There is a lot of work putting one together,
so you need a good leader that can delegate and authors that put an effort into
the project.
There is a cost involved in time. The bookset
is successful because of the effort put into it and the quality of the writing.
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Post Created by: James Moushon
Mystery writer, book industry blogger, and the sponsor of the following blogs
James Moushon's Website
HBS Author's Spotlight
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