Friday, May 30, 2014

Multi-Author Boxed Sets- What Makes Them HOT, or Not #SpiceBox



USA Today HEA blog posted an article today about the hot trend in multi-author boxed sets.
What has made this trend so popular? Is it here to stay or will it be replaced by the next new trend in self-publishing?

Check out SPICE BOX AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDER FOR $. 99!  I interviewed four authors who had participated in boxed sets and asked them several questions on the benefits and problems involved.

Some of the obvious benefits are combining the fan bases of several authors draws huge sales numbers to these collection of books. The bargain prices is another thing that catches the interest of many readers. Who wouldn't want a box full of eBooks for a dollar? Readers can't seem to get enough. Many of these collections are selling so well, the authors are hitting major bestsellers lists. The authors are gaining a new reader/fan base and growing their careers. And making a decent amount of money in the process. Authors have the combined efforts of many talented authors for successful promotional campaigns. Seems like a win-win for both author and readers.

There are some downsides too. Coordinating a project of this size can be daunting. Formatting is a nightmare. Authors may have a different vision for promotion, book covers, etc. And accounting for the royalties to be distributed is confusing too. It's great if you have one person who does the main organizing. Arrange for an accountant or lawyer to handle the finances. The authors will each have to sign the proper tax forms well ahead of time. And one author Amazon/retailer account will need to be used to set up the boxed set.


In our boxed set collection for SPICE BOX , one of the authors, Raine Miller, used her Amazon representative to help us with setting up our pre-order and listing. A.C. James worked with Mark Coker at Smashwords to organize the pre-orders at the other various retailers. The trend doesn't seem to be going away any time soon.



SPICE BOX is available for pre-order here:
Amazon | BN  | Smashwords | AppleiBooks  |  Kobo 

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