Boxed sets are a popular commodity at the moment.
You see them everywhere, collections of stories by a variety of
authors, grouped under some unifying label. But there's a lot of work
involved in putting a set like this together. That's why we thought
we’d share our experiences and lessons learned.
Earlier in the year, one of the members of the SFR
Brigade asked for volunteers for an SFR boxed set. Eleven of us
promptly banded together, and our Nebula Nights collection
appeared in e-bookstores in record time. Since its release at the
beginning of August, the set reached #1 on Kobo and All Romance, and
charted as high as #3 on Amazon in science fiction romance. The book
maintained an Amazon ranking above 10,000 for most of those three
months. So you could say it did well. At the end of October, our
contract with the publisher expired, so we decided to go it alone,
since the set is still selling quite strongly. This article is a
combination of what we did, and what we learned from our experience
with the publisher.
Ready to go?
What's
your goal?
There's no point in embarking on a project like
this if you don't know what you're intending to achieve. In creating
Nebula Nights, we wanted to showcase our genre, and encourage readers
to purchase more of each author's work. In quantifiable terms, we
aimed at reaching one of the major lists, like the NYT or USA Today.
It’s good to dream big!
Don't
expect to make money
Let's face it, boxed sets are loss leaders,
intended to lure readers on to our other books. We had eleven
stories, most of which were full length novels, on sale for $0.99.
Any money we earned was split with the publisher after Amazon and the
other ebook retailers had taken their slice, and the rest went on
advertising. Self publishing the set won't be much better, in terms
of royalties.
Choose a
theme
Boxed sets ideally have a unifying theme. Readers
want to know what they're buying, hoping to find at least a few
titles that fit their interests. In our case it was relatively easy –
science fiction romance. We didn't limit the heat level. There are
books in the collection ranging from sweet to erotic, although most
are best described as spicy. Say three on a scale of 1 to 5.
Collect
a group of committed, enthusiastic authors
This part can't be stressed enough. We had eleven
people whose only trait in common was that they wrote SFR books. Some
had decades of publishing experience, others less than a year. All of
those women had to meld into a group to make decisions, and to
provide essential input in a timely manner. If any one of us had
faltered, the project would have been delayed.
Just a word about timeliness. Originally we’d
thought of publishing the book later in the year, to give ourselves
more time to get organized. Then we realized that the boxed set trend
was growing by leaps and bounds and if we didn’t get Nebula Nights
out there fast, it might not receive as much notice as we’d hoped.
If you’re trying to ride any new, innovative marketing trend, the
trick is to be as close as you can to the frontrunners. Publishing is
ever-changing!
Bear in mind also that boxed sets are loss
leaders, so there's not much point for an author with only one or two
books available to participate in a boxed set. The ideal situation is
if you have a series already out there for readers to buy, and can
put the first story into the set, thereby enticing people to branch
out later and read your entire series.
Choose a
publisher
There are plenty of firms out there offering their
services to put together a boxed set. Do your homework, compare what
each company is offering. Read the contract. Make sure you:
Retain your copyright and all other rights.
You must read the fine print, ask questions, negotiate anything that
you find to be a problem for you. It doesn’t matter if every other
group of authors the publisher has worked with accepted the terms
and conditions – this is your book and you have to watch out for
your own best interests.
The company can only use your book for this
boxed set
There is a time limit on the boxed set which
can be extended by agreement from all parties
Of course, you can elect to do the work yourself,
as we have for the second edition of Nebula Nights. In that case,
you'd need to be very sure about your contributors' commitment, and
be certain you have the skill sets in the group:
formatting
uploading
marketing
social networking
Choose a
title
The group brainstormed ideas, a short-list was
created and then we went with the most popular. Yes, we did consider
'Love Among the Stars' – but that had already been used fairly
recently for a boxed set about movie stars. Lesson learned: research
your titles. It’s a good idea to check Twitter and Facebook as
well, to see if the title or some variation is already being used, as
a hashtag for example.
Commission
a cover
Based on the collections' name (Nebula Nights:
Love Among The Stars) we commissioned a cover designer. We discussed
two options and everyone had input into tweaks. After that, it was a
consensus decision.
Determine
the order in which the stories appear
Several options were canvased for order of
appearance in the anthology. We could have listed the stories
alphabetically, by title or by author name. Or had the works by the
better-known authors first, or last. After discussion, we used a
random number generator to come up with an order.
Provide the publisher with the manuscripts
The publisher took the eleven books and put them
together to form the boxed set. We had expected that formats for each
book would be the same, with a title page and chapters. A hyperlinked
table of contents would allow a reader to jump easily to any title.
After the boxed set was released we realised the
formatting was not as we had hoped. For this second version one of
the authors, a computer professional, took on the task of formatting
the book. Once the work was completed, each of us checked our own
book in the collection and signed off on each version (mobi, pdf and
epub) after any errors were corrected. This is an important aspect of
quality control.
Produce
abbreviated blurbs and author biographies
The typical blurb found on the back of a book for
an individual story is too long to use in a boxed set. Readers want
to be able to peruse a table of contents and quickly get a feel for
what the books are about. Each of us came up with a two line summary
of her story for the blurb, and a few lines for an author biography.
However, you still will need a blurb that
summarises the whole set. That led to another round of drafting and
editing from everyone. This is what we ended up with:
11 Sci-Fi Romances that'll sweep you away!
If you like your science fiction blazing with
adventure and your space opera spiced with romance, this boxed set is
for you. From first contact to battles for survival and love on
war-torn planets, this collection from bestselling & award
winning authors, including Cathryn Cade, Veronica Scott, PK Hrezo and
more, will leave you sighing with satisfaction.
Promotion
and Marketing
Yes, as always, these activities are required.
Sorry about that! There's no point in doing all this work if nobody
knows it's out there. One reason we initially went with a publisher
was that the company offered a marketing package, to be paid for by
earnings. But as a group we went much further.
A number of people paid for additional
advertising on sites. These are just some of the possibilities
available
Night Owl Reviews
Requested and got a mention on Dear Author’s
daily deals
eReader Cafe
Romance Junkies
The Romance Reviews
Coffee Time Romance
The Daily Bookworm
Kindle Books and Tips
Digital Book Today Deal of the Day
The Kindle Book Review AND The Kindle Romance
Review
Kindle Fire Kindle Nation Daily
Bargain Booksy AND World Literary Cafe
Ebook Booster 99 cent bargain site register.
The Kindle Book Review Kindle Fire Giveaway
My Romance Reads
Facebook ad boosts
etc
We created a Facebook page for Nebula Nights
and organised a fun, fast-paced online launch, with two authors
taking one hour slots over a five hour period. We continued to share
fun photos with the page, to keep reader interest.
Produced a blog hop with author interviews
Added one-line review quotes for each book
into the editorial section of the book's listing on Amazon
Came up with a hashtag for Twitter, and a
bunch of tweets
Trumpeted the new collection on our own
websites and pages
Were featured on the USA Today Happily Ever
After blog
What did
we learn?
It
has been a great experience, combining the skills and talents of
eleven very different individuals. The spirit of cooperation has left
a lasting impression on all of us. So much so that everyone was happy
to take on the task of a new release without the help of a publisher.
One
disadvantage of working with a publisher is that we won't know actual
sales figures for another few months. Many of us are used to
publishing our own books, and are accustomed to being able to see
actual sales figures as they happen – which is an advantage when
planning marketing campaigns.
For
the new release, we have concentrated more on quality control, to
ensure readers have a smooth, uniform experience. Although the
original version was readable for most, some people encountered
formatting issues, and that's the last thing we want.
The
boxed set in its original form was a bit too long. The publisher told
us it was the longest collection that she ever produced - well over
one thousand pages. The larger the book, the longer it takes to
process – to produce the anthology, upload to sales sites, and
download to customers. Ten authors may have been a better number, if
only from the point of view of perception. Ten is neat.
We
didn’t break onto
any of the nationally-recognized best seller lists we’d
been hoping for, but it was good to have that as a goal, out there in
front of us, encouraging us to keep doing the promo. Some of us did
see satisfying spikes in the sales numbers for our other available
novels. And I think we succeeded in bringing renewed attention to the
science fiction romance genre, which is always an excellent result.
If
you haven't bought your copy of Nebula Nights, here are the
links to the new, improved version. It's an absolute steal for $0.99.
And (ahem) if you enjoy it, do
please leave a review.
With her cyborg turned warrior by her side, Sabralia must stand up to
each danger and challenge or lose the man she loves. Sensual Sci-fi
Romance.
Duty knows no family. Love has no price. Secrets can cost you
everything.In this Japan-inspired tale, one woman's family destiny is
key to the survival of the last city on Earth.
Butterman (Time) Travel, Inc. - PK
Hrezo
A futuristic romance along the winding path of time. It's the year
2069 and even though eighteen-year-old Bianca Butterman is heir to
the family time travel biz, she never expected to be earning her
official time-craft license with golden boy pop superstar, Tristan
Helms, in tote. Her life is about to get a lot more complicated ...
and exciting.
A holiday romance with a sci-fi twist! Noelle wishes for someone who
understands she has love to give but commitments to honor. Stranded
on Earth, Steve longs for someone who will understand that his alien
heart can love just as deeply.
Can she survive the perils of the galaxy on her wits ... or will she
have to use her body?
War rips lives apart, but three people will show the universe that
love can bring about peace.
Winner of both a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award and
an SFR Galaxy Award!
When the planet erupts into war, Sectors Special Forces Captain Tom
Deverane must decide whether to save Andi Markriss, the intergalactic
businesswoman he loves, or sacrifice her to save Zulaire.
When her terraforming company expands into creating humanoid life,
Lunar Physician Solia Calian has to find a way to stop them. She'll
have the help of her ex, the mysterious sheriff Giancarlo Sable, but
they'd better hurry up. When the creatures they want to liberate
start turning on them, figuring out where the real danger lies is the
only way to leave the colony in one piece.
When Sara Donovan joins Project Enterprise she finds out that what
doesn’t kill her makes her stronger. An Air Force pilot – the
best of the best to be assigned to this mission – Sara isn’t
afraid to travel far beyond the Milky Way on an assignment that takes
her into a galaxy torn apart by a long and bitter warfare between the
Dusan and the Gadi.
The Galaxy teeters on the brink of war. Can ex-admiral Saahren
persuade the woman who hates him to help him prevent the coming
conflagration? And perhaps even love him?
When one woman learns the truth of about herself, she must accept
reality beyond comprehension, and face an enemy who wants her dead.
Paired with her clone, and the one man who makes her heart flutter
the world must be saved at all cost.
