SFFMP 95: Boxed Set Strategies (multi-author and solo novel bundles and short story anthologies)

Today, the guys chatted about their experiences with multi-author and solo-author book bundles of existing material and also anthologies of new short stories or novellas. They offered some tips and strategies based on whether you’re looking for more exposure (getting more people into the rest of your series), to make money, or to hit a bestseller list. They also started out answering a few listener questions.

Here are a few more notes on what they covered during the show:

• Jesper Schmidt’s Fantasy Map Making: A step-by-step guide for worldbuilders. He’s offering 10 free copies to listeners, first come, first serve: http://dl.bookfunnel.com/xshqdkoirn. If you don’t make it in time to grab a copy, you can buy it from Amazon or learn more on his website.
• Books on writing and resources the guys recommend: Self-Editing for Fiction Authors, Stephen King’s On Writing, and Brandon Sanderson’s Writing Lectures on YouTube.
• How the guys approach world-building and a few tips from what they’ve learned along the way
• The different types of boxed sets/bundles/anthologies and when they’re useful for marketing
• Bundling books in your own series (how many and where you you price them?)
• Putting together a collection of your own short stories for a bundle
• Joining or organizing a multi-author boxed set of novels
• The various goals of these big, multi-author boxed sets
• Leveraging the power of many authors’ mailing lists in order to sell thousands of copies and possibly hit a list
• Whether to go wide with a boxed set or stick it in KDP Select so you can take advantage of the page read payments
• New fiction for boxed sets versus previously published works
• Creating a multi-author anthology of new short stories or novellas
• Possible anthology pitfalls
• Whether it’s better to pay authors up front or offer a royalty split with an anthology

If you’ve enjoyed listening to the gang and want to check out their work, you can find Jeffrey M. Poole at his website and download his first Lentari book, Lost City, for free on the various sites.

You can find Jo at his website or check out several of his books for free, such as Free-Wrench and The Book of Deacon.

You can find Lindsay on her site and grab The Emperor’s Edge for free or  buy Star Nomad, the first book in her new space adventure series, for 99 cents at the time of this show.

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