Monday, August 10, 2015

New Things



I hope you'll stop over to the IWSG site today. Guest poster Heidi Hormel, multi-published author, is sharing a fill-in-the-blank press release. Every writer should have one ready or at least know what goes in one. Heidi makes it really easy. See her post today.

During last years A to Z Blogging Challenge, one of the blogs I came upon and fell in love with is Alex Hurst, Fantasy Author Living in Kyoto. She shared an amusing post about purple prose words. Read them and see how many you've used and how many you've never heard of.

During my post for IWSG last week, I mentioned the concerns about Kindle Unlimited and thedifficulty of small presses and indie authors competing against the Amazon monster. My publisher threw around some ideas and I know a number of your publishers are trying the same thing. My publisher has released my two recent series in boxed sets.  The Recon Marine series and The Warriors of Gaviron Series. The third Warriors book is part of the boxed set and for now, only on Amazon. The series set has a great ranking even in the paid department so I hope this newest strategy works out for me, my publisher and my readers.
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Sometime before the year is out, I'll let you know how that is working out. I'd love it if some of you could share your experiences in the comments like so many of you did on my post last week.

Last Friday, I taped a short interview and reading with Demi Stevens, organizer of the upcoming York Book Expo that I'm part of. Demi is CEO of Year of the Book Press. She's great at making her guests relax for the recording. I'll share that sometime in the future and you can hear what I have to say about writing and being an author. I hope to rope Demi into a guest post here or on IWSG at some point.

Don't forget if you're awake tomorrow night after midnight, it's that time of year to see the Perseid meteor shower.

Do you need a press kit? Check out Heidi's post. What do you think about buying or selling books in boxed sets? Going out after dark to see the meteor shower?


26 comments:

Pat Hatt said...

Boxed sets seem to be the in thing right now, hopefully they work great. What works for me? Hmm when I find out I'll let you know lol

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'm glad my series is now in a boxed set. It's not just on Amazon though.
Congratulations on the interview. Be great to have Heidi as a guest at the IWSG.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Congrats on the interview!

I have a note about the meteor shower already. Hope to check it out.... :)

nashvillecats2 said...

Yes boxed sets seem to be very popular rhese days.
Great post.
Yvonne.

A Beer for the Shower said...

Those boxed sets are awesome ideas, and I do see those becoming more popular. Now, if only all of our titles weren't so incredibly different that we could box some of them together...

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Yeah, let us know what works for you.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Heidi's post is getting some great comments.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I'm worried it will be cloudy here. The forecast is not good.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

A variety box?

Jay Noel said...

Amazon is both a blessing and a curse. We're all trying to figure it out.

I would like to put my trilogy into a boxed set eventually. I think that'd be awesome.

Chrys Fey said...

I have no experience with boxed sets or with competing against Amazon other than my small press not opting into their KDP program anymore. I'm thrilled you have these boxed sets, though, Susan!

Congratulations on the interview!

Jemi Fraser said...

It's always cloudy here during the meteor showers, hoping it's clear tomorrow!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

They are a blessing and a curse. Thanks for visiting on my blog birthday.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I'll be thrilled as soon as I know how they're doing.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

It's raining here now. It better clear out by tomorrow.

Christine Rains said...

Boxed sets do seem to sell really well. Ours with Untethered Realms sells a few, but not loads. I'd love to watch the meteor shower, but I'm in bed early these days. Maybe if I take a nap! :)

SpacerGuy said...

Count me in. I'll be out gawping upwards. On a clear night the best show in town is right above us. All we have to do is look up at and marvel at the possibilities.

Jo said...

I don't know if boxed sets works. Personally if I have found a book I like I have already got the first one or two so why would I buy a set? Unless people buy them as presents of course.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm afraid I can't chime in on the boxed set issue. I don't have any experience with that. But as a buyer, I'm more likely to buy one book at a time.

Maria Zannini said...

I like boxed sets, but only if the author is already a favorite. It's nice to have a collection of the same author.

J E Oneil said...

I remember hearing once that there are people out there who prefer boxed sets. I think it would be nice to get a bunch of books like that :)

Ann Bennett said...

My beef with Amazon paying authors for only the portion read for their kindle unlimited is that they sell their program on the availability of titles. Authors should receive a portion whether their books are read or not. Amazon makes money many times when people pay and do not read any books.

Patricia Stoltey said...

Thanks for the reminder about the meteor shower, Susan. I haven't done that for a long time, so I might just stay up past my bedtime to watch.

I've tried to ignore a lot of the stuff Amazon is doing and all those wild options they offer authors and shoppers. I'll have to do a lot of homework if I decide to self-publishing something one of these days.

Scribbles From Jenn said...

Thanks for the tip from Heidi. I am hopeful to need a press release one day. I'm headed over to see what I need to do. As for a boxed set, if I had enough books to make a set, I wouldn't have any problems selling them that way.

Cherie Reich said...

I have one book in a boxed set and plan to bundle my series in boxed sets. I like buying them, even though I've been bad at reading them so far. Heh.

Misha Gerrick said...

I like the idea of boxed sets, but have only recently published my first books, so I haven't had the chance to bundle books together.