How to Launch a Box Set of Ebooks

Today I want to share a blog of my friend, Elyse Salpeter. She explains how she released her first box set and how to do it. Enjoy.

How to Launch a Box Set of Ebooks: The Kelsey Porter Series

by Elyse Salpeter

Nov20

Kelsey Porter Box Set

Hi, everyone. I have great news! I’m excited to announce that I have learned how to launch a box set for those of you who’d like to jump into the Kelsey Porter series. Here are the first three ebooks all together, now available on Amazon for just $7.99. Please click here: https://amzn.to/2RV8eIY

How did I do it? Launching a box set is actually pretty easy… though I’ll need to caveat that you DO need to actually have multiple books written. I waited to do a box set until after I had 5 books in the Kelsey Porter series published. Then what I did was contact my formatter and she made me an ebook file of the first three novels. She put it all together in one document that I uploaded to Amazon. The only difference is you don’t need the added copy at the end of each novel, as the next book is already there, ready to go. But, at the very end of the ebook, I did the amazon link and the 1st chapter of Book #4 so the readers could continue the series.

Then, I contacted my cover artist, Laura LaRoche at LLPix Designs, and she created this really cool box set cover, as you can see here. She used the same “feel” as the covers of the series and I think she did a great job.

The Kelsey Porter Series

Now, why did I do only three? Because...[Read more here...]

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Until next I ramble on...

Fair Fare

Sorry for the delay in posting. I was at the fair. No, I didn't go to a fair, I was part of the fair. I was a vendor at a street fair in Pemberville, Ohio.

It is a free street fair that starts on a Wednesday evening and ends on Saturday night. Three days and four  nights of activities for the whole family. This event has been going on for 65 years. Imagine that?!

Now, exactly how was I involved? Four authors - I was one of them - shared a 10 ft X 10 ft "booth" area to hawk our books in the vendors' tent.

We thought we could "man" the booth in turns so nobody would get burned out but quickly discovered being absent meant "no sales" since most of the people wanted to talk to the author about this or that particular book. Plus, if they bought the book, and the author was absent, who would sign the copy? Hence, I found myself behind the table from ...

Wed: 6pm to 9pm
Thu: 12pm to 9pm
Fri: 9am to 9pm
Sat: 9am to 9pm

The only time I escaped was to get something to eat or drink, even though I brought water along each day, with the 80+ temperatures and inside a canvas tent, it was very warm. There was some wind, but it usually came with rain which meant the sides were pulled down to keep us, and our wares, dry. Oh, and the other time of escape was to find a facility to get rid of the excess water that didn't sweat out. LOL. (Note: That's when I would check out what I could of the fair, seeing where I might want to eat next time!)

Now, my wife went with me to this event since it was a two-hour drive away and we took our RV to have a temporary residence. She camped, I worked. But, she attended the fair a couple of days. She played bingo, watched the pony and tractor pulls and even went to see exactly what a "chicken drop" might be. Imagine her surprise. to discover people laying down money on numbers to match the numbers in a fenced area. When all "bets" were done, a chicken was placed in the fenced area and when and where it "dropped" a load in a numbered square, that person won.

Rides were plenty, some for lovers, some for kids, some for adults, and some, well, just too twisty turny for my body to not react in a violent manner. I've learned NOT to ride them.

Food? So much food. Everything from a simple hot dog to an elaborate pork loin sandwich. There was the ever present cotton candy, caramel or candy apples, popcorn - both plain, flavored and standard caramel, blooming onions, floats, pop, nachos, corn dogs, and as I stated, that pork loin fritter which was deep fried, tri-folded on the bun and then smothered in anything you wanted to put on it.

But I was there to sell books, as were my fellow authors. We started with four, then had only three and finally, for the last 5 hours, it was just the two of us. One author got sick Thursday morning and didn't attend the rest of the event. Another author had a family emergency and had to be absent a whole day on Friday and called it early on Saturday. He did very well on sales for his limited time in attendance.

Now, I and Terry James were there practically the whole time. He sold well and even had a fan come up and gush over him. She couldn't believe her luck in meeting one of her favorite authors. Personally, I think he was a little bashful about the whole incident.

I did quite well, selling books and greeting/meeting people. I had two library people approach me to see if I would be interested in a meet/greet event to talk about and sign copies of my book(s) over the next year. I just hope I didn't scare them off with my eagerness to jump at the chance!!

Another gentleman bought a copy of "The Secret Voice" which is the 1st book in my Amish Singer series. He wanted to read it and thought maybe his wife might be interested in it. To my surprise, she was back to my booth in about ten minutes asking me if I'd be interested in a possible book club opportunity. Remember, this is all, at minimum, two hours away from my home. I said yes, I'd love to do a book club if they were interested. Imagine my surprise!! The woman and her book club are only a mere 10 miles from my residence. They were visiting friends in Pemberville. Such an opportunity to fall into my lap. I couldn't believe my luck. Now, I hope the others are excited enough to buy into the book for the club.

Overall, it was a great fair. I sold many, many books, including my latest Barry Hargove and The Case of Eternal Blood.

Now I need to get my butt in the chair and finish the sequel to The Secret Voice. It should be an easy hustle next year in Pemberville.

Until next I ramble on...

False Hope

Just returned from an author's event.  You know the type - somebody organizes the event by getting a bunch of author's together to hawk their book(s) and allows them to meet/greet the public. It's just like a book signing, except in a larger scale.

There is a lot of work getting prepared for one of these. It isn't just a matter of slapping the book on the table, sitting back and raking in the do-re-mi as buyer after buyer throws cash in your face.

Okay, I do stand corrected. There was one gentleman who came to the affair, had a whole table to himself - an eight-foot-long table.  He had ONE book title, three copies spread out in a small arc in the middle of the table.  He sat back in his chair, feet up on the table, and rested for the remainder of the event. At the end, he picked up his 3 books, put them in a satchel and left. Done.

Others, like me, put up a display with books tastefully displayed, colorful announcements, handy business cards, and 'gimmicks' to draw the attendees to the table.  I normally use candy but am thinking of something else... maybe I'll discuss that further on.

Here's a picture of one of my events just a few weeks ago at the Findlay Author's Fair.

You can't see them, but there are about 100 small LED lights under the white cloth.  I used battery operated ones, not knowing if there would be an electrical outlet handy.  Do you see the white-on-white conduit against the wall?  Yes, I would have been the only one with electricity in the room.  Since then, I take along the electric LED lights that can change to any color of my choice, and/or rotate colors and/or flash, too.  No electricity most of the time, but they don't weigh that much.

As stated, the Findlay event was almost a month ago and there have been two other events since. 

The attendees come through, browse the books, talk and talk and really seem intrigued and very interested in the books.  You'd be amazed how many "gush" about how they just love a good Amish story to read.  Uh, but no purchases.  No, but they do ask if it is available online. They want to purchase the electronic version.

Of course, it is online!  Well, DOH!!  No, I don't say it that way to their faces but smile and give them the link(s) to the book(s) for them to check out at a later date.

Okay, not a book purchase at the show, but a potential purchase via Amazon or elsewhere online. It doesn't matter, it's called royalty and it all counts.  I'll take electronic purchases.

I keep checking my online stats for my books - both those I published and those of my publishers. I'm a hybrid author, having some books via several different publishers and some books I have self-published on Kindle/Create Space and at Smashwords.

Need I say?  Yes, the numbers continue to plummet into the abyss.  No online purchases.

Ah-ha!!  Call it the lightbulb going on above my head... OR getting hit by lightning.

It is a ruse by the potential customer.  By stating they want it online, they're not caught in the dilemma of telling me no to my face.  They can give me false hope of a sale and continue on their merry way without feeling terrible.  Maybe they will buy a copy online, but more likely, they won't.

I'm open to suggestions of how to get an event attendee to commit to a purchase.  I've offered beautiful metal bookmarks,  I even had some crocheted bookmarks.  I've offered buy one, get another one at half price. And, I attempted to lure them with candy. Oh, yeah, and I smile a lot.

About the candy.  Someone suggested gum cigars, similar to those the proud dads buy at the birth of a new baby.  They can be purchased, specialized with events or other words to denote, let's say, a book.  Of course, one could buy specially marked M & M candies.  

What else could be given away?  My friend offered a free book drawing. She would give away a copy of her latest book to one of the attendees.  She got four people to sign up.  Not what would I call a real good return on the investment since she didn't sell any copies, either.

Short of knocking the attendee to the floor, ripping the purse open or pulling the wallet from the hip pocket and digging out the money for the book ... any suggestions to help with sales?

My Amazon ratings continue to plummet.

False hope sucks.

Until next I ramble on...

What Am I Missing?

Before you get your hackles up, let me say this - the following article is written to those who have one or two books out AND they are not a series.

I just don't get it.  My mind can't wrap around the concept.

"It was a fantastic promo. We gave away over 25,000 copies of "XYZ Book Title" and garnered almost 50 reviews.  The book is being noticed.

"Thank you, everyone. Almost 11,000 books given away in 24 hours. Made #1 in free XYZcategory. Hoping for reviews."

What am I missing? Even if the person sold the book for $.99 with a $.35 royalty.  Let me do some calculation...

11,000 X $.35 = $3,500.00   OR  25,000 X $.35 =  $8,750.00

Somebody is thrilled and overjoyed at NOT making any money!! Especially when they could have made $8,750 or even just $3,500.

Go ahead, tell me they now have more readers - more fan base - more... well, anything!

WRONG!

They gave away all those books to a lot of people who may or may NOT read their book. IF they read it, maybe - but, more likely, there will be no review. Notice, I said "IF" they read it.

So what did they gain?

I'll be honest and you're all going to hate me for what I'm about to admit...

When I got my first taste of the Kindle reader app, I bought a couple of books and then discovered the free ones.  Yes, I got myself onto so many sites that offered free books.  I was voracious.  I grabbed everything and anything that even remotely interested me.  Why?  It was free.  I must have downloaded upwards of 700 books.  Yes, my Kindle app was loaded and I could have read for the next few years non-stop.

Now for the truth!

Of all those books I've downloaded, I've only read maybe 10-15 of them to completion.  Oh, sure, I checked out a few more, maybe another 30-40 books but gave up on them shortly after starting due one or more issues: bad formatting, bad writing, bad story, bad... bad... bad.

It was then I realized something I didn't want to accept - free equals bad. You get what you pay for.

There is a reason gold is expensive and poop is basically free for the taking.  Of course, like gold, there is always fool's gold and the unsuspecting reader is going to discover a bad book they paid good money for.

I'm not saying all free books for crap but, a few years back, that was indeed the case.  Not so, too much today.  It is always the caveat - Buyer Beware.

So, if you've spent a lot of time writing your book, editing your work, having it beta-read and even got a professional cover.  Whether or not you invested a few dollars or several dollars...

WHY ARE YOU GIVING IT AWAY FREE?

You're a writer.  Are you writing for the love of it?  In other words, you don't want to make money? Be honest, you want to make money.  If you continue to give away books, you're never going to make money.  Sure you may have umpteen thousand "fans" but if they don't BUY your books, they're not really fans.  Think of it this way - they got the first couple of books for free.  If they hang in there, you'll give this one away, too.  This will sound terrible - they are leeches sucking your creative juices out of you. They're just looking for the next free meal ticket.

IF they really, REALLY like your work, they will buy it.  Think this over.  If you're given a car, sure, you will baby it, but not for long. If it gets a ding, it will hurt for a bit but the next scratch you won't even raise an eyebrow. BUT, if you buy that car, I don't care how many times it gets dinged or scratched, you'll be out there hovering over your baby with a tear in the eye. You might even kiss the boo-boo to make it all better.  Now take that concept to your book.  You gave it away.  The reader owes you nothing since it cost them nothing.  If they read it, fine, if not, no loss to them since they have absolutely NO investment in the book.

The trend today is to give away the book and when not free, offer it for $.99.

IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK OF YOUR WORK?

Is it worthless or available for a few coins?  If you work full time, tell your boss that you'll come and work for free every Tuesday and Thursday and for a mere $1.99 the other days.  Notice I didn't even mention minimum wage?  $.99 a book isn't even minimum wage for a writer, new or veteran.

You're ready to price your book or do a promo...

THINK ABOUT THAT PRICE and what you are doing... You're setting a precedent!  Readers now think that they can get most books for free - if they hang in there long enough.  I bought a book $4,99 and about two months after I finished it, the author had it for free.  I was a bit miffed.  I was going to buy the next 3 books in the series, but I decided to wait.  Yes, the author listed the next 3 books for free the day the 5th book came available.  Personally, I think that is poor marketing on behalf of the author.  Give away the 1st book, and then establish an escalating price - $.99, $.1.99, and  $2.99 for the next 3 and finally $4.99 for the new book.  I see no issue with giving away the first book in a series to snare the reader, but to give all the books away for free.  Why?  You've already established the precedent that the latest book will be free with the release of the next book.

Think about it.  You've done the work - why give it away?

Until next I ramble on...

I Am A Writer But Also...

Years ago when I was delirious and thought I'd become a full-time writer ... I was soon awakened to reality that only the cream de la cream get to be full-timers while the rest of us struggle with a real job and hopes of claiming the elusive ring on the merry-go-round of life.

I wanted one of the Big Five publishing companies to notice my work and sky-rocket me to fame where I could hob-nob on talk shows like Oprah, Jay Leno, Ellen Degeneres, Rachel, David Letterman and the rest.  Realtiy: You have to have an agent.  Grim reality: No takers.

Then along came Vanity Press rearing its ugly head to take your money and allow you to think you were a published author.  The person writing the local club newsletter was doing a better job of getting in print than those who bought into Vanity.  At least the newsletters usually have subscribers and people who wanted to read it.  Vanity Press?  Beyond Mom and your three best friends, you now have only a mere 996 more books to sell.  I have a friend who still has several boxes of his first book sitting in his garage.  Yes, he languishes in the shadows of the unknown authors.

Soon, Small Publishers came into existence.  They were a God-send; they allowed us to dream the possible dream... but alas, unless you had a super fantastic marketing strategy or know-how, going beyond the ever-present book-signing at the local bookstores, you languished in the shadows with your fellow Vanity authors.

The sun arose on a new day. Amazon came to be and ebooks were given life as well as CreateSpace to publish in book form.  [insert chorus of "Oh Happy Day"]  The author had a new chance and even marketing potential through a huge company.  Now the fledgling author could safely play the five-fingered nose flute at the Big Five publishing companies who rejected unknown submissions or screamed you needed an agent to make you viable. 

But wait.  Not all is happy in Amazon-land.  The author has written a book, even had it edited by a teacher and read by three or four good friends... and of course, Mom, too.  What could possibly go wrong?

You didn't write your book in Microsoft Word.  You don't have Adobe Creator.  You haven't ever used a graphic program and have no idea what RGB vs CMYK.  You didn't even know there were that many different shades of black!

You, the author, are about to embark on a journey of huge proportions and mind-expanding learning experiences.  The truly easy part was writing the composition.  Now you need to format it for publishing which means deciding on a variety of page sizes, page layouts, fonts, paper types ... and the list goes on and on. Plus you have to decide on what graphic you will use on the front cover... your own, a purchased image or one from their stockpile.

Amazon has streamlined the process somewhat ... IF you think of it sort of like reading a which-way book.  You read the page and at the bottom you make a decision.  That decision takes you to another reading and selection.  Finally, through this process, you will create your book.

I guess now would be a good time to mention that there is a difference in publishing an ebook vs a paper book.  Also, with Amazon, the ebook version will be solely in 'mobi' ala Kindle format.  If you go to Smashwords.com to create your ebook, you have the option of several formats that pretty much cover the gamut of mobile device possibilities.

You are no longer just a Writer... but you are also a Graphics Artist, Editor, Publisher, Marketing Guru and Sales Agent setting the price(s) for the book.

So now you want to write your next book... good luck finding time.

Until next I decide to ramble...