I will admit I probably wouldn’t consider arranging one of these myself just yet, but when a prolific and successful author I follow offered the opportunity to five other authors to apply to join her in a boxset venture, I put THE PRINCE’S MAN forward right away.
The lady in question, Australian author Patty Jansen, chose the six books for the set, formatted the boxset, created the cover, and launched and promoted it, pretty much all on her own. Each of the included authors put the set out to our own email lists, and did some social media marketing, but Patty did by far the bulk of the work.
The set: “Sorcery & Warlocks: Six Dark Fantasy Novels”, contains all first novels in series, with the goal of introducing readers to new authors, then hopefully to go on to buy further books by those they enjoyed. It’s a FREE download – the only time I have ever offered a novel of mine for free.
Does it work?
I don’t know about the other authors, but it definitely works for me. Here is a review THE PRINCE’S MAN received shortly after the set launched during lockdown 2020:
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020
I read this book as part of a different boxed set but it’s going to be added separately to the other two in its series as soon as I get them. It deserves it! The male protagonist is cocky but not always as sure as he likes to seem. The female protagonist is an arrogant, know-it-all with her own agenda. And then they’re thrown together in a desperate mission to save the kingdom & the lives of the people they care about. I won’t give lots of spoilers (or why read the book) but there are elves, trolls, dungeons, & a nasty little torture chamber complete with an egomaniac who loves to inflict pain.
You’ve GOT to read this book! Loved it!
Isn’t that lovely? And the reason I’m posting this now, more than half a year after the set was released, is that a few weeks ago, Patty noticed a sudden uptick in downloads in Australia, and discovered the set had been picked, quite without her knowledge, for a free promotion by OZ BARGAINS
The upshot – I am seeing increased sales of books #2 and #3, presumably by people who nabbed this free set.
If you’re interested, you can check out the boxset HERE.
As I said earlier, this is the only time I have ever offered THE PRINCE’S MAN for free. However, I am definitely now considering trying for a BookBub featured deal with the book priced at free (despite the scary price of $484 to give my book away!), after reading this interesting and informative post by Nicholas C. Rossis.
The summary of Nicholas’s post: from a BookBub featured deal, FREE books are downloaded in 10 times the number compared to 0.99c deals. Considering I sold over 2000 books at 0.99c, that puts me on course for 20,000 downloads!
And even better, giving the first book in a series away for free leads to 8 times more sales for subsequent books in the series!
So, I’ve dipped my toe into free with the boxset, now I just need to try to nab a BookBub featured deal at that level – I think I will try for this December, the month I’ve had my two 0.99c BookBubs, and see where that takes me! Hopefully but that time I will have the concluding book in the series out there to maximize the effect.
Has anyone else joined in a boxset like this? If it appeals, you can always try organising your own – all it takes is a little time, and a bit of know how.
If you’ve had a book in a set, how did it work for you?
deborahjay 
Deb, that’s fantastic. It’s always great to have proof that a box set venture pays off in other ways. I will be very interested in learning from you how the BB freebie promo will go for you. Wow 20K downloads would be amazing! Thanks for sharing your endeavors with us to give us an idea of what could be profitable. ❤
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By complete coincidence, the set was picked for a free Freebooksy ad today – 700 downloads and counting, so hopefully a few more new readers 😀
20K downloads would be awesome, and of course I will share – WHEN I manage to get one! I never count on getting a BookBub featured deal when I want one, but I’ll keep trying.
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I have every faith in you 🙂
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I often wonder about these, Deborah. But you don’t know until you try. The presentation looks wonderful. Patty did a beautiful job. I wish you the best of luck. Thanks for trying things and sharing your experiences!
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Exactly my thought when the opportunity presented itself. Really, there was no reason not to, as Patty did all the work – and a lovely job she did too. She’s quite experienced at doing these sets, so they obviously work well enough for her to be worth the time and effort.
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I’ve never considered that, Deborah. I guess I thought they were organic. Great article with lots to think about.
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You can always take the lead, but if someone in your genre puts out a call for submissions, I highly recommend giving it a go.
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Too bad there’s only a handful of us in the genre! I love that you stepped up, not afraid to try something new. And I love you shared it with your e-besties!
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Always a pleasure to share 😀
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Really interesting post, Deborah. I’ve seen boxset offers on various book deal sites but haven’t really paid much attention. It sounds like something I should investigate with my six-book mystery series.
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Debra, it would be a great way to introduce readers to a complete series of that size, particularly if you have good read-through. I would give it a go.
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Thanks, Deborah. I’ll look into it.
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