Creating, Publishing, and Marketing a Multi-Author Bundle

After a three-month hiatus, I’m back with a new walking podcast. There were quite a few things I could have talked about, since I’ve published a couple of new novels this summer (and I do babble about my new pen name project a little at the beginning), but I decided to focus on my experiences with the Nine By Night Urban Fantasy Bundle.

I wasn’t one of the ones who did most of the work when it came to creating and publishing the bundle, but I tried to share some useful observations that might help someone else thinking of starting a multi-author collection. And of course I talked about what we did when it came to launching and promoting the bundle. It’s been in the Top 250 or so at Amazon, making it as high as 95, pretty much since the beginning. I’m sure it’ll eventually drop down, but we’ve been having a good run!

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For those who will ask, no, there’s no transcript (I don’t make any money for doing these little shows, and I don’t particularly want to spend any to put them out either), unless a very dedicated listener wants to tackle the task. William Stadler did that for the “Creating Engaging Characters That Turn Readers into Fans” episode, and it was greatly appreciated. I can’t promise to make you famous if you do a transcript, but I’ll at least post the link to your site. 🙂

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8 Responses to Creating, Publishing, and Marketing a Multi-Author Bundle

  1. Carol Van Natta says:

    Nice podcast, as always. Somewhere around the 18-minute mark, your audio starts getting hard to hear in sections, but it’s not lost, just quieter.

    I hope to be part of a bundle some day, but first I have to have more than one book out, as you mentioned. Knowing my luck, by the time I have three books out, bundles will be passé and there will be some new marketing strategy for getting your books introduced to strangers.

    As the announcement at the very end about an F&SF author roundtable, I am completely NOT qualified to do the tech stuff, but I’d sure like to hear about it when your first episode is available, seeing as I write SF.

    • Lindsay says:

      Thanks for listening, Carol, and for taking the time to comment. That’s too bad about the audio. Apparently walking and talking into the iPhone isn’t a recipe for high quality audio. 😀 I’ll probably let these walking shows go once we get the weekly podcast up and running.

      Yes, there might be something to replace bundles by next year, but I figure there will always be opportunities of some kind for those who are staying abreast of the publishing/marketing/book-selling world!

  2. I think multi-author bundles are another dividing line between the haves and the have-not’s of self-publishing.

    I hate them, myself, and how they clog the Top 100s.

    • Lindsay says:

      I don’t know if they’ll last forever (maybe Amazon will ding them and/or make it harder for them to rank at some point), but I’ve seen lots of new authors put them together, even if they don’t have an existing fan base or a lot of reviews on their books. I don’t think you have to be a “have” to make things work, if you’re willing to put in extra time and spearhead things. Just my two cents though!

      • They’re the perfect example of the new gatekeepers.

        Remember, not everyone was good enough to get into that ‘little’ box set of yours.

        • Lindsay says:

          Then “everyone” can make their own boxed sets, Greg. If you listen to some of the recent interviews on the Self Publishing Roundtable, there were quite a few new authors without followings who met up on a forum and said, “Hey, let’s do a romance boxed set around Navy SEALS…” Now some of them are mega sellers, thanks to the success of that boxed set.

          If you don’t like boxed sets and don’t want to be a part of them, that’s your choice, but you’re making it sound like you have to be someone special to put one together, and that’s not true at all.

  3. Stephanie Johnson says:

    I recently read Nine by Night, it was amazing so now i have some more authors to follow!!

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