For the last three years, SkipJack and its authors have been publishing (and writing) furiously. The most successful journeymen in the independent publishing (J.A. Konrath, for one) world opine that it takes four to six complementary books from an author before she starts to earn real money (if ever). That’s not unlike what you’ll learn from the traditional publishing model. The fourth book is the tipping point. Publishers expect to see growing sales with each book, but if the author doesn’t show signs that he will get there by four, then that publisher is done with him.
The SkipJack authors are working hard toward those numbers.
- The first SkipJack author out of the gate was Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Her seventh novel is available for e-book pre-order, now (Hell to Pay (Emily #3)). Pamela’s income grew exponentially when she released her fourth novel and has continued on that trajectory since then. Her earnings were far less than she needed to quit her day job before that fourth novel. The attorney has hung up her business suit since then. Her Saving Grace was selected for a Bookbub promotion on January 14th.
- The next SkipJack author, Rebecca Nolen, has two novels out. Bookbub has just selected her thriller Deadly Thyme for promotion January 4th.
- Our third author, Ken Oder, has released two novels and is at work on the third in his Whippoorwill Hollow series. Ken’s The Closing will be featured for the second time on Bookbub on January 1st.
- Our latest novelist, Marcy McKay, released her debut novel, Pennies from Burger Heaven, on December 28th.
With all of this promotion and these new releases/pre-orders going on at the same time, SkipJack and its authors decided to band together to create synergy amongst each other, to hopefully help their readers discover books from their compadres, by releasing a four-author boxed set. Murder, They Wrote: Four SkipJack Mysteries, was born, featuring Saving Grace and Leaving Annalise from Hutchins, The Closing from Oder, Deadly Thyme from Nolen, and Pennies from Burger Heaven from McKay.
There’s nothing easier to put together than a boxed set, whether from one author or multiple authors.
Note: Hutchins has realized a steady income stream from her Katie & Annalise boxed set and is a big believer in the concept of offering people a good deal to encourage them to buy multiple books at once rather than wait for them remember to go back and buy more expensive books one by one, because often life interrupts the reader and those future purchases are greatly delayed or never occur. As a result, she’ll release an Emily boxed set in April of 2016, right after Hell to Pay (Emily #3) goes live.
Anyway, with boxed sets, the component books are already edited and tested, the copy is written. All that’s needed is a title and cover, really, to up-monetize the existing assets.
SkipJack and its authors scanned boxed sets online and brainstormed quickly for a title and reached consensus. They turned to their relationship with Heidi Dorey, the cover artist who has created all of Hutchins’ and Nolen’s covers, for a speedy cover. They surveyed boxed set costs and decided that they would be in line with the competition if they charged $7.99 for the four e-books, and that they would add a BONUS free book to the set (altogether, the five e-books retail for nearly $14.00). They decided to go with KDP Select for at least 90 days so that they’d be able to take advantage of Kindle Unlimited and KDP Select free days, under the theory that this would be the strategy to help them get the most reviews in 90-days, and reviews aer the driving force behind sales/rankings down the road. They compiled the e-book and the copy. They moved quickly, even over the Christmas holidays, although a day or two was lost in the timeline here or there.
And by December 27, the e-book was ready and uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing, in plenty of time to allow for the 12-to-24-hour publishing time and still be up by Oder’s January 1st Bookbub promotion, when extra attention to his books was expected.
Only it wasn’t that easy. SkipJack attempted to publish the book from its own KDP account and was contacted by KDP 24-hours later. They needed documentation that each of the authors was voluntarily making their books available for the boxed set and retaining copyright. It wasn’t a huge hurdle, and one that we were able to satisfy within another 24-hours, but it was unexpected (whether it should have been or not—a nice surprise, really, that Amazon works hard to protect copyright). It took another 24-hours for KDP to upload it, a total of a three-day delay. A lesson learned for us (and you all): multi-author boxed sets will create a crimp in your publication timeline.
So, while Nolen, Oder, and McKay don’t each have four to six complementary books out yet, they’ll be able to participate in a multi-book offer by banding together (with Hutchins), which will give them a bump similar to the one they’d get if they did have the additional books out. They’ll align themselves directly with other top-notch books/authors, and they’ll have an additional asset to earn from, timed (as best as they could make it) to coincide with the biggest and best promotion for e-books available, in a one-two-three punch.
It’s a lot of good work, good luck, and good strategy coming together, and we love it when that happens.
Eric