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Deadly Dozen Hits The NY Times and USA Today Lists. Lessons Learned From The Box-Set

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

I'm extremely excited to announce that ‘Deadly Dozen,’ the thriller/mystery box-set I am part of, hit the New York Times Bestseller list as well as the USA Today Bestseller list for the second week running!

It’s #13 for fiction E-book bestsellers and #19 for combined print and ebook, plus it’s also now ranking #42 on the USA Today list, up from last week. That’s a writing dream achieved!

I’m now a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, along with the other fantastic authors in The Twelve: Diane Capri, J. Carson Black, Joshua Graham, Cheryl Bradshaw, Allan Leverone, M.A. Comley, Aaron Patterson, Carol Davis Luce, Vincent Zandri, Linda S. Prather, and Michele Scott.

We also had a brilliant publishing partner in Phoenix Sullivan from Steel Magnolia Press who wrangled us into a team and coordinated the publishing side.

Thank you so much to everyone who bought the book and joined in the promotion. And if you’d like to read 12 bestselling mystery/thrillers for a great price, you can still buy the book from all ebook stores, or read more about it here.

Here are my lessons learned from the experience:

(1) Collaboration and relationships are the most important thing

This was a fantastic joint promotion effort, made possible because twelve authors plus a brilliant coordinator worked together to achieve a goal. There have been other box-sets by romance authors that have made the New York Times list, so we knew it was possible. It was a case of all pulling together at the same time.

We all pitched our lists on different days, we all paid for promotional activities, collectively we paid for advertising and prizes, we all used social media to spread the word and we asked for shout-outs from other long-term author friends. Everyone pitched in and took time out of their schedules to make this happen within a specific time period.

This is not out of reach for you to do as well. Five years ago I didn’t have any author friends. I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t have any web presence or social media following or email list. We all have to start somewhere.

Authentic relationships take time to build, so don't expect to just email a few people and go from there. I started on Twitter, then met people through podcast interviews, and then met people in person at conventions/conferences like London Book Fair and Thrillerfest.

I’m an introvert (as many of you are) so these things are hard for me. I still have heart palpitations before I get on Skype to interview people. I still have to psych myself up for live events. But it’s worth it!

(2) You need sales in more than one store to hit the lists

You can’t be exclusive and hit the lists. Even if you sell 200,000 copies on Amazon alone, you won’t make it. It’s important to have sales at all the stores – iBooks, Nook, Kobo as well as Amazon, even if the numbers are smaller at each store.

This is a challenge as the other sites work on merchandising rather than an algorithm that doesn’t discriminate between trad pub and indie. But one of my focuses going forward is to grow my list to include readers on multiple platforms. I'll share how when I figure it out myself!

(3) Decide on the goal before the marketing campaign starts

Related to the point above, if our goal had been to get to #1 on just Amazon.com, we would have gone about it in a different way e.g. with one big spike in the marketing plan.

But the wonderful Diane Capri had the foresight to focus on the New York Times and USA Today lists, so everything was geared towards that goal and involved more of a stepped approach over a longer period.

A lot of our general author marketing is just aimed at “selling more books,” but perhaps it is time to get more specific. I talked about definition of success recently, so maybe we should do that for micro-campaigns as well as larger career goals.

(4) Building your email list should always be the highest priority

Now we’ve done it with one book, of course I’m keen to hit the lists with one of my own books as a single author as well as work with The Twelve on other projects.

As an individual it's difficult, as we all have smaller email lists. But it can clearly be done, as indie romance authors HM Ward and Bella Andre hit the NY Times list regularly, presumably through a combination of huge email lists, merchandising and promotional spikes. It’s just a case of building up that list slowly over time, by delivering quality books that readers want more of, for years. Luckily, we all have time!

No matter how often I harp on about this, I still see so many author websites with no email signup. Go check your site right now, please!

Why box-sets are so brilliant

Box-sets represent amazing value for customers, as they get multiple books for a lower price, which is why they are so popular. Deadly Dozen features 12 books from 12 award-winning and bestselling authors, with over 600 five star reviews on Amazon and a saving of over US$40.

Traditional publishers have been doing box-sets in print for years, and in the last six months, they have become popular for ebook bundling, rising high in the bestseller lists as customers snap up the deals.

Box-sets can be great opportunities for authors to collaborate with other authors to reach a different audience, or maximize point of sale revenue from one customer with their own series or theme box-set.

Single author box-sets as a value-added product

You can also do box-sets of your own if you have multiple books. You may be surprised at how popular they turn out to be!

After listening to a Self Publishing Podcast discussion with Ed Robertson about the success of his Breakers box-set, I went ahead and created my own ARKANE box-set for the first three books in my series.

I decided to use KDP Select for the first 90 days as this was a new idea for me and I wanted to get reviews and thought the borrows might be the best way to start. I wasn't really expecting to sell many at $5.99 but actually the sales are rising and readers get 3 full-length books and a saving. It's also my only product in the Kindle Lending Library so I am reaching a different audience. A forward-thinking promotion idea will be to reduce the price of the box-set in a sale when the full-length book 4 is out, which is the strategy Ed mentioned on the podcast. I'll be moving this into the other stores when the Select period is over.

The box-set is also being used for serials written in seasons, as popularized by Sean Platt & David Wright in their Yesterdays Gone series, as well as Johnny B. Truant with the Fat Vampire value meal.

How to make your own box-set

As a single author, it's pretty easy. I just used Scrivener (or you can use whichever formatting tool you like) to compile all 3 books together and then I hired a graphic designer to make a box style cover.

If you want to do it as multiple authors, you need to make things a bit more formal. Consider the following aspects first:

  • Do you share a similar audience? Genre box-sets are doing well, but they are being used less in other non-fiction and literary markets. Regardless of what you're writing, consider which authors your books crossover with and work with them.
  • Rights and money. Whose account will the box-set be loaded onto, who will get the royalty income and who will be in charge of all the money? You'll need to pay for promotions and potentially other marketing, so make sure everyone knows what's involved. The book used in a box-set could also be banned from other types of promos at the same time e.g. KDP Select, Nook First or BookBub, so be careful with which books are used.
  • How will you do the promotion fairly? You need to split the work between the group and keep communication simple and easy, staying in touch to be sure everyone knows what is happening. The Twelve have been coordinating through a private Facebook group, which seems to be a popular way to do it all.
  • Timings. You need a highly coordinated promotional campaign in order to maximize your chances of hitting whichever lists you're aiming at, as well as splitting out when each individual is promoting to their list.

I have certainly found the box-set to be an amazing experience, and look forward to more collaborations. It is truly an amazing time to be an author!

Have you tried box-sets as an author? or as a reader? What are your opinions and lessons learned? Please share your comments below.

Joanna Penn:

View Comments (33)

  • Congrats!! I'm just starting out with my new novella series and hope to reach what you have done in the last five years.

      • Excellent job young lady. ! you are not only doing the work but also putting the hours to make it successful. You very generously share your knowledge which is the sign of a true thought leader. Kudos!
        Thank young lady!
        Steve Kayser.

  • Hi Joanna,
    Another very generous and helpful share! Thanks so much.
    After following the conversations on your blog and many similar ones over the last couple of months, I'm beginning to believe that (as you point out above) collaboration with other, similar authors may be the most powerful readership-growing tool in the box! (And email the most powerful readership-nurturing tool)
    I know its asking a lot, but would you be willing to share the economics of the boxed-set adventure? I appreciate that making a profit was not your group's top goal (if even one at all), but it would give an idea of what a group should be ready to commit to.
    Best regards,
    Michael

    • Hi Michael,
      I can't share the details of the economics as this was a group project so I'm not able to be transparent. If it was just me, things might have been different!
      But at the high level, this clearly wasn't a money making venture. At 99c with 12 authors plus a publishing pro, we were making very little money per book sale, plus we spent a lot on promotion. We still made a little income, but the point was to collaborate in order to hit the lists.
      I think defining your goals for marketing is critical before you enter into anything. Clearly, if we had wanted to make money, we would have done it in a different way.
      Thanks, Joanna

  • Congratulations!

    I'm going to be part of an urban fantasy boxed set this summer. We've got some fairly well-known indie authors in the group, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes, how many sales overall and then how many new readers come out of being in the collection. The plan is to reinvest anything earned into marketing the collection. The accounting is probably easiest that way, heh.

    • Sounds good Lindsay, I think it's a great way to collaborate and get some new readers, as well as getting to know other authors. All the best with the box-set :)

  • Hi Jo
    Great stuff, thanks, and congratulations! :)
    The box set is a great idea. I tend to write in series, so that definitely lies in the future. We're going to collect my novella series into seasons and then probably box them up once we have three or four out.
    I do love the idea though of collaborating with others on the box set. As a reader, I generally find new authors because I'm told they're like another author I already love. It makes perfect sense to package those authors together.
    cheers
    Mike

  • All your hard work and commitment is paying off Joanna. Well done and congratulations. You have stayed with the program, defeated self doubt and the inevitable troubling times when one loses heart. A great example of true grit for authors of all stripes.
    Jonathan

  • Let's project this forward as we see a tsunami of indie authors now rushing out their boxed sets. Readers get to expect 12 books from 12 authors for .99 in the genre they like reading. Essentially for just over 8 cents per book. If my math is right, each author makes just under 3 cents in royalty. I understand there are other factors such as NY Times Bestseller status, the hope that readers will enjoy a particular author's work and become fans and buy other books-- those are most real and positive.

    People use to argue the .99 price point for an eBook. Now we can look at the 8 cent per eBook price point. Something for us to ponder. I'm not making any value judgement on it, but I am considering to pros and cons as someone making a living as an indie author. I use one book for free as a loss leader. Out of 60. Another at .99 in a six book series. So I can't throw stones in my glass house, but I do have to examine the fiscal realities.

    We all do what we have to do. While some suggest we increase the size of the pie, which is a bit naive, the reality is there is a finite audience out there and everyone is scrambling for a piece. I'm curious what the long term effect of this is going to be, now that the floodgate of boxed sets of multiple authors are very low prices is beginning. Based on what happened with free and Select, I suspect that those who ride the front edge of the wave will enjoy benefits, but for everyone else, the results might not be so satisfying.

    I do suspect, ever so slightly, we might regret opening these floodgates. But what do I know?

    • Thanks for your comment Bob, and I think the multi-author box-set is a short-term promotion tactic.
      I think we will swiftly see
      a) the stores stopping promos of box-sets - and BookBub has already stopped this
      b) the NY Times and other lists stopping them as well

      I agree on the pricing thing - but the purpose of this promotion was not to make money, rather to hit the lists and also to potentially find new customers. We all have different goals at different points in our author lives :)

      My own box-set is on sale at $6.99 and the first book is perma-free - that is selling reasonably well, and I think this is sustainable as fans of an author would like to get a deal on multiple books.

      I also think the readers of box-sets are different - and you can see that in the 'Also Boughts' which are chock full of box-sets. I bought ours of course, but I don't buy box-sets in general, as it overwhelms me as a reader. I like seeing a decent % complete on my Kindle :) so again, a different target market - for a purpose.

      • Brilliant stuff as usual. Hey you mention "perma-free." Hmmm, interesting. How can you do such a magic trick on amazon? I thought they discourage that sort of "price"? If you've already posted about this, please excuse me. But also leave the link to the post, if you wouldn't mind. Thanks so much. :)

        On topic now, the box set idea is something I'm going to do this summer, now that I'm inspired by you (again). I have a number of books united by theme only (and by each having the word "Death" or "Dying" in the title) that I think would work well in a box set.

        • Hi Carl, you can go permafree by setting the price to free on Kobo or Smashwords or iBooks and then reporting the lower price to Amazon. I tend to report it every day until it is matched but there's no guarantee on timing. All the best with the box-set :)

    • Thanks so much :) I just moved it over to a responsive design - same kind of thing, but a little bit more modern and much better on mobile.

  • When I buy a box set, I buy them as a sample. I then often buy the entire back list of the authors I like.

    If you think about creating your work as a box set as a sample, then it makes more sense.

    To me, the box set of novels is different than novellas or short stories. A novel is true to the author, where a short or novella might not be.

    If you're going to do a box set, have a lot more, so readers can buy. Well, that's my philosophy.

  • I didn't know that about one not being able to make the NY Times list if they're only on Amazon. Did the NY Times people tell you that?

      • I have a follow up question. Do you know if the USA Today list has a similar restriction to being only on Amazon?

        The reason I ask is that one of the quickest ways to get a bunch of sales is to run a Bookbub ad for 99 cents. If one does this on a Sunday (first day of the NY Times week...I don't know the 1st day of the USA Today week.) and then hangs around in the top 100 for the next six days, they might get the 5K (or so) needed to qualify for the NY Times list (No idea what it takes for USA Today).

        The question becomes should an author run the Bookbub ad with their books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo, to be eligible for the NY Times list (and make 35 percent of the 99 cents) or run the ad exclusively for Amazon, be a part of KDP Select and earn 70 percent with a CountDown deal.

        If I knew I could qualify for the NY Times list, I'd gladly give up the 70 percent. But, if I only sold say 3,000 books, then the difference between $1050 and $2100 is significant to me and my dreadfully low bank account.

        So, I'm wondering what you know of the USA Today list.

  • Hi Joanna!

    Thanks a lot for all the good stuff you are sharing with us. Now I am wondering : is it better as an author to make your own box-set or a one-book collection of your previously published books? Thanks! :)

    • I'm not sure what you mean - as they sound like the same thing! A digital box-set is just one file, but with a cover image that looks like it's multiple books.
      I'm not sure why a one-book collection would be anything different?

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