Friday, December 20, 2013

Ebook Bundles Add Value, Discovery to Authors’ Works

Ebook-gift-idea-4-book-bundle-of-Games-of-Thrones-by-George-RR-Martin
As authors and publishers clamor to help their titles be found in an ever growing ebook market, one source of promotion and increased revenue has come in the form of ebook bundling. Some publishers were early experimenters with the concept in its early form, which included titles such as Hilary Jordan’s When She Woke being offered for one price in both print and digital by Algonquin Publishers and the American Bookseller’s Association; another similar concept is that of the Kindle Match program, which lets the rights holders determine whether or not readers can have the digital and print versions for one price or for an additional–albeit fractional–price.

But a new concept has emerged, which is that of the boxed set or anthology collections of ebook files. These bundled digital files are offered by both stand alone authors who lump their titles together, such as Ella Fox’s first four books in the Hart Family series, or by a group of authors–such as the four erotica authors behind The Naughty List–who piggyback existing titles with each others’ works for added promotion and publicity, ebook bundling is a way to make additional income and grow a fan base through digital.

A blog post by Lindsay Buroker on bundling features an interview with part of the collaborative team behind the boxed set of ebooks called Faery Worlds. As Buroker points out, bundles are selling quite well on ebook retail sites right now, as readers look for content to read over the holidays and as they invest money in a savings such as this. Together, the six authors behind Faery Worlds put their complete novels into one ebook file, crediting each author and title individually, and the end result is currently in the top five hundred for all paid titles on Amazon, as well as ranked numbers one and two in several different book categories.

One thing that is important for authors to know is that a boxed set of works from a single author may result in additional revenue, but that authors collaborating on a project of this kind will lead to very little once the royalties are split, but can mean a dramatic increase in readers who are interested in purchasing future titles from the authors they only met as part of the bundle.

Ebook Bundles Add Value, Discovery to Authors’ Works is a post from: E-Reader News

No comments:

Post a Comment