Here we are, it’s that time again! ? Welcome back to adventures in indie-authoring 2019; where each week I’ll be sharing my adventures in indie-authoring, what works, what doesn’t, and what I’m learning along the way… and hopefully you’ll find some tidbits to help you along your own path.

This Past Week

First, before I dive into this past week – I ask that we all take just a moment and congratulate ourselves on something we’ve done this past week. It doesn’t matter how large, or small… but something you accomplished. Even if it was just that extra pile of laundry that you’ve been avoiding!  (that may or may not be my own personal victory! lol)

It’s important! So much of the time we take ourselves for granted and how much we actually get accomplished in a week – even if those are just “normal” things that “had” to be done.

Me? In addition to that laundry pile, I am going to give myself a wee thumbs up for blogging for 12 weeks in a row now. Frankly, I didn’t think I had it in me! ??

Now – moving on.

This week I want to talk a little bit about book box sets. I’ve been swamped with tech work lately, and it has kept me away from my own writing, but I am doing some work on getting my box set ready to publish by the end of this week. ?

There are several components of your box set, ranging from easy to challenging, that needs to be ready to publish.

  1. Re-Edits
  2. Re-Formatting
  3. Box set cover

WHA?! Edits?!!!

Don’t worry, you’ve already written and edited the books!  But… you don’t need to include some of the content that is at the front and back of each individual book in your box set. So #1 and #2 on this list go hand-in-hand.

You are going to have to reformat your eBook file into a single eBook which contains all of your books which will be part of the box set. As such, you can remove some of that repetitive front and back matter as you are doing this.

But, why can’t I just leave it in there?

You can if you want… those are just extra pages that aren’t necessary – and if you are talking full-length novels, then you want to make sure you are conserving your overall file size. Publishing on Amazon (and others) can incur an ebook “delivery fee” which is based on the size of the file being delivered. So, yes, this is one of those times that size matters, folks.

But I was told I could just give Amazon my ebooks together and it would be in a box set! Why do I have to reformat them into one file?

??‍♀️ I’m not sure who said that — but unless AMZ has made a huge, sweeping change in how they do box sets – this is 100% inaccurate.  They deliver the book(s) in a single file to the readers — they don’t put them together / format them for you. That is still on us, the authors.

Covers. Now, this one is easier than you may suspect. You don’t have to have a fancy, new box set cover professionally designed. It is recommended, of course, but it isn’t absolutely necessary either. I’ve seen many authors simply put together the single cover images from their books, side-by-side in a single graphic and use that — and that is perfectly acceptable!  The only caveat here is the same “guidelines” apply as they did for your ebook covers… they still need to be eye-catching and readable in the smaller size that will show on Amazon’s book pages.

But, if I have to re-do some of this work that I’ve already done on my ebooks just to make a box set, is it really worth it?

That’s a subjective thing, really. In my opinion, and many others, yes, it is worth it, and you can see an uptick in sales — higher priced sales — because often, readers will binge-read a series if they like it… and as such, if there’s a box set available (which is often ever so slightly cheaper than buying each book individually)… they will opt to buy the box set. The other great thing to note on that is:  studies have shown that when a reader pays more for a book (or series in this case), they are more apt to actually read it rather than simply let it sit on their Kindle, unread.

So, based on those two things, in my opinion, yes, it is definitely worth it.

That’s easy for you to say – you are a tech-geek and can do all the formatting and cover work yourself! 

(yes, I get that comment more than you would think) ??

And they ain’t wrong! LOL — but… there is not a single person I know who is capable of writing an ENTIRE NOVEL who would not be capable of learning how to format their own novel into an ebook for Amazon (and others!)

Heck – I teach people how to do that as a tech-coach in the Author Boss Academy! You CAN learn how to do it. It DOES NOT take any fancy, expensive software. And it DOES look just as professional as a “pro formatter” can do for you.

(and I’m saying that as someone who offers “pro formatting” services through my Author’s Mojo company!)

A wee bit of tough love here:  using the “I can’t afford to format my books” line is an excuse.

Yep, I said it, and it’s true.

If you truly want to be an author, and you truly want your books out in the world, then you’ll do it.

And when it comes to indie-authoring, much like many other things in life, you either pay with money, or you pay with your time.

Don’t have money to pay for formatting?  Pay with your time by learning to do it yourself (and save yourself a ton of money in the long-run!)

No excuses.  And I say that with all love because the world needs more of our books out there in it. ❤?

Let me show you what I made with ALL 100% FREE SOFTWARE (not bragging – trying to make a point)

So, what’s stopping you? ?

What I Accomplished

The Big Takeaway

If you want it bad enough – whether it’s being an author or improving your health – you’ll find a way to do it. If you don’t, then you’ll find an excuse. If you are amazing enough to write an entire novel – there’s no doubt in my mind you can learn to format it. (seriously!)

[bctt tweet=”Tough ❤ time: if you want to be an indie-author, you have to drop all the ‘I can’ts’ and ‘I don’t know hows’ and – figure it out – there’s tons of folks in the indie-author community willing to share the how-to’s. ❤” username=”MoriganShaw”]

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