Happy Monday, WG2E-Land Peeps!
Back in August 2011, I first mentioned that I’d decided to create my first D. D. Scott Boxed Set.
I posted then:
I first noticed the Ebook Boxed Set Idea being used by one of my fave authors – once TradiPubbed, now Indie Epubbed too - Gemma Halliday, who has Ebook Boxed Sets of both her High Heels Mysteries as well as her Hollywood Headlines Mysteries. The lovely Indie Author Miriam Minger is also doing Ebook Boxed Sets.
Jump forward to December 2011…and here’s what I did with that idea…
The Bootscootin’ and Cozy Cash Mysteries Boxed Set
On Amazon
On Nook
On Smashwords
Fast forward to January 2012, and here’s the scoop:
I’ve sold over 6,000 Boxed Sets in the first 4 weeks of its release (on just Amazon and B&N)!!!
I made over $12,000 in December 2011…on just my Boxed Set!!!
Including my backlist sales, I’m going to have made over $14,000 in December 2011…just one month!!!
I’ve gone from making $3,000 on average per month as an Indie Epub Author to now $14,000 per month!!!
Total BOXED SET BLISS, right?!
So how did I manage to create such a Seth Godin-style Purple Cow Product and achieve such huge sales’ numbers?
1. I undercut every other Boxed Set out there!!! 6 Books for $2.99…at the time, no one else was doing that.
***Note: This last week, my superfab friend Gemma Halliday, who I mentioned earlier, has now undercut me! LOL! She and I area always neck-and-neck in the same Bestseller Lists on both Amazon and B&N, but she was at around 3-5 books for between $6.99 and $9.99, so I went with 6 books for $2.99. Gemma is now at 5 books for $1.99! Smooth move, Gemma!
2. The $2.99 still gets me into the 70% royalty rate. (So I make about $2.02 per Boxed Set sold.)
3. Because I kept the Boxed Set at a Bargain Book Price (Free to $2.99), it was picked up by such superfab Ereader-Centric Blogs like ENT (Ereader News Today – probably the biggest blog for Kindle Readers) and Cheap e-Reads (“the” blog for Nook Readers).
4. After ENT and Cheap e-Reads featured my Boxed Set, I skyrocketed onto all the Bestseller Lists – hitting both Amazon’s Movers & Shakers at #3 as well as their Top 100 Bestseller List and also hitting B&N’s Top 100 Bestseller List where I stayed for over two full weeks and became the #1 Bestselling Book for Nook!!!
5. Even in January, after I’m off those major Bestseller Lists, I’m still making between $200 and $300 PER DAY, just on this Boxed Set alone! And my backlist sales are seeing exponential growth as well!!!
6. I cross-pollinated all the books in this set…meaning many of the characters you meet in Book One – Bootscootin’ Blahniks – are still in Book Six – Fluid Fulfillment. Although I’ve taken my sub-genres from chick lit, gone-country to humorous mystery across the course of all 6 books, the romantic comedy, humor, action-packed adventure and the characters involved carry all-the-way from Book 1 to Book 6.
In a golden nutshell:
A Boxed Set, with a Purple Cow cover (thanks to Laura Morrigan) and a Purple Cow price got me Purple Cow VISIBILITY and Purple Cow-level sales!!!
Now then…speaking of Boxed Set Covers…here’s something to be aware of, which I did not know till trial and two errors:
Each platform will need a different-size and type of cover.
I know…Uggghhh!!!
But here’s the scoop on that:
1. Kindle will take a standard cover size of 600 x 581
2. But here was the error I got on Nook:
‘”Please ensure that the cover image that you are uploading is between 750 pixels and 2000 pixels in length.”
***So superfab Laura Morrigan did a version to match that size too.***
3. And here was the error I got on Smashwords (and for that reason the Boxed Set has still not been distributed to Sony, Kobo, nor iPad…as Laura is now making a new cover for that version too):
“We do not accept 3D covers; please upload a 2D cover”
What does that mean?
Instead of my original cover
We have to go with one like this…where it doesn’t have that 3D Boxed effect:
So for right now…each Boxed Set has to have three cover versions, unless you choose a flat-style 2D image like above, although, I personally think the 3D stands out more.
Although, that said…here’s a superfab one done by The WG2E’s very own Sibel Hodge…and I’m thinking that should pass as “flat-2D”, right, Sibel? Have you had any feedback on that?
Okay, It’s Your Turn WG2E-Land: How many of you have Boxed Sets now? What have your results been with this type of Ebook Product? How many of you plan to release Ebook Boxed Sets in 2012?
The Best of The WG2E Ebook Boxed Set Wishes — D. D. Scott
