I teach a workshop once in a while called the Business of Publishing. (Sometimes it ends up being called the Business of Writing, which isn’t that different.) I taught it again last month at Ottawa RWA. Inevitably, when I prepare for the workshop, I end up updating the market and industry material. I also re-do the exercises in the second portion of the workshop one more time for myself.

One of the exercises that is always well recieved is a variation of one in the Artist’s Way. I’ve modified it to mirror the juggling act of a working writer’s life. It’s called Six Tasks and I posted it here on the blog a while back – here are the links for Part I, Part II and Part III. (The links will open in a new window so you don’t lose your place in this post.) The basic idea is that a working writer has a number of responsibilities. You rank yourself in each area of expertise. Of course, we all have strengths and weaknesses, and that will show in the chart. There are two ways to improve your balance of skills: by learning or by forming alliances.

I thought I’d talk today about one particular kind of strategic alliance that I’ve been using this fall.

One of the challenges of our digital marketplace is discoverability, and the creation of links in the algorithms of the various online portals. I’ve noticed that when people buy my books, they tend to buy a number of them – which means they like them. They start a series and keep reading. The challenge is to get more people to try one and thus create more connections in the algorithm with the works of other authors. Every time that’s strengthened, the algorithm has more data to make suggestions to consumers.

Once upon a time, my reviewing of books could have helped that—because we tend to write what we read—but Amazon doesn’t support the notion of authors reviewing books. Many authors who are also avid readers and reviewers have had their reviews removed in the last year or so. (Will this happen on Goodreads, too, now that it’s owned by Amazon?) There’s a sense that authors aren’t objective in assessing the work of their friends and associates. This might be true in some cases, but I suspect authors are actually tougher critics. I know I am, and I’m toughest on my own books.

But the challenge remains to create those associations: “readers who like Author A will probably like Author B”. That’s why I’ve been participating in digital boxed sets this fall. These are promotional tools, available for a limited time at a special price. The idea is that the reader likes books by one author in the boxed set, so buys it and tries the others. What will appeal to one reader or another is entirely subjective—the point is the exposure.

Still, it makes sense to try to target a boxed set, as readers often read in a specific niche (maybe all the time, or maybe when they’re in a particular mood).

The first one I was invited to join was Five Unforgettable Knights, which includes five medieval romances.

The second digital boxed set I was invited to join is Three Timeless Loves, which includes three Scottish time travel romances.

These digital boxed sets are alliances which IMO are win-win for everybody: all participating authors will be exposed to new readers, any number of whom may become fans, and readers get a deal, which can only be a good thing. Some authors sell better on different portals or in different markets, so we can all build audience together.

Do you like digital boxed sets? Do you buy them? Do you read all of the books in the boxed set once you’ve bought it? Do you prefer them in certain genres? They seem, for example, to be very popular in historical romance. Tell me what you think!