Should I make a Series series

[alhawke]

The extra "series" is not a typo. I have two boxed sets (1-3 & 4-6) for my witch series now. I'm publishing my 4-6 set now. I've been roaming around Amazon and other retailers and I'm seeing many writers grouping boxed sets together under a separate series from their main book series. The disadvantage is that this separates the compilation out from the individual books and I have some short stories in the main series link. The advantage is that it groups my two boxed sets together. Should I make a series of the boxed set series books? Anyone done this? Thoughts?

[Lynn]

I've done this in the past and at retailers that still don't allow you to attach content to an existing series. But once Amazon did allow you to put content connected to a series I stopped. Google Play also allows you to put bundles and things as connected to a series.

[alhawke]

Interesting... so I could be seeing a leftover from that restriction. Thanks!

[alhawke]

In a recent 1-3 boxed set promo, I saw why boxed set series "series" is not a bad idea. I had minimal co-sales with other books  after selling hundreds in an international BookBub. I'm finding that "related series" on Amazon is such a loose connection for readers that few are buying other books on Amazon during boxed set sales. They are, but it's minimal. And, I'm wondering if it might be worth it to just throw ALL the individual books, even prequel, into ONE single series. 1st prequel as book 1, for example.

So... I'd love your opinions because I haven't made up my mind yet. I have 10 books and 2 boxed sets in the series.

1) For my boxed sets, I'm thinking of making boxed set collection series. It'd be 2 books on Amazon. That way if I advertise the boxed set, the other one (books 3-6) is a click away from an also bought

2) For my witch series individual books in general, I'm thinking of taking my "related books" and throwing them in ONE bundle. In other words, prequel as book 1, prequel short story as book 2, Book 1, Book2 etc. "Artistically" this still works because every book, including short stories, carries on while the other left off. I've hesitated in doing this in the past because I use my initial novel as a lead-in. But now I'm wondering if I it won't hurt my sales to still advertise that book? This is a tough decision. It could mean increasing sales of the novellas and short stories while dropping sales overall without a good 1st book lead-in.

As an aside, to show the power of Amazon's one click series link, I had a whole slew of preorder sales for my upcoming xmas witch story as co-sales with my Halloween promo. Why? Because I decided to tag it, for now, as Book 7 in the series. It's not a lie. The book is a continuous story chronologically. Point is, it tells you how important series distinctions are.

{note this mostly involves Amazon algos, not other retailers

[Lorri Moulton]

I think having series definitely gets more eyes on all the books.  I put the cookbook as part of the series because no one seemed to see it as related to series.

In my bookshop, I put all my paranormal suspense together, all the fairytales together, etc.  They also seem to sell better in crowdfunding campaigns when they're linked.

[alhawke]

Hmm...
I added Samhain Witch today, a short story, nearly novella size, to book 4. Also labeled it in product summary as a short. Now there's 8 books in the 'series'. That will sell more of Samhain Witch (which hasn't sold much at all despite my major Halloween promoting this month--ironic when you know that samhain is a pagan name for Halloween time.

That leaves my prequel novel , 20yr prior prequel, and very short 40 pg short story. Should I tag these two stories at the end of the series and make it TEN books? Or leave the prequels out of the large 8 book series? Again, I fear to put the prequel as book 1 because my book 1, Broomstick, is my loss leader heavy advertised book for the series.

And... what about series in an Amazon series for boxed sets? Problem with that linking boxed sets only is Amazon only allows one series per book. So anyone buying the two boxed sets won't see the short stories

[Lorri Moulton]

I'm no expert on Amazon (or any retailer) when it comes to this type of thing...but I have read a lot in author forums on Facebook recommending using prequels for newsletter magnets and with sign ups for their subscriptions. 

I don't really do anything like that, so I'd probably make one (or two) free everywhere and hope it would encourage more sell through for the series. 

It would be SO much easier if we could have 1.1 and 1.2, etc for series books, but I don't think that's an option.