Support for Indie Authors discussion

I'm in the process of writing my twentieth book. The trilogy I'm working on, the plan is to ONLY do e-books until the trilogy is complete. (A few weeks) I'd like to do a box set of paperbacks as part of the celebration of twenty published stories. Problem...I can't figure out how to do it. I know you can do them on smashwords, but I haven't been able to figure out how. Can anyone help me out?

A box set of paperbacks or an eBook box set? You can easily create an eBook box set, but for paperbacks, you would need to find a company who would print a custom box. Neither Createpace nor Lulu do this at the moment. Not sure about Ingram since I've never used them, but I doubt it as well since.

For indies, boxed sets really only work for ebooks. If you want a print boxed set, you pretty much have to have a trad publisher.

You can put all three books into one large print copy on Createspace or IngramSpark, provided you can keep it under 800 pages or so.

From what I understand, Lightning Source is the only printer who will let you group print editions into 'sets'. They won't be boxed, but can be sold together.

Christina wrote: "A box set of paperbacks or an eBook box set? You can easily create an eBook box set, but for paperbacks, you would need to find a company who would print a custom box. Neither Createpace nor Lulu d..."

I meant paperback box set, which is why I'm having such a hard time! I thought Smashwords did it, but I can't figure out how to do it. Looks like I'll just have to print the 3 books individually and pretend it's in a box. That works! ☺

PD brings up a good point. You can do an omnibus edition if your books are relatively short. This would be all three stories collected into one volume.

P.D. Workman (Pamela) wrote: "For indies, boxed sets really only work for ebooks. If you want a print boxed set, you pretty much have to have a trad publisher.

You can put all three books into one large print copy on Createsp..."

I wondered about doing one big book. I'm not sure. Oh well. Thanks for the advice! ☺

Shannon wrote: "Christina wrote: " I thought Smashwords did it, but I can't figure out how to do it...."

Smashwords is for e-books only.

You'd have to find a local offset printer, design the box, print the books, assemble the sets, and then sell them yourself. Not worth the effort, most likely.

Ken wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Christina wrote: " I thought Smashwords did it, but I can't figure out how to do it...."

Smashwords is for e-books only.

You'd have to find a local offset printer, design the box..."

Ugh. Good point. SO not worth the effort. Ok, so as a reader, would you be more likely to pick up a trilogy that was in one big book, or pick up three individual books? I'm leaning toward individual at this point.

Christina wrote: "PD brings up a good point. You can do an omnibus edition if your books are relatively short. This would be all three stories collected into one volume."

The only reason I even do paperbacks is to sell at the market I work at during the summer. I also plan to do a book launch party again, hopefully a few of them. If I can't do a box set, one big book would save room on my table. Have you ever done an omnibus edition? If so, how are your sales??? ☺

A lot of big name publishers will do a large one book collection over a box set. As long as your books are not too long, I think that is a great alternative to a box set.

Christina wrote: "A box set of paperbacks or an eBook box set? You can easily create an eBook box set, but for paperbacks, you would need to find a company who would print a custom box. Neither Createpace nor Lulu d..."

Interesting, I've always wondered this! So for the ebook box set, do all of the books get formatted to a single file? Does it have only one book cover?

Ok, I'm doing it! One book will rule them all! *Giggles like a huge Lord of the Rings dork.* (Because I AM) Anyway, thank you guys for your advice! I've started using KDP's system for making paperbacks instead of createspace, so let's just see what the page limit is! ☺

Good luck Shannon. Be sure to keep us posted on how it turns out. :)

Marie wrote: "Christina wrote: "A box set of paperbacks or an eBook box set? You can easily create an eBook box set, but for paperbacks, you would need to find a company who would print a custom box. Neither Cre..."

I've read a few e-book series that were like that and so far as I know, you just combine the documents into one large doc. I did it with a series of novellas last year. It's my best seller, actually. Try it and see what you think! ☺

Erica wrote: "Good luck Shannon. Be sure to keep us posted on how it turns out. :)"

Will do! Thanks a lot!

Shannon: I have not. None of my series fit in a single book.

Marie: Yes, you would just make a single file and add all your books. I separate mine with a title page that is added to the TOC so they can be easily navigated. For the cover, I chose to make a 3D box but there are tons of styles. Just do a search for complete series on Amazon.