Six Reasons to Collaborate on a Boxed Set

Since late 2015, starting with a Christmas set, I've been fortunate to collaborate with several groups of writers. The books have featured themes including Christmas and Pets, Valentine's Day and Pets, Paranormal Romance and Friends-to-Lovers.

Although this form of publication is relatively new to me, it has been around for a while. I'm coming in on the tail end in terms of popularity, but there are some great advantages to being in a boxed set.

1. Expanding your skill set. I've been pleasantly surprised to find that I like writing sweet romances and have a knack for it. After learning from others, I organized the boxed set that is pictured here.

2. Working within certain word counts.  Most of my books are over 60,000 words, so confining myself to between 20k-40k words was a new challenge, which I completed successfully.

3. Learning new marketing and promotion tactics.  In each set, every writer is responsible for some form of promotion/marketing. I've become better at making teasers and coming up with ideas for visibility.

4. Exposure to new readers. Some readers like the value they get from buying a bundle of books at a great price. The pay off for writers is being discovered by new readers.

5. Boosted Amazon Author rating and visibility. With 8-12 persons promoting a set, there's a greater reach than with an author promoting a single book. Two of the sets I mentioned reached #1 bestseller status, which naturally boosted my ranking on Amazon and which author doesn't need that?

6. Greater body of work for writers. Since I've been writing novellas, I've completed five of them, three of which have been published. One will be out in June and another will be released next year.

Of course, there are disadvantages to being in a boxed set, chief of which is that the earnings have to be split based on the number of writers. However, if you aren't making the same amount as a single author, then this isn't a major problem. Also, not everybody will do the same amount of work, but with most pulling in the same direction, things do work well.

Through working on boxed sets, I've met a host of wonderful writers who have been generous with their time and skill with graphics, promotion and marketing savvy. What say you? Is this something you think you'd participate in? Why or why not?

To Be a Writer and Not Be Writing by Kamy Wicoff

INTRO: All writers can be insecure, even authors who have a publishing press. Kamy Wicoff is the founder of She Writes and She Writes Press. She is here today to tell us about her writing insecurity. Her story is one that will resonate with so many. Please help me welcome her! 

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Amazon

Last spring, my first novel, Wishful Thinking, came out. For six months I lived the Writer-with-a-capital-W life, touring the country giving readings, begging book clubs to have me, doing some interviews and speaking on a few panels, and, of course, obsessively checking Amazon. And then it was over. It was time. I had to get back to work, to be a writer-with-a-small-w again, working alone.

Initially I was thrilled. I was exhausted from hocking my book to anyone who would listen, and the faint taint of humiliation that comes from constantly selling yourself had long overstayed its welcome. Ah, to be back at the art again! To immerse myself in a world of my creation, taking dictation from my characters and barreling through a story, rather than struggling to be heard in a crowded marketplace, hammering away at inane social media I could care less about!

So I sat down. And nothing came.

It’s now been another six months. Still nothing.

I am terrified.

I have only published two books in my life (the “only” depends on your perspective, of course, and right now, without an idea in sight, it is how I feel)  – the first was nonfiction, and the second was a novel. Between the nonfiction book and the novel, there were several years where I was fairly sure I’d never write again. But I had some good excuses. I went through a painful divorce. I had very young children. I didn’t want to write another memoir, and had never written fiction and had no idea if I could. When the idea for my novel came to me it was like a bolt from the blue, a lifeline from the gods of creativity to a new way of being a writer that I was sure was the right one at last. I’d never written a novel before, and I wrote one I was proud of. Surely now there would be no more dry spells. Surely now I had found my groove.

The thing is, writing, for me, anyway, doesn’t work like that. I know lots of writers who start the next book before the last book has even come out. (I am Facebook friends with a lot of them, unfortunately for my ego.) But I have spent the last several months trying to make peace with the fact that that isn’t me. It’s hard. It’s scary. I have told myself that by reading, journaling, living life and focusing on my business (I am the founder of SheWrites.com and its publishing arm, She Writes Press), I am “filling the well,” preparing myself in ways I can’t understand now for whatever it is I’m going to write later. But it is very hard to have faith, to be a writer and not be writing. Can I say I am a writer during the times when I don’t write at all?

An age-old question, I know. The muse is fickle, and more likely to visit when we are not chasing her. But it’s hard to wait without panicking that I may be waiting forever. 

So I ask you: what do you do in the in-between, when inspiration doesn’t come yet? I’d love to know. I’ve got some time to kill.

Thank you, Kamy, for being our guest today!

Bio:

Kamy Wicoff is the bestselling author of the novel Wishful Thinking and the nonfiction book I Do But I Don’t: Why The Way We Marry Matters. She is the founder of one of the world’s largest communities for women writers, www.shewrites.com, with 27,000 members worldwide. She is also the founder, with Brooke Warner, of She Writes Press, a “third way” publisher leading the way in creating alternative publishing companies for authors. Kamy serves on the board of Girls Write Now, a New York City nonprofit that pairs high school girls with professional women writers as their mentors. 

To learn more, visit: www.kamywicoff.com.  

Sad Mr. Adverb

Sad Mr. Adverb is so very sad

Seems he's been labelled crazy and mad 

By whom? you might ask, and rightfully too  

By Them, you'd be told, them in the blue

They say don't use him, not any ole way

He's not fit for language, requiem, or play 

Well, if that be true, then give him the boot 

For new writers know nothin,' and old writers toot moot 

[Haha, I know! Don't quit my day job and take up poetry writing.]

THEY have been telling us to cut adverbs for so long that the rule is now a norm. Why? Because too many writers use adverbs to modify the wrong word. Or they use ambiguous adverbs that tell us nothing. It's become easier to say, "Don't use them," then to illustrate their proper use. 

"And when he spoke, his words came slowly and softly." The Legend of Devil's Creek. D.C. Alexander.  

"She gave a sharp cry of realization just as hands, which she had noticed specifically for their size and strength, caught her upper arm from behind." Mean Streak, Sandra Brown.  

She had just enough time to recognize the heavy hammer she sometimes used to [...] It was in his hands [...]." Dead Wood, Dan Ames 

"When I sit up I do it slowly, blinking heavily. There is a sour taste in my mouth [...]" Follow the Crow, B.B. Griffith. 

"It was a vision of hell. A dismally foggy day over stinking heaps of refuse—" Book of Shadows, Alexandra Sokoloff.

"Reidinger's face was terribly young and unlined, but his brown eyes [...]." The Angel of Zin, Clifford Irving. 

"[...] Jack had said something else to him, too quietly for Wendy to hear, and Tom had only shaken his head sullenly [...]." The Shining, Stephen King. 

"It's difficult to come out on top when everyone is your enemy. Fortunately for us, we aren't at that point yet." Dragon of the Stars, Alex J. Cavanaugh. [Some would argue that out in this case is an adverb. I'll leave that decision for the wordsmiths]

When used correctly, adverbs convey something important and even powerful for the reader. They add rhythm to your prose. They're the reason your reader turns the page; they add something vital to the plot. They don't glob up your sentences. Learn how to use them effectively and I promise your writing will become stronger. 


By the way, @TheIWSG is now on twitter. 

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