April 18, 2025 • 34 mins
Book bundling represents an untapped opportunity for authors seeking to revitalize their backlist, attract new readers, and generate fresh marketing momentum. This strategic approach – combining multiple books into a single e-book package – offers benefits far beyond simply grouping titles together.
Originally popularized by romance authors who packaged multiple books into value-driven collections, book bundling has evolved into a sophisticated marketing tool applicable across genres. When you bundle your books, you're essentially creating a new product that deserves its own promotional campaign, giving you permission to approach marketing with renewed enthusiasm rather than feeling like you're pushing the same titles year after year.
The timing for implementing a bundling strategy couldn't be better. After an initial surge where "every single book on Amazon was bundled," the approach has become less ubiquitous, making well-executed bundles more likely to stand out. This creates an opportunity for authors willing to be strategic about their bundling decisions.
For fiction writers, options include series bundles (books 1-2 as a new book 4 releases), connected standalones (books sharing characters or universe), and short story/novella collections that offer low-commitment entry points to your writing. Nonfiction authors can create topic-based collections or seasonal/themed groupings that address complementary aspects of readers' interests.
The technical aspects are straightforward – existing EPUB files can be combined without redesigning interiors, though you'll want a fresh cover that effectively communicates the bundle's value. Pricing strategy deserves careful consideration; while deeply discounted bundles might drive immediate sales, they often fail to create engaged readers invested in your work.
Ready to breathe new life into your backlist? Consider how bundling might create a second chance at a first impression with readers who missed your earlier work. We'd love to hear your experiences with book bundling – subscribe and leave a review to join the conversation!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Office Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sansevierie andAmy Cornell, and this is a show.
You know we say this all thetime when we're developing these
shows.
We're like we've done a show onthis and we've done a show on
this.
I don't believe that we've everdone a show on book bundling.
If we have, it was in the firstyear and now we're in our fifth
(00:25):
year and so very excited aboutthe show.
If you're a new listener, ifyou just found us, welcome, we
are really happy that you'rehere.
I am getting to.
I'm in the final stretch thefinal, final stretch by the time
this show hits, probably thefinal, final final stretch of
the Amazon Author Formulaworkbook.
We have a cover and theinterior is being finalized.
(00:48):
I'm really excited about thatbook, which ties into the
conversation of book bundling,because at some point the
workbook and the main book willprobably be book bundled in some
form or fashion.
So it was very timely to havethis conversation.
I also, just very separately, Iwant to give a shout out listen
(01:09):
y'all.
If you're not using the Libbyapp, you really.
It's a great way to get intoyour libraries and do you don't
have.
You don't even have to go intolike a.
People are just like, well, Idon't have a library near me,
doesn't matter.
You can be anywhere in theworld actually and get access to
(01:32):
books.
It's fabulous.
I have so many books on hold onmy shelf right now.
Amy, it's crazy.
Please don't put books on holdthat I want, because I'm already
waiting nine and ten weeks forsome titles, because I'm already
waiting nine and 10 weeks forsome titles.
Have you tried it yet?
Have you used it?
Because I know when I getreally addicted to something,
I'm always pestering Amy in text.
I'm like you should try this.
Have you tried it yet?
(01:52):
Have you tried it yet?
I must be I'm sure.
Sometimes she silences my text,which is fine and
understandable.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I do have it downloaded on my phone.
You do that's awesome.
Downloaded on my phone.
You do that's awesome.
I know we are making baby steps.
I am not ashamed to admit I getso much more reading done
during peak sports season for mykids and that is happening
right now.
So stay tuned for an update.
I will be having all theopinions on all the recent recs
(02:21):
before the end of the season.
I love this time of year forthat.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, yeah, but it's a great.
It really is a great tool andit's also really fun if your
book is in the library systemand we actually did a show on
that topic on libraries, gettingyour books in libraries it's
really fun.
I love when we have authors whohave their books get picked up
by libraries.
I love looking them up on theLibby app and just seeing.
(02:46):
It's really, it's a fun.
It's a really really fun tooland you can you can look at,
read magazines and all kinds ofstuff.
So highly, highly, highlyrecommend.
Nothing to do with the topic ofbook bundling, but just worth a
mention.
So book bundling I.
So book bundling.
So the history of book bundlingbook bundling was actually
(03:06):
really brought into theforeground by, uh, the romance
market, right?
So, um, romance authors werebundling their books and and and
creating these.
You know two, three, four andsometimes up to like 10 books in
(03:26):
a bundle, and so, just to beclear, right, we wanted to do
the show about book bundling.
If this is something thatyou've considered but you
haven't really known where to gowith it, hopefully the show
will help you.
If you haven't done it and hadnever considered it and wondered
why, how these books wereshowing up like this on Amazon,
(03:50):
looking like there were multiplebooks on their retail page.
Hopefully, this show will helpto understand that and unpack
this topic a little bit more.
Just, by definition is two ormore books, typically from the
(04:12):
same author, but we're going toexplore that as well and they're
put up on Amazon.
They're always an e-book, eventhough I know that we have box
sets of print books and whatnot.
That's not what we're talkingabout in this show and I I mean
we have a number of authors, amy, don't we that have done book
(04:33):
bundles and explored that aswell.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Oh yeah, definitely, it's always very exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, yeah, and I think that that you know the
book.
So let me give you an exampleof when this can you know, when
this can work.
So you have like two or threebooks out in a series and you're
coming out with the fourth bookand you know, maybe the series
(05:00):
spanned over five or so years,so your first book is five, six
years old.
You might decide to bundle bookone and two as book four comes
out.
Right, there's a perceivedvalue with book bundling.
So when you have two books,which we'll get into pricing in
(05:20):
a minute, but essentially liketwo books for the price of one,
maybe, um, the perceived valueis higher.
It also is a great way to bringin new readers.
So one of the things that Ilike to talk about in when I you
know, when I talk to authors isum, how are you, you know is,
(05:42):
how are you, you know, how areyou building new reader interest
, right?
So if you have a lot of booksout, how are you building new
reader interest?
And a lot of times you knowthey'll say well, I don't really
have any new books coming outfor another couple of years,
whatever, consider maybebundling two or three or more,
depending on how many books thatyou have, you know, in an
(06:04):
electronic format and puttingthat up on Amazon.
That is now a new product thatyou can market and promote and
you know it can bring in newreaders.
And again, it's also funSometimes authors like change
their book covers for or, youknow, if you've wanted to revise
your book cover.
I'm a huge fan of revising abook cover, especially if you
(06:27):
feel like the first time youdidn't really hit it out of the
park.
But a book bundle is also agreat opportunity to come up
with a new, um revised bookcover.
We worked with an author,christina george, and her book
bundle for book one and two inthe publicist series actually
has a cover that is radicallydifferent from the ones that she
had when the books launched,because she wanted to get have a
(06:49):
little bit more fun with it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So you know what I mean yes, I love that part of it
.
I love the branding part of it.
So it's like, oh, it's like ashiny new toy that you get to
work with, you know, yeah yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And then you know, amy, do you want to talk about
the promotional benefits ofdoing a book bundle?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
is continuing to produce work looks more like a
sure thing, especially if you'rewriting a series or you write
on a topic that you consistently.
They want to see that you're init for the long haul.
So creating a book bundle is agreat way to create yet another
product for your virtualbookshelf, which is really great
.
And again, you get to kind ofstart your marketing all over,
like Penny said a lot of times.
(07:47):
You know these are not newbooks, these are backlist titles
.
You know, like Penny mentioned,I love that idea of releasing a
bundle in prep for the releaseof the next book in your series
and let those play off of eachother.
And this is just a great way tostart fresh.
And because we hear that a lotfrom authors, it's like well, I
hate talking about myself or Ijust you know I'm not
comfortable with self-promotion,but if you do a bundle, that's
(08:11):
like talking about a brand newproduct and you shouldn't shy
away from that.
You know, I get it.
Sometimes it's hard to continuetalking about your book two
years later, like I've said itall, and now I just feel
desperate.
But the book bundle you get totreat it like a new book, which
is very cool.
And then the pricing options aswell.
Play around with your pricing.
(08:31):
That is one thing I think thatauthors don't do enough of.
Just across the board, penny istesting.
If you have full control overall the things, do some testing.
You know, don't do knee-jerktesting, don't change things
around every other month justbecause you didn't think you
sold enough tight.
You know what I mean.
That like don't go nuts with it, but definitely do some testing
(08:54):
.
You know, every quarter, try outsome different price points.
Things like that.
And bundles are a great way todo that anyway, because,
especially if they're for booksthat have not been moving very
well lately anyway, eitherbecause of the age or you know
what I mean there's a lot offactors that come into that.
You're able to get away with alower price and then promote the
hell out of that.
Bundle them together, promotethem like crazy, do discount,
(09:19):
like limited discount,promotions, things like that,
and it's such a great way tofeed a lot of new traffic to
your page and to revive a lot ofinterest, and the price doesn't
have to stay low forever, butit's just another great way to
get people in your funnel andintroduced to your series or
your work.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I completely agree with that, and
I think that we're going to talkabout types of book bundles and
whatnot, but I think that it'salso worth mentioning you want
to bundle books that complementeach other, and sometimes
authors I've seen authors who,in the genre fiction market, who
(09:59):
go to you know severaldifferent authors will come
together and say, okay, we'regoing to create a book bundle of
all of our books, or one eachto one, or two each, whatever,
and I've seen book bundles forbooks that are, you know, 15 to
20 books long, which is a lotactually.
Um, but make sure that theycompliment each other.
(10:23):
And part of the reason for thatis is because you I mean,
there's an argument that couldbe made that okay, well, so what
if you have?
So, let's say, you have a crimethriller and you have a cozy
mystery, and you have, you know,amateur sleuth, and you have,
(10:45):
you know, police procedural, andyou put them all in a book
bundle and there's all thesedifferent authors and you're all
marketing the books and that'sgreat and everybody's going to
get exposure to more of yourbooks.
But the problem is is that alot of times, these readers
don't cross over.
So if you're doing this withother authors, make sure that
you're aligning with people whohave you know where you're going
(11:06):
to be pulling in the samereaders, because otherwise it
doesn't really the benefit getsa little bit.
You know, it's a little bitdiluted in.
You know, in my opinion, if youare bundling your own books and
you write across a bunch ofdifferent genres, the same rules
apply, right, and I would saythe same thing for nonfiction.
(11:28):
So typically, nonfictionauthors I mean, I want to say
typically, but there's alwaysthe exception, right, but a lot
of times nonfiction authorswrite on one topic and they stay
with that one topic.
You know how to teach your kidssomething and the next thing
(11:48):
you're writing about is, youknow, yoga for seniors or
whatever.
I mean those two are probablynot going to go.
You know, you're not going towant to bundle those.
So just be, just be kind ofmindful of that.
Amy, do you want to talk about?
Do you want to do you want tokick us off with the different
types of?
I know we have already sort ofaddressed that a little bit, but
what do you want to dig into?
The different types of bookbundling?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, absolutely the you know, the clear, obvious one
is going to be fiction.
If you write in a series, youknow, as Penny already said,
there's different ways to dothis and you don't have to pick
one bundle, right, penny, likeyou don't have to.
You can do multiple versions ofthis.
So you can start by justdepending on how many books are
(12:31):
in your series.
You can start by bundling justbook one and two.
Down the road you could dobooks one through four when the
series is complete.
I mean, there's a lot ofdifferent ways to go about this,
so don't feel like you have todo it all, but I would say all
at once and make that decision.
But I would say, you know, fora lot of authors it's a lot
depending on your background andwhat your sales are like today.
(12:53):
Do you have a lot of returnbuyers, things like that?
It's a lot simpler to getpeople on board, especially if
you're relatively new or don'thave a big following yet, with
two books, versus saying, hey,invest the time and trust that
you're going to love this, buyall four books at once.
You know what I mean.
That gets a little trickier, Ithink personally, it's
(13:14):
definitely one thing if you havesome standalone titles that
have done really well, havegreat reviews, things like that
that could absolutely supportsomebody buying books one
through four all at once, evenif they haven't.
You know what I mean.
That makes a little more sensewhen you have other titles on
your bookshelf that show themlike, okay, people like their
work, like I'm just going tojump in because I love the
(13:36):
concept of this, I love thisgenre, I'm going to do it.
So that makes sense.
But I think if you're not, ifyou're getting your still
getting your footing in thiswhole author space, diving right
in and expecting people to buybooks one through four, all in
one bundle is probably going tobe a big ask and you may not see
a lot of movement on massivebundles like that unless you
have other things to supportthem jumping in like that.
(13:57):
But another great option isconnected standalones.
So we've worked with a fewclients recently Penny where
this is a thing where the samecharacter or group of characters
, so all the stories worktogether but they're not reliant
on reading them in order.
So that's a really great optionfor bundling as well.
So same universe, same theme,same leading character, but it's
(14:20):
not necessarily a chronologicalstory of their life A lot of
this.
I love the ones with likegroups of friends, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You know where it kind of different books touch on
, like you get kind of a sneakpeek at the different characters
within a story, depending onthe book, but they all work
together because you startrecognizing names and things
like that.
But you can read them in anyorder that suits your fancy,
which I think is very cool, yeah.
And then you know, obviouslyshort stories or novellas,
similar to the connectedstandalones, combine those into
something that people can jumpinto all at once.
(14:54):
That's another very cool option.
What's nice about that?
Short stories and novellas?
It gives people a taste foryour work too.
If you promote it as get toknow this, get to you know what
I mean Like lean into the factthat it's a great easy gateway
for people to get into your workand to understand your writing
(15:16):
and, you know, to become fansand things like that.
Really, take advantage of thoseopportunities for shorter reads
.
Because we've talked about a lot, typically books.
People don't you know theydon't skip over buying a book
because of the money.
You know.
Yes, we talk about pricing andpricing does matter, but at the
end of the day, you really haveto remember how much of
somebody's time you're askingfor when you're asking them to
(15:37):
buy your book.
That's a huge consideration topeople.
Time is worth more than moneyfor a lot of us nowadays.
You know there just isn'tenough hours in the day, so
always keep that in the back ofyour head.
When you're connecting withreaders and trying to sell your
books and when you're doing yourmarketing, is that you're
asking people for a huge chunkof their life?
Like, how do you make it soundworth it to them when that's the
(16:00):
factor you know?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Right, right, exactly , yeah, exactly, and I think
that you know, just to be justbefore we dig into the
nonfiction stuff.
So it's worth getting a littlebit nerdy about this, because
this is a question that comes upa lot when I talk to authors.
So we already mentioned thatthe book bundle is electronic.
(16:24):
What there's.
No, you do not have to.
In the majority of cases, youdo not have to completely revamp
your book interior unless youwant to.
So typically a good interiorperson will combine the various
EPUB files into one file.
So if you have books so if yourbooks are in a series, a lot of
(16:44):
times the interiors will lookthe same.
But if you have books that arenot necessarily in a series, so
a lot of times the interiorswill look the same.
But if you have books that arenot necessarily in a series so a
lot of this you know fiction ornonfiction a lot of the
interiors will look different.
You can keep that branding.
You're going to revise thecover to reflect the book bundle
, but the interior is basicallyjust.
(17:06):
If you have the EPUBs, a solidinterior person can just combine
them into one book file thatyou then upload to Amazon.
So that's just something toconsider, because that's where
this is a question that I get alot.
They're like well, but do Ihave to have the book redesigned
?
Do I have to get?
No, you do not.
If you have those files, if theywere given to you just, you
(17:29):
literally just combine them, butthey do have to be in one
digital file, right?
So if you have multiple authorsin this, you're going to have
to have the conversation again.
Not to get too far down therabbit hole, amy, but I just
thought about this is you'regoing to have to have the
conversation of okay, so who'smanaging that account?
Because the majority, like you,could every author, each author
(17:53):
can put it onto their ownaccount if you want, and then
just leave it at that.
But if you have it on, ifyou're working with multiple
authors and you want to just putit under one person's account
for some reason I don't know whyyou would do that, but
sometimes that happens Then oneperson is essentially managing
that Amazon retail page, but youhave to upload this.
(18:14):
You know you upload the book toKDP because I don't think that
you can do multiple books in abundle through, like
Draft2Digital or IngramSpark.
I could be wrong, but upload itto KDP, upload the cover and
all that, and then you're, youknow, you're, you're, you know,
you're good to go.
I don't know if Amazon hasplaced limits on book sizes,
(18:35):
like I know, I cited, you know,15 books in a series.
I don't know that they'venecessarily put limits on book
sizes because Amazon, as we'vedone, shows on.
You know, we do shows on Amazonall the time.
Amazon changes everything everyday, but, um, that it's a very,
very basic, straightforwardprocess.
So then, in terms of nonfiction, topic-based collections, right
(18:57):
.
So if you have a whole bunch ofbooks that you've done, I mean,
I have bundled my own books, allbooks, every book that I write
is on book marketing, althoughthey're different topics.
Like, I had an internetmarketing book which I don't
re-release anymore just becauseit's so difficult to keep it
updated because everythingchanges all the time with social
(19:19):
media portals and whatnot.
But I've bundled my own booksand basically they fall under,
you know, the topic-basedcollection.
So, book marketing, right?
So if you are listening to thisand you're like, you know what,
I should get together with afew of my nonfiction author, you
know, friends, and maybe wecould bundle our books and what?
Keep in mind that you want tomake sure that they are, that
(19:43):
they make sense.
Much like what we talked about.
Much like what we talked aboutearlier, in that you don't want
to lose readers, right?
You don't want to have a bookon on, you know, teaching your
kid how to play soccer orwhatever, and then a book on
yoga for seniors.
It's not really.
You're not going to get a lotof sales around that How-to
(20:03):
guides, author brand bundles.
So, as I mentioned, I've bundledmy books.
If you have a lot of books,you're nonfiction, great.
You can also do this seasonally, so I really like this idea.
Actually, you can also do thisseasonally, so I really like
this idea.
Actually, themes and seasons,so a seasonal bundle of your
(20:28):
books for you know whatever,whether it's you know a summer
holiday, or you know the bigholidays, or you know themes,
right?
So fitness or cookbooks orwhatever.
I think that's a really, reallycool idea, but that actually
could apply to fiction ornonfiction, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Do you see a lot of children'sbooks that are bundled?
(20:51):
Because I really like the ideaof bundling them, but I don't
know that.
I see that a lot.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
No, I mean I don't, because it's still to some
degree goes back.
There's still very much a bigdivide on children's book in
digital versus print.
You know what I mean.
Like I think it really depends.
Honestly, for me it depends onthe kiddo, you know, yeah, some
kids are just so used to beingand I'm not knocking this on
(21:22):
their tablets that they likereading books on their tablets.
They know how to find it, likethey know all the things.
I mean my kids can work any ofmy technology better than I can
at this point, but then, justlike adults, honestly, some
kiddos just prefer to read andprint too.
So it's truly a child thingmore than even a parent thing, I
(21:45):
kind of want to say.
But I don't think it's a badidea by any means and the
process is relatively simple andit's an inexpensive way again
to take up more space on yourretail page to offer more to
parents, and so and I think alot of it too, penny, comes to
(22:06):
how it's presented.
You know we do a lot aboutretail page optimization.
I think being smart about howyou present your children's book
, why the bundle makes sense,you know what I mean.
I think that's something thatacross the board.
No matter what you're bundling,make sure to lean into why the
bundle is a benefit.
(22:28):
I think account for that inyour description, in all the
author central feet, likedifferent sections that are
provided on author central.
You know we talk about those alot.
You know.
Really lean into why the bundleis such a great option, because
it's important, you know.
Don't just throw it togetherand expect like people to figure
out like, oh, I guess I couldget two and it might be a little
(22:51):
bit cheaper, but that's notvery exciting.
Like you need to tell people.
Slap them in the face with whythe bundle's a great idea, you
know.
So for like a children's book Iwould totally lean into keep
your kiddos busy on your nextroad trip or flight to visit
grandma and grandpa, you knowwhat I mean Stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
And I think that across the board matters, for no
matter what genre you're in andbundling, you know, treat that
bundle opportunity as a brandnew way to come up with
different sales angles.
You know for why, who thatmarket is, why they would do it,
what the benefits are to themand lean into those and make it
(23:30):
unique and separate from yourtitles individually.
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, exactly.
No, I think that's a reallygood.
I think I think that reallygoes back to.
I think that really goes backto making sure that it makes
sense for your for your audience.
I mean, I love book bundling.
I think it can be really, Ithink you can.
You can revive a brand, you canrevive a series, you can do all
kinds of really really funthings with it.
(23:55):
But I think it also, like Isaid, it has to be.
It has to be, it really has tobe right.
So and you know, this isanother thing too sometimes when
authors say I have all thesebooks out, I didn't really do it
right the first time, what canI do now?
And my answer is you know, youcan re-release the book,
(24:18):
certainly, or you can leave thebooks as is and you can, just,
you know, just you know, puttogether a book bundle right.
So I think that you know thebenefits to book bundling.
I think once you start to kindof, once you start to kind of
navigate this road, the benefitsto book bundling are huge.
(24:40):
I mean, if you're doing it withother authors, then you all
have exposure to your ownaudiences, which I love that
idea, right?
Yes, if you're doing it withbooks that are a little bit
older, you're potentiallybringing in new readers.
You know book bundles seem likesuch a great deal, right,
(25:00):
because you're getting two booksfor the price of one or three
books for the price whatever.
Um, and you know the pricing.
I mean I would say, if you'rethinking like listening to the
show, you're like, oh, I think Iwant to.
You know, consider maybe doinga book bundle or something.
Take a look at other similarauthors and see what they're,
you know what they're chargingfor their, you know for their
(25:21):
book bundle, right, and I think,just because it hasn't been
done yet in your market, likethis tends to lean heavier to
fiction than it does tononfiction.
But I think that if you are,you know there's no reason that
you can't be first to marketwith a book bundle.
(25:42):
I mean, when I was, when I didthe book bundle of my books,
they're really there.
There still aren't a lot ofbook marketing, books that you
know they're, that are beingbundled, and I absolutely plan
like I will release the workbookseparately and then after a
time I am 10,000% going tobundle it with the original book
because it is a bundle.
(26:02):
I mean you, you, you, you knowwhat I mean.
So I think that, beingstrategic about this and
thinking, you know, I have thisseries planned and I think it
just it's a really, really greatway to get to build, you know,
build more readers.
To get to build, you know,build more readers.
And it's a great way of of, youknow, starting over.
If you came to us from thebacklist show by the way we've
(26:30):
talked about, I know wementioned that we did a show on
this and to go back and look forit, this is such a fabulous way
to revive a backlist.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah.
You know, and I think that's agood point to bring up too,
Penny, and you already said itwhen you said you know, make it
strategic.
You know, like a lot of thingsthat we talk about in marketing,
nothing, just one thing,doesn't fix all your problems.
Yeah, Building a bundle andthrowing it up on Amazon is not
(26:56):
going to revive your backlist,you know.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
On its own.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You really have to embrace this as an opportunity
to do things the right way orbetter than you did the first
time.
Yeah, and that's a good thing.
That shouldn't sound like achore.
That should be like an oh mygosh.
Yes, that's what I've needed,you know.
Be strategic about how you'representing it as a product.
You know your plans formarketing it, your limited time,
(27:21):
discounts, all the things andlike totally embrace that you
get to have a do over,essentially, and really have it
planned out and be smart aboutit, because that's when these
work for you.
You know, it's not the creatingit that fixes problems, it's
the fact that you get to dothings differently or better the
next time around.
That's what helps fix problems,revives your brand, finds new
(27:43):
readers, things like that.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
One of the other things that I really like about
the timing of this particularshow for two reasons actually is
that if you're listening to theshow in April which is when
it's going to land in the feedyou have plenty of time.
If you think, oh my gosh, I'dlove to do a holiday bundle, you
have plenty of time now, right,provided obviously that the
books are written and they'realready up on Amazon, otherwise
(28:05):
maybe 2026.
Um, but it's also, you know,there was a time when book
bundling like everybody wasbundling and you could not go to
a single fiction conference Idon't care what genre it was and
not hear like 10 people in linewaiting for your morning
(28:26):
breakfast or something, talkabout their book bundle.
It's faded a bit.
So, you know, like things kindof come and go a little bit, the
appeal of book bundling has notfaded.
The appeal of book bundling hasnot faded, but the fact that
there were so many peoplejumping on the bandwagon has,
which I actually kind of like,because at that time, like you,
(28:46):
would look at a list, a genre on, you know, genre fiction,
mystery, romance, whatever onscience fiction didn't matter on
Amazon, and every single bookthat you saw on that list was
bundled.
It was a book bundle, so therewasn't anything real.
I mean, it's great again forall the reasons that we
mentioned, but there wasn'tanything really unique about it.
(29:07):
No, you don't see it as I mean,amy, you do a lot of.
You're on Amazon a lot, almostprobably more than Jeff Bezos is
, although he's probably he'sprobably busy tuning up his
rocket to go to space, but Iknow, or working out.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I don't even know if those pictures are real, but
they still shock me every time.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It's a little honestly like.
I'm sorry, I just have to saythis out loud it's a little
creepy.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I know it is.
It's one of those things like,oh, wow, okay, back to real life
.
Um, I think you know, andyou've talked about this a lot
in previous shows Penny for anumber of different reasons, but
you know, I think to your point.
I think a lot of when the bookbundling was that huge surge,
also kind of aligned with thefact that so many of them were
(29:49):
so freaking cheap.
You know, yeah, I don't lovethat.
People are like, ooh, I'm goingto get four books for 99 cents
and now I'm winning.
It's like leaving money on thetable.
But the way we've talked aboutbefore, yeah, sometimes it can
push a lot of immediate youcould see a surge in sales, but
a lot of times those people likewe've talked about before don't
(30:09):
end up reading them becausetheir Kindles just get full of
all the things and they weren'tactually fully invested in
making that buying decision.
It was more about the 99 centsthan it was about what they were
buying, yeah, and so theyweren't making that like those
longer term connections withreaders that were purchasing
that really end up serving youlong term.
(30:29):
So I agree with you.
I think I love the fact thatit's not.
It's kind of become much morestrategic and you don't just see
it everywhere.
It's actually something thatcan be treated as something
special again.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Finally, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I really
I like that.
I like that a lot.
I mean, I think that it's just,you know, like I said, it's
something that was wildlysuccessful and everybody did it.
And then people, I think Ithink people just got really
distracted by TikTok orsomething.
I don't know.
That's funny.
(31:01):
I don't really know, but welove this idea.
We hope that the show has beenhelpful and we love reader
feedback.
We love reviews.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, if this is your first time,
(31:26):
finding us welcome to ouruniverse, we love.
The podcast actually has become, I would say, for both Amy and
myself, one of the favoritethings that we do when it comes
to doing our, you know, businesspromotion.
And, let's face it, the podcastis a promotional tool.
I talk to a lot of authors whoheard our podcast first and then
decided they want to do a calland we, we really love doing it
right.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun and it's such a great
way.
It's such an easier way when wesay you know what?
This is a problem, we need totalk about this, it's, it's it's
our direct connection toreaders.
It's so much more immediate andwe can talk about timely things
too, because you know again,our blog's been great to us.
It continues to be great to us,but it's it's a lot easier to
(32:09):
reach people about timely topicsand about things that are
happening in the industry rightnow through the podcast than it
is through the blog.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, yeah, it really really is.
So we love doing this show.
We love bringing the show yeah,it really really is.
So we love doing this show.
We love bringing this show weand we love show ideas.
As I mentioned, we love reviews.
But if it is your first timelistening, be sure to subscribe,
because you cannot review thepodcast unless you subscribed.
I didn't know that, I foundthat out.
But also, you will get ourshows every Friday in your feed
(32:36):
and again, if you're strugglingwith something like, what are
you really challenged with?
We really want to know, becausethese show ideas come from
y'all.
So we definitely want to makesure that this podcast is
dedicated to teaching, and allthe reasons that we're in
business is the mission to helpauthors be successful.
(32:59):
What's really interesting aboutthis is that in the five years
that we've done this show, somany podcasts on book marketing
have come and gone.
And you know and I get it,because podcasts are not you
podcasting is kind of like ablog, like I remember years ago,
when I was first in business,everybody was like, oh, you have
(33:20):
to have a blog, you have tohave a blog, and people dived
headfirst into it and thenrealized that a blog takes a lot
of work and anything thatyou're doing long term takes a
lot of work.
The issue with the podcast isthat it never really feels like
work, because we're hearing yourideas, we're getting ideas,
we're incorporating them intoshow.
We have a lot of fun recordingthis, and so we did this for you
(33:42):
guys and and we welcome wealways, we always welcome your
input, but not that we're thelast show in book marketing, but
we're going to stay around longenough that we are.
So there you go, and thank you,by the way, for the recent
review that we got on the Kindleshow.
We really, really, reallyappreciate that.
We will see you next Friday.
(34:04):
We wish you all a great weekand thank you for listening,
bye-bye.
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Office Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sansevierie andAmy Cornell, and this is a show.
You know we say this all thetime when we're developing these
shows.
We're like we've done a show onthis and we've done a show on
this.
I don't believe that we've everdone a show on book bundling.
If we have, it was in the firstyear and now we're in our fifth
(00:25):
year and so very excited aboutthe show.
If you're a new listener, ifyou just found us, welcome, we
are really happy that you'rehere.
I am getting to.
I'm in the final stretch thefinal, final stretch by the time
this show hits, probably thefinal, final final stretch of
the Amazon Author Formulaworkbook.
We have a cover and theinterior is being finalized.
(00:48):
I'm really excited about thatbook, which ties into the
conversation of book bundling,because at some point the
workbook and the main book willprobably be book bundled in some
form or fashion.
So it was very timely to havethis conversation.
I also, just very separately, Iwant to give a shout out listen
(01:09):
y'all.
If you're not using the Libbyapp, you really.
It's a great way to get intoyour libraries and do you don't
have.
You don't even have to go intolike a.
People are just like, well, Idon't have a library near me,
doesn't matter.
You can be anywhere in theworld actually and get access to
(01:32):
books.
It's fabulous.
I have so many books on hold onmy shelf right now.
Amy, it's crazy.
Please don't put books on holdthat I want, because I'm already
waiting nine and ten weeks forsome titles, because I'm already
waiting nine and 10 weeks forsome titles.
Have you tried it yet?
Have you used it?
Because I know when I getreally addicted to something,
I'm always pestering Amy in text.
I'm like you should try this.
Have you tried it yet?
(01:52):
Have you tried it yet?
I must be I'm sure.
Sometimes she silences my text,which is fine and
understandable.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I do have it downloaded on my phone.
You do that's awesome.
Downloaded on my phone.
You do that's awesome.
I know we are making baby steps.
I am not ashamed to admit I getso much more reading done
during peak sports season for mykids and that is happening
right now.
So stay tuned for an update.
I will be having all theopinions on all the recent recs
(02:21):
before the end of the season.
I love this time of year forthat.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, yeah, but it's a great.
It really is a great tool andit's also really fun if your
book is in the library systemand we actually did a show on
that topic on libraries, gettingyour books in libraries it's
really fun.
I love when we have authors whohave their books get picked up
by libraries.
I love looking them up on theLibby app and just seeing.
(02:46):
It's really, it's a fun.
It's a really really fun tooland you can you can look at,
read magazines and all kinds ofstuff.
So highly, highly, highlyrecommend.
Nothing to do with the topic ofbook bundling, but just worth a
mention.
So book bundling I.
So book bundling.
So the history of book bundlingbook bundling was actually
(03:06):
really brought into theforeground by, uh, the romance
market, right?
So, um, romance authors werebundling their books and and and
creating these.
You know two, three, four andsometimes up to like 10 books in
(03:26):
a bundle, and so, just to beclear, right, we wanted to do
the show about book bundling.
If this is something thatyou've considered but you
haven't really known where to gowith it, hopefully the show
will help you.
If you haven't done it and hadnever considered it and wondered
why, how these books wereshowing up like this on Amazon,
(03:50):
looking like there were multiplebooks on their retail page.
Hopefully, this show will helpto understand that and unpack
this topic a little bit more.
Just, by definition is two ormore books, typically from the
(04:12):
same author, but we're going toexplore that as well and they're
put up on Amazon.
They're always an e-book, eventhough I know that we have box
sets of print books and whatnot.
That's not what we're talkingabout in this show and I I mean
we have a number of authors, amy, don't we that have done book
(04:33):
bundles and explored that aswell.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Oh yeah, definitely, it's always very exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, yeah, and I think that that you know the
book.
So let me give you an exampleof when this can you know, when
this can work.
So you have like two or threebooks out in a series and you're
coming out with the fourth bookand you know, maybe the series
(05:00):
spanned over five or so years,so your first book is five, six
years old.
You might decide to bundle bookone and two as book four comes
out.
Right, there's a perceivedvalue with book bundling.
So when you have two books,which we'll get into pricing in
(05:20):
a minute, but essentially liketwo books for the price of one,
maybe, um, the perceived valueis higher.
It also is a great way to bringin new readers.
So one of the things that Ilike to talk about in when I you
know, when I talk to authors isum, how are you, you know is,
(05:42):
how are you, you know, how areyou building new reader interest
, right?
So if you have a lot of booksout, how are you building new
reader interest?
And a lot of times you knowthey'll say well, I don't really
have any new books coming outfor another couple of years,
whatever, consider maybebundling two or three or more,
depending on how many books thatyou have, you know, in an
(06:04):
electronic format and puttingthat up on Amazon.
That is now a new product thatyou can market and promote and
you know it can bring in newreaders.
And again, it's also funSometimes authors like change
their book covers for or, youknow, if you've wanted to revise
your book cover.
I'm a huge fan of revising abook cover, especially if you
(06:27):
feel like the first time youdidn't really hit it out of the
park.
But a book bundle is also agreat opportunity to come up
with a new, um revised bookcover.
We worked with an author,christina george, and her book
bundle for book one and two inthe publicist series actually
has a cover that is radicallydifferent from the ones that she
had when the books launched,because she wanted to get have a
(06:49):
little bit more fun with it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So you know what I mean yes, I love that part of it
.
I love the branding part of it.
So it's like, oh, it's like ashiny new toy that you get to
work with, you know, yeah yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And then you know, amy, do you want to talk about
the promotional benefits ofdoing a book bundle?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
is continuing to produce work looks more like a
sure thing, especially if you'rewriting a series or you write
on a topic that you consistently.
They want to see that you're init for the long haul.
So creating a book bundle is agreat way to create yet another
product for your virtualbookshelf, which is really great
.
And again, you get to kind ofstart your marketing all over,
like Penny said a lot of times.
(07:47):
You know these are not newbooks, these are backlist titles
.
You know, like Penny mentioned,I love that idea of releasing a
bundle in prep for the releaseof the next book in your series
and let those play off of eachother.
And this is just a great way tostart fresh.
And because we hear that a lotfrom authors, it's like well, I
hate talking about myself or Ijust you know I'm not
comfortable with self-promotion,but if you do a bundle, that's
(08:11):
like talking about a brand newproduct and you shouldn't shy
away from that.
You know, I get it.
Sometimes it's hard to continuetalking about your book two
years later, like I've said itall, and now I just feel
desperate.
But the book bundle you get totreat it like a new book, which
is very cool.
And then the pricing options aswell.
Play around with your pricing.
(08:31):
That is one thing I think thatauthors don't do enough of.
Just across the board, penny istesting.
If you have full control overall the things, do some testing.
You know, don't do knee-jerktesting, don't change things
around every other month justbecause you didn't think you
sold enough tight.
You know what I mean.
That like don't go nuts with it, but definitely do some testing
(08:54):
.
You know, every quarter, try outsome different price points.
Things like that.
And bundles are a great way todo that anyway, because,
especially if they're for booksthat have not been moving very
well lately anyway, eitherbecause of the age or you know
what I mean there's a lot offactors that come into that.
You're able to get away with alower price and then promote the
hell out of that.
Bundle them together, promotethem like crazy, do discount,
(09:19):
like limited discount,promotions, things like that,
and it's such a great way tofeed a lot of new traffic to
your page and to revive a lot ofinterest, and the price doesn't
have to stay low forever, butit's just another great way to
get people in your funnel andintroduced to your series or
your work.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I completely agree with that, and
I think that we're going to talkabout types of book bundles and
whatnot, but I think that it'salso worth mentioning you want
to bundle books that complementeach other, and sometimes
authors I've seen authors who,in the genre fiction market, who
(09:59):
go to you know severaldifferent authors will come
together and say, okay, we'regoing to create a book bundle of
all of our books, or one eachto one, or two each, whatever,
and I've seen book bundles forbooks that are, you know, 15 to
20 books long, which is a lotactually.
Um, but make sure that theycompliment each other.
(10:23):
And part of the reason for thatis is because you I mean,
there's an argument that couldbe made that okay, well, so what
if you have?
So, let's say, you have a crimethriller and you have a cozy
mystery, and you have, you know,amateur sleuth, and you have,
(10:45):
you know, police procedural, andyou put them all in a book
bundle and there's all thesedifferent authors and you're all
marketing the books and that'sgreat and everybody's going to
get exposure to more of yourbooks.
But the problem is is that alot of times, these readers
don't cross over.
So if you're doing this withother authors, make sure that
you're aligning with people whohave you know where you're going
(11:06):
to be pulling in the samereaders, because otherwise it
doesn't really the benefit getsa little bit.
You know, it's a little bitdiluted in.
You know, in my opinion, if youare bundling your own books and
you write across a bunch ofdifferent genres, the same rules
apply, right, and I would saythe same thing for nonfiction.
(11:28):
So typically, nonfictionauthors I mean, I want to say
typically, but there's alwaysthe exception, right, but a lot
of times nonfiction authorswrite on one topic and they stay
with that one topic.
You know how to teach your kidssomething and the next thing
(11:48):
you're writing about is, youknow, yoga for seniors or
whatever.
I mean those two are probablynot going to go.
You know, you're not going towant to bundle those.
So just be, just be kind ofmindful of that.
Amy, do you want to talk about?
Do you want to do you want tokick us off with the different
types of?
I know we have already sort ofaddressed that a little bit, but
what do you want to dig into?
The different types of bookbundling?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, absolutely the you know, the clear, obvious one
is going to be fiction.
If you write in a series, youknow, as Penny already said,
there's different ways to dothis and you don't have to pick
one bundle, right, penny, likeyou don't have to.
You can do multiple versions ofthis.
So you can start by justdepending on how many books are
(12:31):
in your series.
You can start by bundling justbook one and two.
Down the road you could dobooks one through four when the
series is complete.
I mean, there's a lot ofdifferent ways to go about this,
so don't feel like you have todo it all, but I would say all
at once and make that decision.
But I would say, you know, fora lot of authors it's a lot
depending on your background andwhat your sales are like today.
(12:53):
Do you have a lot of returnbuyers, things like that?
It's a lot simpler to getpeople on board, especially if
you're relatively new or don'thave a big following yet, with
two books, versus saying, hey,invest the time and trust that
you're going to love this, buyall four books at once.
You know what I mean.
That gets a little trickier, Ithink personally, it's
(13:14):
definitely one thing if you havesome standalone titles that
have done really well, havegreat reviews, things like that
that could absolutely supportsomebody buying books one
through four all at once, evenif they haven't.
You know what I mean.
That makes a little more sensewhen you have other titles on
your bookshelf that show themlike, okay, people like their
work, like I'm just going tojump in because I love the
(13:36):
concept of this, I love thisgenre, I'm going to do it.
So that makes sense.
But I think if you're not, ifyou're getting your still
getting your footing in thiswhole author space, diving right
in and expecting people to buybooks one through four, all in
one bundle is probably going tobe a big ask and you may not see
a lot of movement on massivebundles like that unless you
have other things to supportthem jumping in like that.
(13:57):
But another great option isconnected standalones.
So we've worked with a fewclients recently Penny where
this is a thing where the samecharacter or group of characters
, so all the stories worktogether but they're not reliant
on reading them in order.
So that's a really great optionfor bundling as well.
So same universe, same theme,same leading character, but it's
(14:20):
not necessarily a chronologicalstory of their life A lot of
this.
I love the ones with likegroups of friends, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You know where it kind of different books touch on
, like you get kind of a sneakpeek at the different characters
within a story, depending onthe book, but they all work
together because you startrecognizing names and things
like that.
But you can read them in anyorder that suits your fancy,
which I think is very cool, yeah.
And then you know, obviouslyshort stories or novellas,
similar to the connectedstandalones, combine those into
something that people can jumpinto all at once.
(14:54):
That's another very cool option.
What's nice about that?
Short stories and novellas?
It gives people a taste foryour work too.
If you promote it as get toknow this, get to you know what
I mean Like lean into the factthat it's a great easy gateway
for people to get into your workand to understand your writing
(15:16):
and, you know, to become fansand things like that.
Really, take advantage of thoseopportunities for shorter reads
.
Because we've talked about a lot, typically books.
People don't you know theydon't skip over buying a book
because of the money.
You know.
Yes, we talk about pricing andpricing does matter, but at the
end of the day, you really haveto remember how much of
somebody's time you're askingfor when you're asking them to
(15:37):
buy your book.
That's a huge consideration topeople.
Time is worth more than moneyfor a lot of us nowadays.
You know there just isn'tenough hours in the day, so
always keep that in the back ofyour head.
When you're connecting withreaders and trying to sell your
books and when you're doing yourmarketing, is that you're
asking people for a huge chunkof their life?
Like, how do you make it soundworth it to them when that's the
(16:00):
factor you know?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Right, right, exactly , yeah, exactly, and I think
that you know, just to be justbefore we dig into the
nonfiction stuff.
So it's worth getting a littlebit nerdy about this, because
this is a question that comes upa lot when I talk to authors.
So we already mentioned thatthe book bundle is electronic.
(16:24):
What there's.
No, you do not have to.
In the majority of cases, youdo not have to completely revamp
your book interior unless youwant to.
So typically a good interiorperson will combine the various
EPUB files into one file.
So if you have books so if yourbooks are in a series, a lot of
(16:44):
times the interiors will lookthe same.
But if you have books that arenot necessarily in a series, so
a lot of times the interiorswill look the same.
But if you have books that arenot necessarily in a series so a
lot of this you know fiction ornonfiction a lot of the
interiors will look different.
You can keep that branding.
You're going to revise thecover to reflect the book bundle
, but the interior is basicallyjust.
(17:06):
If you have the EPUBs, a solidinterior person can just combine
them into one book file thatyou then upload to Amazon.
So that's just something toconsider, because that's where
this is a question that I get alot.
They're like well, but do Ihave to have the book redesigned
?
Do I have to get?
No, you do not.
If you have those files, if theywere given to you just, you
(17:29):
literally just combine them, butthey do have to be in one
digital file, right?
So if you have multiple authorsin this, you're going to have
to have the conversation again.
Not to get too far down therabbit hole, amy, but I just
thought about this is you'regoing to have to have the
conversation of okay, so who'smanaging that account?
Because the majority, like you,could every author, each author
(17:53):
can put it onto their ownaccount if you want, and then
just leave it at that.
But if you have it on, ifyou're working with multiple
authors and you want to just putit under one person's account
for some reason I don't know whyyou would do that, but
sometimes that happens Then oneperson is essentially managing
that Amazon retail page, but youhave to upload this.
(18:14):
You know you upload the book toKDP because I don't think that
you can do multiple books in abundle through, like
Draft2Digital or IngramSpark.
I could be wrong, but upload itto KDP, upload the cover and
all that, and then you're, youknow, you're, you're, you know,
you're good to go.
I don't know if Amazon hasplaced limits on book sizes,
(18:35):
like I know, I cited, you know,15 books in a series.
I don't know that they'venecessarily put limits on book
sizes because Amazon, as we'vedone, shows on.
You know, we do shows on Amazonall the time.
Amazon changes everything everyday, but, um, that it's a very,
very basic, straightforwardprocess.
So then, in terms of nonfiction, topic-based collections, right
(18:57):
.
So if you have a whole bunch ofbooks that you've done, I mean,
I have bundled my own books, allbooks, every book that I write
is on book marketing, althoughthey're different topics.
Like, I had an internetmarketing book which I don't
re-release anymore just becauseit's so difficult to keep it
updated because everythingchanges all the time with social
(19:19):
media portals and whatnot.
But I've bundled my own booksand basically they fall under,
you know, the topic-basedcollection.
So, book marketing, right?
So if you are listening to thisand you're like, you know what,
I should get together with afew of my nonfiction author, you
know, friends, and maybe wecould bundle our books and what?
Keep in mind that you want tomake sure that they are, that
(19:43):
they make sense.
Much like what we talked about.
Much like what we talked aboutearlier, in that you don't want
to lose readers, right?
You don't want to have a bookon on, you know, teaching your
kid how to play soccer orwhatever, and then a book on
yoga for seniors.
It's not really.
You're not going to get a lotof sales around that How-to
(20:03):
guides, author brand bundles.
So, as I mentioned, I've bundledmy books.
If you have a lot of books,you're nonfiction, great.
You can also do this seasonally, so I really like this idea.
Actually, you can also do thisseasonally, so I really like
this idea.
Actually, themes and seasons,so a seasonal bundle of your
(20:28):
books for you know whatever,whether it's you know a summer
holiday, or you know the bigholidays, or you know themes,
right?
So fitness or cookbooks orwhatever.
I think that's a really, reallycool idea, but that actually
could apply to fiction ornonfiction, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Do you see a lot of children'sbooks that are bundled?
(20:51):
Because I really like the ideaof bundling them, but I don't
know that.
I see that a lot.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
No, I mean I don't, because it's still to some
degree goes back.
There's still very much a bigdivide on children's book in
digital versus print.
You know what I mean.
Like I think it really depends.
Honestly, for me it depends onthe kiddo, you know, yeah, some
kids are just so used to beingand I'm not knocking this on
(21:22):
their tablets that they likereading books on their tablets.
They know how to find it, likethey know all the things.
I mean my kids can work any ofmy technology better than I can
at this point, but then, justlike adults, honestly, some
kiddos just prefer to read andprint too.
So it's truly a child thingmore than even a parent thing, I
(21:45):
kind of want to say.
But I don't think it's a badidea by any means and the
process is relatively simple andit's an inexpensive way again
to take up more space on yourretail page to offer more to
parents, and so and I think alot of it too, penny, comes to
(22:06):
how it's presented.
You know we do a lot aboutretail page optimization.
I think being smart about howyou present your children's book
, why the bundle makes sense,you know what I mean.
I think that's something thatacross the board.
No matter what you're bundling,make sure to lean into why the
bundle is a benefit.
(22:28):
I think account for that inyour description, in all the
author central feet, likedifferent sections that are
provided on author central.
You know we talk about those alot.
You know.
Really lean into why the bundleis such a great option, because
it's important, you know.
Don't just throw it togetherand expect like people to figure
out like, oh, I guess I couldget two and it might be a little
(22:51):
bit cheaper, but that's notvery exciting.
Like you need to tell people.
Slap them in the face with whythe bundle's a great idea, you
know.
So for like a children's book Iwould totally lean into keep
your kiddos busy on your nextroad trip or flight to visit
grandma and grandpa, you knowwhat I mean Stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
And I think that across the board matters, for no
matter what genre you're in andbundling, you know, treat that
bundle opportunity as a brandnew way to come up with
different sales angles.
You know for why, who thatmarket is, why they would do it,
what the benefits are to themand lean into those and make it
(23:30):
unique and separate from yourtitles individually.
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, exactly.
No, I think that's a reallygood.
I think I think that reallygoes back to.
I think that really goes backto making sure that it makes
sense for your for your audience.
I mean, I love book bundling.
I think it can be really, Ithink you can.
You can revive a brand, you canrevive a series, you can do all
kinds of really really funthings with it.
(23:55):
But I think it also, like Isaid, it has to be.
It has to be, it really has tobe right.
So and you know, this isanother thing too sometimes when
authors say I have all thesebooks out, I didn't really do it
right the first time, what canI do now?
And my answer is you know, youcan re-release the book,
(24:18):
certainly, or you can leave thebooks as is and you can, just,
you know, just you know, puttogether a book bundle right.
So I think that you know thebenefits to book bundling.
I think once you start to kindof, once you start to kind of
navigate this road, the benefitsto book bundling are huge.
(24:40):
I mean, if you're doing it withother authors, then you all
have exposure to your ownaudiences, which I love that
idea, right?
Yes, if you're doing it withbooks that are a little bit
older, you're potentiallybringing in new readers.
You know book bundles seem likesuch a great deal, right,
(25:00):
because you're getting two booksfor the price of one or three
books for the price whatever.
Um, and you know the pricing.
I mean I would say, if you'rethinking like listening to the
show, you're like, oh, I think Iwant to.
You know, consider maybe doinga book bundle or something.
Take a look at other similarauthors and see what they're,
you know what they're chargingfor their, you know for their
(25:21):
book bundle, right, and I think,just because it hasn't been
done yet in your market, likethis tends to lean heavier to
fiction than it does tononfiction.
But I think that if you are,you know there's no reason that
you can't be first to marketwith a book bundle.
(25:42):
I mean, when I was, when I didthe book bundle of my books,
they're really there.
There still aren't a lot ofbook marketing, books that you
know they're, that are beingbundled, and I absolutely plan
like I will release the workbookseparately and then after a
time I am 10,000% going tobundle it with the original book
because it is a bundle.
(26:02):
I mean you, you, you, you knowwhat I mean.
So I think that, beingstrategic about this and
thinking, you know, I have thisseries planned and I think it
just it's a really, really greatway to get to build, you know,
build more readers.
To get to build, you know,build more readers.
And it's a great way of of, youknow, starting over.
If you came to us from thebacklist show by the way we've
(26:30):
talked about, I know wementioned that we did a show on
this and to go back and look forit, this is such a fabulous way
to revive a backlist.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah.
You know, and I think that's agood point to bring up too,
Penny, and you already said itwhen you said you know, make it
strategic.
You know, like a lot of thingsthat we talk about in marketing,
nothing, just one thing,doesn't fix all your problems.
Yeah, Building a bundle andthrowing it up on Amazon is not
(26:56):
going to revive your backlist,you know.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
On its own.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You really have to embrace this as an opportunity
to do things the right way orbetter than you did the first
time.
Yeah, and that's a good thing.
That shouldn't sound like achore.
That should be like an oh mygosh.
Yes, that's what I've needed,you know.
Be strategic about how you'representing it as a product.
You know your plans formarketing it, your limited time,
(27:21):
discounts, all the things andlike totally embrace that you
get to have a do over,essentially, and really have it
planned out and be smart aboutit, because that's when these
work for you.
You know, it's not the creatingit that fixes problems, it's
the fact that you get to dothings differently or better the
next time around.
That's what helps fix problems,revives your brand, finds new
(27:43):
readers, things like that.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
One of the other things that I really like about
the timing of this particularshow for two reasons actually is
that if you're listening to theshow in April which is when
it's going to land in the feedyou have plenty of time.
If you think, oh my gosh, I'dlove to do a holiday bundle, you
have plenty of time now, right,provided obviously that the
books are written and they'realready up on Amazon, otherwise
(28:05):
maybe 2026.
Um, but it's also, you know,there was a time when book
bundling like everybody wasbundling and you could not go to
a single fiction conference Idon't care what genre it was and
not hear like 10 people in linewaiting for your morning
(28:26):
breakfast or something, talkabout their book bundle.
It's faded a bit.
So, you know, like things kindof come and go a little bit, the
appeal of book bundling has notfaded.
The appeal of book bundling hasnot faded, but the fact that
there were so many peoplejumping on the bandwagon has,
which I actually kind of like,because at that time, like you,
(28:46):
would look at a list, a genre on, you know, genre fiction,
mystery, romance, whatever onscience fiction didn't matter on
Amazon, and every single bookthat you saw on that list was
bundled.
It was a book bundle, so therewasn't anything real.
I mean, it's great again forall the reasons that we
mentioned, but there wasn'tanything really unique about it.
(29:07):
No, you don't see it as I mean,amy, you do a lot of.
You're on Amazon a lot, almostprobably more than Jeff Bezos is
, although he's probably he'sprobably busy tuning up his
rocket to go to space, but Iknow, or working out.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I don't even know if those pictures are real, but
they still shock me every time.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It's a little honestly like.
I'm sorry, I just have to saythis out loud it's a little
creepy.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I know it is.
It's one of those things like,oh, wow, okay, back to real life
.
Um, I think you know, andyou've talked about this a lot
in previous shows Penny for anumber of different reasons, but
you know, I think to your point.
I think a lot of when the bookbundling was that huge surge,
also kind of aligned with thefact that so many of them were
(29:49):
so freaking cheap.
You know, yeah, I don't lovethat.
People are like, ooh, I'm goingto get four books for 99 cents
and now I'm winning.
It's like leaving money on thetable.
But the way we've talked aboutbefore, yeah, sometimes it can
push a lot of immediate youcould see a surge in sales, but
a lot of times those people likewe've talked about before don't
(30:09):
end up reading them becausetheir Kindles just get full of
all the things and they weren'tactually fully invested in
making that buying decision.
It was more about the 99 centsthan it was about what they were
buying, yeah, and so theyweren't making that like those
longer term connections withreaders that were purchasing
that really end up serving youlong term.
(30:29):
So I agree with you.
I think I love the fact thatit's not.
It's kind of become much morestrategic and you don't just see
it everywhere.
It's actually something thatcan be treated as something
special again.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Finally, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I really
I like that.
I like that a lot.
I mean, I think that it's just,you know, like I said, it's
something that was wildlysuccessful and everybody did it.
And then people, I think Ithink people just got really
distracted by TikTok orsomething.
I don't know.
That's funny.
(31:01):
I don't really know, but welove this idea.
We hope that the show has beenhelpful and we love reader
feedback.
We love reviews.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, if this is your first time,
(31:26):
finding us welcome to ouruniverse, we love.
The podcast actually has become, I would say, for both Amy and
myself, one of the favoritethings that we do when it comes
to doing our, you know, businesspromotion.
And, let's face it, the podcastis a promotional tool.
I talk to a lot of authors whoheard our podcast first and then
decided they want to do a calland we, we really love doing it
right.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun and it's such a great
way.
It's such an easier way when wesay you know what?
This is a problem, we need totalk about this, it's, it's it's
our direct connection toreaders.
It's so much more immediate andwe can talk about timely things
too, because you know again,our blog's been great to us.
It continues to be great to us,but it's it's a lot easier to
(32:09):
reach people about timely topicsand about things that are
happening in the industry rightnow through the podcast than it
is through the blog.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, yeah, it really really is.
So we love doing this show.
We love bringing the show yeah,it really really is.
So we love doing this show.
We love bringing this show weand we love show ideas.
As I mentioned, we love reviews.
But if it is your first timelistening, be sure to subscribe,
because you cannot review thepodcast unless you subscribed.
I didn't know that, I foundthat out.
But also, you will get ourshows every Friday in your feed
(32:36):
and again, if you're strugglingwith something like, what are
you really challenged with?
We really want to know, becausethese show ideas come from
y'all.
So we definitely want to makesure that this podcast is
dedicated to teaching, and allthe reasons that we're in
business is the mission to helpauthors be successful.
(32:59):
What's really interesting aboutthis is that in the five years
that we've done this show, somany podcasts on book marketing
have come and gone.
And you know and I get it,because podcasts are not you
podcasting is kind of like ablog, like I remember years ago,
when I was first in business,everybody was like, oh, you have
(33:20):
to have a blog, you have tohave a blog, and people dived
headfirst into it and thenrealized that a blog takes a lot
of work and anything thatyou're doing long term takes a
lot of work.
The issue with the podcast isthat it never really feels like
work, because we're hearing yourideas, we're getting ideas,
we're incorporating them intoshow.
We have a lot of fun recordingthis, and so we did this for you
(33:42):
guys and and we welcome wealways, we always welcome your
input, but not that we're thelast show in book marketing, but
we're going to stay around longenough that we are.
So there you go, and thank you,by the way, for the recent
review that we got on the Kindleshow.
We really, really, reallyappreciate that.
We will see you next Friday.
(34:04):
We wish you all a great weekand thank you for listening,
bye-bye.
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