Wednesday, March 26, 2014

U.S. Navy SEALs In A Box

Boxed sets have become the rage. Oh stop it, those of you who roll your eyes! Readers love them. And as authors, we can get so into our writing caves, we forget how to be social, play fair, play nice and have a community other than our best buds to get drunk with or gossip with. Not every author does this, thank god.

I've been blessed to work with some incredible authors over the past six months. Marliss Melton has been my oldest and dearest military writer friend, and I was so excited to do the SEALed With A Kiss Anthology, the only all-SEAL Anthology, with her and the other wonderful writers in that boxed set. As someone who has admired her for years, it was truly an honor to get to actually work with her, and to be included in something she has done.

What readers get in these anthologies is variety. A
blending of voices and writing styles. I think readers like to be entertained by reading DIFFERENT things. While this may be the exception for some, most readers now cross genres, and even read from eBooks to print books to Audio books. In fact, at the Tucson Festival of Books, where I braved the crowd of 125,000 book lovers attending, I asked readers how they read books. In 2013 it was split between eReaders and print books. This year, people told me they did all three. If they liked the book, they bought the print book, and then bought the audio. Wow. I didn't near that comment last year at the festival or anywhere. Good. To. Know.

So, boxed sets are our way of inexpensively getting the word out to new readers, by pooling our reader base and cross polinating them. And, while I love miitary romance and it is my biggest in terms of sales, now I am seeing readers go from the military romance to paranormal and back again. Readers are following an author's voice across different genres. We used to have it hammered into our heads that we had to stick to one genre, and if we switched, we'd better change our pen names. Perhaps it was the old publishing model that made us all think this was so.


This is good news for readers. Now they have that variety that was always desired. They have that blending of genres and worlds, at the same time loving the voices of their favorite authors. How cool is that?

Having participated in 5 boxed sets, plus 3 others in the works, I decided perhaps it was time to put my own SEALs in a box. So, that's what I've done.

The Ultimate SEAL Collection is books 1-4 of the SEAL Brotherhood Series, along with two novellas written as prequels to the first two books. I placed it for sale at $9.99, but today, and for the next few days, it will be .99. 

And you, dear reader, are the winner. It is for you that I write these stories of my heart. Where the men are brave, and the women are a match to them in honor and moral strength. Where our gentlemen of the Trident come home safe and whole. Where good always triumphs over evil and true love heals every ill. It's my way of playing the Wizard. My fantasy. Because in my world everyone finds their true love, eventually and heals with the love of their life.

How about you? Do you find new authors by reading anthologies? And do you like reading one author anthologies?

I will pick one winner today (at random) from everyone making a comment. That person will have their choice of a free audio book, or print book, or Kindle version of any of my books. Good luck, and thanks for going on the journey with me.


Sharon Hamilton
Life is one fool thing after another.
Love is two fool things after each other.



14 comments:

  1. I like boxed sets because of the cost factor but more importantly because I can read a series in order, if it's from one author, or I'm getting the chance to read the same genre by different authors. I just reread your paranormal books Mortal Bite and Honeymoon Bite over the weekend. I would love to see more of these characters.

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    1. Thanks, Michelle. Yes, they will be coming. Lionel Jett will be the next hero. And I have Praetor, Anne, Huge and others who are calling me. Thanks for your kind words. You should listen to the audios too if you liked the books. Transylvanian/Italian and Romanian accents - YUM. J.D. Hart. Just finished Mortal Bite but HB is out now.

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  2. I love, love your SEALs in book or audio format.
    Congrats on your new release box set. I bought it and gifted it also.

    I do read anthologies, that is how I found some awesome authors.

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    1. Yes, I do believe that's partly how we met, Eniko! So glad to have you along the journey. And thanks for telling everyone about me and my books!

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  3. I love your Seals Series! Hot, sexy and honorable men!

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    1. Thank you, Shannon. Yes, near and dear to my heart! Love those guys. Got a wonderful email this morning from someone who used to work with them closely and misses those days. And she thanked me for the happy memories. It just doesn't get any better than that to share such stories...Thanks for being here.

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  4. Sharon i love every thing you've written SEALs, Vamps and Angels. Also the added delight of listening to most of them on Audio with the sensual voice of JD Hart is a joy looking forward to many more. I really like box sets and anthology specially when they are at such a good price.

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    1. Thanks, Julie. I think readers want to be lead across genres now. It's a whole new ballgame out there. Things are changing fast and we, as writers, need to change with it. Thanks for being here for me today.

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  5. I buy boxed sets normally cause an author I love in there
    I have found new authors this way

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    1. Exactly!! I think that's exactly why readers buy them, too.
      Thanks, Karen. I love the boxed sets for the variety of the voices, even if they are the same genre.

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  6. WINNER: Michellle Gallegos. Thanks everyone for commenting today. Michelle, please PM me with your choice of audio book, print book or Kindle version of book. I have print and Kindle of Cruisin'. Audio perhaps end April. CONGRATULATIONS!

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