Sunday Spotlight on box sets

Lots of quality reading at a bargain price

Do you like box sets? I do. They’re usually a great value way to acquire a lot of reading. Tell me what you like about them, and what you don’t. I’m planning to be in at least five, and possibly seven, in 2018, so it would be a great help to know what to avoid.

Box sets of the first few books in a series are wonderful. I’ve bought them both to go back to earlier books I’ve missed when I come across a new-to-me author in book 4 or 5 of a series, and also when I’ve followed the series from the beginning through my library, and yearn to own it. The Mary Jo Putney Lost Lords set was one such book. I also have the Lucinda Brant Alec Halsey Mysteries, books 1 to 3. Among others.

I’m less inclined to purchase multi-author box sets of novels, unless the authors are mostly writing heroines of mine. It’s the librarian training I had as an adolescent. I want to shelve all the books by a particular author together.  (And yes, I can do that with electronic books; shelve them in several places all at the same time. But what can I say? I have my obsessive moments.) Still, I have a few, because what can you do but grab a bargain when you see one?

On the other hand, multi-author box sets of novellas are catnip to me. I’ve discovered many new favourite authors that way. Particularly at this time of year, when holiday box sets abound. I love seeing how authors combine the magic of Christmas and the magic of romance.

I have just read Christmas in Duke Street, every story of which is a gem. Waiting in my TBR unread books collection on Kindle, I have 7 Rogues for Christmas, The Dukes of Vauxhall, How to Find a Duke in Ten Days, Romance on the High Seas, Lords of Love, A Regency Collection, An Encounter at Hyde Park, Historical Hellions and more. Joy!

I have, as you know, published my own Christmas box set this year: all my holiday romances between one set of covers. If Mistletoe Could Tell Tales is available now, so if you don’t have my four holiday novellas, grab it and the two bonus novelettes.

I’ve also co-written a holiday story in the world of Sally and Toad, from Never Kiss a Toad. God Help Ye, Merry Gentleman is a prequel short story to Never Kiss a Toad, and also has a number of other shorts and excerpts from the world of Sally, Toad, their families, and their friends. It it is up for presale on Amazon, and will be published on 23rd December. (At the moment, it is free to my Wattpad and newsletter subscribers, who have a link to the unproofed version on a password protected page on my website, but I plan to take that down later this week. And put up a page for the presale links on my book tab.)

And, of course, I have novellas in three multi-author box sets: Never Too Late, with the Bluestocking Belles; Rejoice and Resist, with the Speakeasy Scribes; and Christmas Babies on Main Street, with the Authors of Main Street.

2 thoughts on “Sunday Spotlight on box sets

  1. Thanks, Jude. It’s hard for me to sum up my feelings concerning boxed sets. As a reader or a writer.

    Sure, they allow us to get plenty of reading material at a bargain price. And they enable authors who aren’t already big to be published beside those who are, and thereby get more exposure.

    But, there are the buts. Consider what the stories all in a set have in common—a trope, a setting, a character type, a subgenre, whatever. That might be all they have in common. But that’s probably not all that matters to a particular reader.

    So it’s likely I won’t react the same way to all the stories. I’ll love some, feel indifferent towards others. And if I can tell in the blurb that a story just isn’t for me, I won’t read it.

    As an author, my verdict on boxed sets is still out. I’ve been published in one. I’d have to have more under my belt before I can say anything worth saying. And even then . . . .

    Anyhow, good luck with your boxed-set ventures!

    • Yes, it is rare for me to read a box set filled with authors I don’t know, and like all the stories. And I’m too old to read stories I’m not enjoying. I’ll make a start, because some people just can’t write blurbs. But I’ll skip if I’m not interested. That said, the set is usually cheap enough that a few stories that are not for me don’t spoil my fun. And every now and again I find a wonder: a new-to-me author with a backlist whose stories I love!

Love hearing from you

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.