Ebook bundles…
Authors and publishers often use ebook bundles to give new life to “evergreen books” (novels as current and entertaining as the day the author finished the manuscript). Readers love them because they’re often real bargains. (I recently bought a multi-volume set from British mystery publisher Joffe for $0.99. That’s a lot of good reading for a buck!)
Some readers might want to know if I recommend that an author, self-published or not, should bundle their novels, evergreen books or not. Basically, upon doffing my author’s hat, I’d say no to all. That advice would be just a consistent corollary of my more general one that an author should not give away their work, prose that they’ve spent a lot of creative time and effort on, not to mention the publishing stresses incurred. (I’m referring to published works, of course. I give away free PDFs, after all, most of them little cost to me, beyond time spent writing the stories; and they’re just a mouse-click away for the reader to download, not requiring any more of my time spent either.) In brief and more to the point, no author should ever give the perception that they don’t value their own work!
“Wait!” you say. “You’ve published The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection.” Yes, indeed, I’ve done that. Each novel in that trilogy is sold individually for $2.99 or $3.99 (I can’t remember the prices right now), so buying all three would up to an investment a lot of readers don’t like to make, especially when trying a new author or one’s evergreen works. I sell the ebook bundle for $5.99, though, so the reader does receive a decent bargain. But the price isn’t $0.99 (that Joffe set was far more than a trilogy too) nor free! I value those three novels because they represent an early spurt of sci-fi creativity I’m proud of. They represent my Foundation trilogy, in fact. (Unlike Asimov, though, there are ETs in my trilogy, and they play important roles.) They required that I find and organize a lot of interesting background material, and they established the 
sci-fi universe that I’ve use in other sci-fi thrillers (most notably Rogue Planet, A. B. Carolan’s sci-fi mysteries for young adults, and the tales about Dr. Carlos, starship Brendan’s medical officer). They’re also a strong pillar for my long “future history” series of series and novels that begins with The Midas Bomb and ends with Dr. Carlos, representing many years of storytelling. (And my main motivation to publish the bundle was to write a second edition of the first novel, Survivors of the Chaos, in order to weasel out of a contract I had with an old POD publisher!)
Will I publish other bundles in the future? Maybe. Every trilogy, especially the evergreen ones, is certainly a potential candidate, of course Stay tuned.
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The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection. While many parts of Survivors of the Chaos and Sing a Zamba Galactica originally my first efforts writing a major epic, the first book in the trilogy wasn’t the first I published. (The last novel was written as I developed my preliminary efforts into a trilogy.) The sci-fi universe created here appears in many other stories, including Rogue Planet and A. B. Carolan’s first three YA sci-fi mysteries. You can now read the entire trilogy—I think of it as my Foundation trilogy (unlike Asimov, my stories have ETs)—in this three-novel bundle. It’s available wherever quality ebooks are sold.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
