WHY DO WE DO IT?

Why do authors price a book free or at 99 cents? Each time an author releases a book, he or she is sharing a sizable investment of hundreds of hours of backbreaking and heart-wrenching work and hundreds of dollars spent for a cover, editing, formatting, and promotional ads. Why would we give the fruit of our toils away?

We can’t do so often. Sometimes we make the first of a series free or reduced in the hope people will like that work and buy the remaining volumes of the series. We actually go into debt to do so. And then—because writing is usually incurable—we start writing another book.

Another way we offer a reduced price is with an anthology or box set with other authors. We each hope readers who are fans of the other authors in the group will like our work enough to become a reader of all of our books. You probably know this is called cross-promotion. Once again, we’re losing money unless the gamble works.

Yes, writers are gamblers. Not in casinos or bingo parlors, or not in my case, but we gamble on ways to attract readers to our works. We are as much gamblers as the farmer who plants crops with the belief that he can harvest in spite of the elements he battles—rain, hail, drought, and insects. Or the rancher who fattens his cattle in a race against disease, rustlers (yes, we still have those), and the elements.

Why I started this is to tell you of a great value coming your way. COURTING THE WEST is a box set of ten western historical romance books by NY Times, USA Today, and Amazon bestselling authors. This box set is now up for pre-order and will be available on October 15.

COURTING THE WEST includes: PAINTED MONTANA SKY by Debra Holland; DAISY by Kirsten Osbourne; HIS BROTHER’S WIFE by Lily Graison; TAME A WILD WIND by Cynthia Woolf; SLEIGHT OF HEART by Jacquie Rogers; A HERO’S HEART by Sylvia McDaniel, LAYING CLAIM by Paty Jager; SARAH SUNSHINE by Merry Farmer, CHASING THE DEAD by Keta Diablo, and THE MOST UNSUITABLE COURTSHIP by Caroline Clemmons.

I re-read each of these and truly enjoyed them a second time. I even re-read my own book and brazenly admit I enjoyed it too. These are ten novels about handsome, rugged westerners and the women strong enough to tame them. Individually, they'd cost over sixty dollars but readers who purchase this box set can have all ten for only 99 cents. Amazing, right? 

That's only 9 cents a book! Even if you’ve read one or two of these previously, you can’t go wrong at 99 cents for the box set. We’re gambling that fans of the other nine authors will discover our books and become a fan of those, too.

COURTING THE WEST is available now for pre-order on Amazon and will be available on October 15 at Amazon, Nook, iTunes, and Kobo.  

Here’s the preorder url: http://amzn.com/B015JVRIZY