Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I just finished setting
up the pre-order for my book Talulla (yaaayy!!) This will be Book 9 in the Love
Train Series, a 10 book multi-author project or MAP. And while things are still
fresh in my mind, I thought I’d talk a little bit about MAPs.
First, MAPs are a collection of stories written by multiple
authors around a unifying thread. This can be a concept, a location, an event,
a season, a trope, or some other element. They can be author led or
publisher/editor led. And they can be any length from short story to novella to
full novel.
Over the course of my career I’ve participated in several of
these.
For example I’ve done author-led short story collections,
one with a recipe theme (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1942505000
) and one with a Christmas theme (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076DCWMPD
).
I’ve done Editor-led novella collections, one based on
Thanksgiving (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005HRPY1G
) and one whose theme was merely Journeys (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YMEE2D6
)
I’ve participated in an editor-led
novel collection with an Irish Brides theme (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074C68VV2
And also some author-led novel
collections, one with the theme of Bachelors and Babies (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SYD3BKF
) and the current Love Train series (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TRM31MK
)
But as many of these as I’ve
participated in, I’ve never served as admin/coordinator on one. So for some
insight into how to step into that role, I turned to writer friend and one of
the most organized people I know Pam Crooks. So take it away Pam.
- How many of these projects have you
coordinated/managed either alone or as part of an admin team?
I was invited to participate in my first MAP back in 2018, the Widows of Wildcat Ridge series, the brainchild of Charlene Raddon and Zina Abbott. I was thrilled and honored and even more excited! By the time my invitation came, the project was already underway, and my book was the 8th one, right in the middle.
Since I came in late, I had very little to do with the organizing, but I have learned since that WoWR was different and more difficult in that there were a lot of moving parts. Maps, flora, wildlife, characters, the same town and villain, and so on. It took a lot of coordinating, a lot of emails, a Drop Box account for files, etc. It was a fun series, though, and I loved being a part of it.
I was then invited by Charlene to do another series, Bachelors & Babies. Somehow, I ended up being much more involved, and we kept the series much simpler. Then came the sequel, Cupids & Cowboys. Finally, my current MAP is Love Train, of which I’m pretty much the head honcho.
You could say organizing is my thing. 😊 - Do you believe in using any kind of
formal agreement for participants to sign? Why or why not?
We had a contract with WoWR, and we eventually found it was difficult to enforce. By the time the next series came along, we decided against having a contract, and everything has worked perfectly fine. - How do you select which authors to
invite to participate?
Charlene and I worked together on the earlier series inviting authors, mostly her friends. Most of them were new to me, or I hadn’t worked with them before, so when we decided to do Love Train, I was much more selective in who to invite. We researched the authors, checked their rankings and reviews, how active they were online, if they were diligent at promoting, that sort of thing.
Of course, the bigger name of the author, the busier she is, so I got a couple of ‘no’s’ initially. But I’m so proud to have four of my sister fillies from Petticoats & Pistols in the Love Train MAP with me – Shanna Hatfield, Kit Morgan, Winnie Griggs, and Linda Broday. I’ve known these ladies for years and know I can depend on them. But more importantly, I know they are popular historical western romance authors, and that’s huge. - Besides the connecting thread, which
parts of the project should the coordinator(s) control, if any (for example:
wordcount, cover design, heat level, release order & frequency, titles, consistent formatting, etc.)?
That was all determined before we ever issued our first invitation, and I included all the information I had, including who had already agreed to participate, in my invitation letter.
Never did we ask for input from an author. Too many opinions, I’m afraid. Much simpler to present the final idea and roll with it.
An author needs to know what she’s getting into and if she’ll have time for the project. In our case, since Charlene has been a cover designer for years, she handled the covers, chapter headers, scene breaks, etc., and charged us a fair price. She was wonderful about giving us a nice selection of models to choose from and allowed us input on her designs.
Once all the authors were in place, I composed a formal document of Guidelines and a few character sketches of the recurring characters and posted them in our Google Sheet. Everyone had access to this document, and it contained a wealth of information besides just the Guidelines. Things like h/h names, preorder dates, release dates, buy links, order of release, that sort of thing.
NOTE: Winnie here - two other things that the coordinator specifically provided on these projects were platform and pricing info. - What are some of the challenges you’ve
encountered in working on these projects?
The biggest challenge is keeping all the authors on schedule. Some authors are involved in other MAPs or their own standalone books, so they don’t always pay attention to where they are supposed to be and when in my series. Also, a few authors are not techy and need more help with formatting, planning their release parties, working with Google Spreadsheets, etc. - What lessons have you learned over the
course of your experience with these projects?
I have learned that one person (not necessarily two unless you really, really work well with each other) needs to keep her thumb on the pulse of things. That means keeping track of preorder dates, release dates, and staying in touch with each author. Which entails lots of behind-the-scenes communication! - What do you see as the benefits of
participating in these projects as opposed to writing your own stand-alone or
single author series?
The obvious benefit is sharing the project with other authors. Lightening the load, so to speak. As long as every author promotes her book, generously mentions other authors and helps to promote them as well, enthusiasm for the project will stay high. Assuming the books are written (and edited) well, sales are about guaranteed. Ditto with a higher number of reviews. And that means more profits for everyone. - Other information you’d like to share?
For anyone who is thinking of starting their own MAP, run, don’t walk, to buy “How to Run Successful MAPs: An Author’s Guide to Multi-Author Projects and How to Make them Profitable” by romance author Cheryl Wright. The book just came out earlier this month and is chock-full of information presented in an easy-to-read, quick-to-read format. You’re guaranteed to learn something new and important!
Every book in the series will be reduced to 99¢ starting this Friday through Sunday, Father’s Day! Three days isn’t very long, so you’ll have to hurry to take advantage of our sale!
To see every book in this series, click the Bachelors & Babies Series Link on Amazon
Bestselling romance author Pam Crooks grew up in the ranch country of western Nebraska, so it was inevitable she’d eventually write lots of books about cowboys. Pam still lives in Nebraska with her husband (who is not a cowboy), four married daughters and a whole slew of perfect grandchildren.
Over the course of her writing career Pam has written 30 romances, most of them historical westerns, but she's proud of her contemporary sweet romances as well! Stay up on the latest news from Pam at www.pamcrooks.com
Winnie, this looks like such fun and I would love to try it some time! Love the idea of the writers all promoting each other. A rising tide, etc. etc. The other thing that struck me was that this would be a good way for someone who's a little shy about indie publishing (asking for a friend, ha ha) to dip their metaphorical toe in the indie waters.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about current trends and practices in publishing. It's scary, yeah, and fluid. But in some ways this is one of the best times to be an author, because of all the options. We just have to be vigilant and wait on the Lord. What's good for me may not be good for you and vice versa.
Newspaper assignments today but hey, it's still writing.
May be back later.
Kathy Bailey
Your Kaybee
Open to options in New Hampshire
Hi Kathy. Yep, the joint promo is one of the big pluses of projects such as these. And I love your enthusiasm for all the great things about being a writer today!
DeleteGreat post, Pam. Lots of good information there. Thank you so much for recommending my book about MAPs. I appreciate t.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, your book is in my TBR pile!
DeleteInteresting post, Pam. I live in Nebraska, too! I really enjoy these kinds of series that are tied around a theme. I don't think there can be too many of them.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Sandy. If the theme is a good one and the writers can spin a good story, I'm willing to stick with a series for a long time
DeleteI've never read a MAP but I think it'd be so fun to write one! I love collaborative projects. And with so many authors all promoting and marketing the same series, that helps everyone succeed even more! Sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Glad you enjoyed the post. And these projects are fun to participate in. Writing is such a solitary undertaking that it's great to be able to collaborate on something like this, especially when you find such a great group
DeleteGreat post, Winnie and Pam. I have to say that starting these MAPs was one of the best things I've done for my career. When I started Widows of Wildcat Ridge, I didn't really know any of the authors who joined me. I had worked before on anthologies with a couple of them, but didn't know them well. I had to take my courage in hand and write to authors I'd never communicated with (like Pam) to invite them to join me. I was thrilled with how many accepted. Widows presented lots of problems, partly because I had no idea what I was doing, and partly because that type of series, with interconnected characters, is very tricky to do. Pam was so very helpful that when I came up with Bachelors & Babies, I went first to her and we've been working together ever since. Pam became my right-hand gal and I couldn't have done these series without her. She's a born organizer. I'm a born procrastinator. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for all the help she gave me over the past four years (golly, has it been that long?) I'm not sure I'll come up with another series. I'd like to do some books that have been rattling around in my head for years. But this has been a fabulous and valuable experience. I'm grateful to all the authors who joined me on these adventures, but most particularly, Pam.
ReplyDeleteHi Charlene, thanks for stopping by! And I'm so happy you took that first step! These series have been really fun to take part in
ReplyDeleteI love MAPs. I was blessed to be in the Journeys one with Winnie, and I've been the lead author/coordinator in a couple, and a contributing author to a bunch. Super fun!
ReplyDeleteHi Erica! They are fun, aren't they? And I felt blessed as well to be included with you and Camille.
Delete