Book bundles and series numbers

[WordNinja]

[Sorry, it was apparently too late at night when I posted this, and I didn't make myself clear. Let's try again.]

Some background:
- I'm in the middle of writing an 8-book series. Each book is standalone, and they can be read in any order. However, I would like the main novellas in the series to be numbered as Volumes 1-8.
- The series includes three romance subgenres: m/m, BDSM, and multicultural. I'm planning a bundle for each subgenre: 2 books in the BDSM bundle, 3 books in the m/m bundle, and 3 books in the multicultural bundle.

My question:
I would like to release the BDSM bundle 30 days after the Book 4 launch. (It will include Books 2 and 4.) However, I don't want to number it as Volume 5. Can I release it as Volume 9 before Volumes 5-8 are released?

Has anyone else been in this situation? How did you handle it?

Amazon makes things difficult, because you have to include the Volume numbers for a series, and they have to be whole numbers (no 4.5). I'd hate to not list the bundle as part of the series, because I'm afraid people won't be able to find it. But I suppose if I have to, I could wait to link it to the series until after the entire series is released.

Any suggestions?

[KBoards.com]

[Doglover]

After I release Book 4 in my Second Chances series, I was planning to do my first bundle. The series includes books in three romance subgenres: m/m, BDSM, and multicultural (eight total). I was planning to bundle Books 2 and 4, the two BDSM books, and release them in print and ebook formats 30 days after the Book 4 launch.

I'm wondering, though, about what that will do to my series numbering strategy. I want the individual novellas to be Books 1-8. Can I release the bundle as Book 9, before Books 5-8 are released?

Has anyone else been in this situation? How did you handle it? It's a real pain that I can't use volume 4.5 for my bundle. (And let's not even talk about the shorts that I've got planned...)

So if I am reading this right, you are planning on releasing the whole series as a bundle, but haven't yet released the last books in the series? You can do this, I suppose, as long as you make it clear that it contains episodes which will be released on a future date but I wouldn't be calling it book 9. You will have people who have read the first half thinking it is something different altogether, and then you will get a lot of refunds and a lot of bad reviews. Make it clear it is the entire series.

[unkownwriter]

No need to number the bundle. Just list the books in the blurb, and make some sort of note on the cover (contains books 1 - X of the XYZ series, or something like that). If you're bundling books from different series, or stand alones, make sure you note that in the blurb so readers don't get confused. Or maybe I'm confused, because I don't quite get what you're saying.

As for related shorts, I see people numbering them in relation to where they fall between the series books. Like, 1.5, 2.5, 7.5, and so on.

[WordNinja]

My apologies. I've edited the original post to make my question more clear.

[KBoards.com]