Should I Write a Three-Book Series?

We hear this all of the time. Publishers will offer 2 and 3 book contracts to authors with their first book. This is fabulous. We love it when someone loves our work. So, if this is the case, should a new author start out planning for this? Should new authors write a series? In my humble opinion, I would say no.

Sure, as readers we love to see a series. We love when characters come back time and time again for a little visit or a chat. One of my favorites is Andrew Greeley who does this not just with one series but with serveral. Characters jump back and forth between each series. It's great. But for a new author, that series approach is probably not the best option.

But why Scott? Why?

The simple fact is that a publisher, when they release a book of a new author is taking a chance. It is a gamble to see if what the author did, and what they did will work. The hope is, the author is a huge success and they can move on. However, time and time again, there are those books that just don't make it. For whatever reason. Now, when this happens, no one is going to want to read the next book in the series. We won't just "hope" the next one is better.

For a new writer, I strongly encourage him or her to think about how this book could go to a series, but the second and third book should be stand alone novels, also with potential spin-offs. In this way, when I pitch something, and something just doesn't work, I have some additional ideas that might catch the attention of the editor. As for the editor, if he or she signs that person, they have even more options to work with.

There is another level to this that just came up recently with a new author. This person did have a series, and had already self-published the first book. Please note I said self-published. Now she was trying to find a home for books 2-5. The problem is that, although she had the rights to the later books (obviously since they had not been bought yet), the characters and settings were still attached to the prior book's contract. In the end, there was nothing that could be done.

Look, a series is great, but remember, wasting time on a project that needs to have the first book sell to be worth anything simply is poor time management.

Scott