Most authors, both fiction and nonfiction, have considered publishing a series. What can be easier than writing with the same characters or ideas? Not only that, but many of the most lucrative writers have created series of vast popularity. Would JK Rowling have made so much without publishing seven Harry Potter books? What about Twilight and Fifty Shades? A series gives you the opportunity to stick with the same ideas, capture readers and make sale after sale with your audience.

However, writing a series can also be unsuccessful if you don’t go about it in the right way. Most Kindle series are either successful or flops, with little middle ground. We’ll explore the pros and cons, and also some tips for giving your series the best possible chance of success.

Series Writing Pros

Why would any money-conscious writer make a series? For the opportunity to make more from their books, of course. . Instead of getting your readers to buy one book, you can get them to buy three or more by just continuing the same story or ideas.

Many writers also consider it easier. If it’s good, then you already have lucrative ideas there that people love, you’re just expanding on those ideas to stretch out the plot. Fiction writers can just keep adding to their story, and non-fiction writers can go further and further into their subject (like making a series for beginners, advanced students and professionals).

Series Writing Cons

Now the obvious downfalls. What happens when you stretch ideas? You typically get thin points that can be boring. Maybe people don’t like your characters, so you’re wasting your time by using them. Or, maybe your non-fiction book wasn’t a hit, so why bother beating a dead horse? Readers would prefer one strong book as opposed to three OK ones, and you have to remember your readers when crafting a book.

It can also be difficult if you’re trying to split up an existing manuscript into several parts. You’ll need to stretch out parts, find good areas to stop and start and ensure that everything runs smoothly as a series.

Building a non-fiction series can be much easier in some regards because it’s easy to create a loose series. For example, let’s say you make a book about traveling to China. You can then create another book about traveling to India or Russia. These books have the same main idea (talking about travel), but they aren’t directly related.

Another great idea is creating books for various experience levels. There are tons of books for beginners to advanced learners, and you can make a series that takes people from humble beginnings to adept students.

Fiction Tips

If you are going to make a fiction series, it’s often best to make that decision before writing or releasing the book. Making a series from a standalone novel can be difficult, and it might even backfire. With that in mind, let’s continue with the other tips.

Characters are incredibly important in modern novels, and a series allows readers to have continued exposure to characters they love. If people have expressed great interest in your characters, then you can write novels pitting them against new enemies and obstacles to keep your readers happy.

Romance is often series-based, it’s almost part of the territory. That’s because these stories are easy to expand and reader eat them up. People get very attached to the characters in romance novels, typically seeing themselves and their own fantasies through these characters. When someone finds a character they can attach to, they want to read every book involving that character, which is perfect for the author because it helps you make sales.

Romance novels are all about falling in love, marrying and experiencing problems both fantastic (from a dramatic perspective) and realistic. We all have relationship problems, but romance books give you a way to explore those with your characters and resolve them in about 200 or so pages. Perhaps there’s someone else trying to court the protagonist, maybe the other lead is having family or financial problems or can’t commit, or maybe one character has a secret fetish and won’t feel fulfilled until the other character enjoys the same fetish. Each book can encapsulate one problem, so making a series with romance is incredibly easy when compared to other genres. Fifty Shades is currently one of the more popular series, but you also have Fleeing Faith (http://www.amazon.com/ROMANCE-Fleeing-Rumspringa-Romance-Sisters-ebook/dp/B012UGGBT0/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1438622628&sr=1-2&keywords=romance+book+2), Alpha Vampire series (http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Paranormal-Vampire-Mystery-Adults-ebook/dp/B0137IKOKC/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1438622628&sr=1-4&keywords=romance+book+2) and In Love With a Billionaire (http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Love-Billionaire-Contemporary-Book-ebook/dp/B00WW5LRP8/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1438622628&sr=1-9&keywords=romance+book+2).

Lastly, consider episodic writing, or making various short stories or novellas that you release one at a time. This type of series requires a lot of action and a strong cliffhanger to force people to read the next part. While this popularity of this writing has waned with traditional publishers, it’s actually quite strong on Kindle. One of the most common ways to release a series is to have a box set. Many are from various others, but you can make a box set of your own short stories/novellas and sell them for a reduced price. Some of the most popular examples are Red Hot Candy (http://www.amazon.com/All-New-Delicious-Romance-Best-Selling-Billionaires-ebook/dp/B010II27V8/ref=zg_bs_10300_1), Killer Tails (http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Tails-Pawsome-Mysteries-Bestselling-ebook/dp/B011LYKJPE/ref=zg_bs_10300_7), and Wicked After Dark (http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-After-Dark-Paranormal-Werewolves-ebook/dp/B011576CZS/ref=zg_bs_10300_18). In general, if you want this to work, you need to really focus on your hook, action and cliffhanger. Get them in, string them along and leave them begging for more. Keep the writing condensed so that it’s a real page turner, and focus on character building early so that people get the gist of the characters nice and quick.

Conclusion

Writing a series can be a major gamble. You’ll either waste your time and alienate your audience, or you’ll win over a lot of readers and make a sustainable income. It’s hard to say which way it will go, but if you do build a series, make sure to do it right. Pay attention to what your readers are saying, make sure that the series is cohesive and keep it tight to avoid thin, boring areas.

Series Writing: Worth it? is a post from: AmyHarrop.com