I’ll tell you a secret. Kerry Lonsdale’s new NO MORE trilogy was sold to her publisher as a trilogy, but the suspense trilogy that started her career, the EVERYTHING series, was not.
What’s the difference, and what does that mean for aspiring authors?
If you’re debating whether to write a series, the first question you should ask yourself is, “Does this fit my genre?” I always say that there are exceptions to every rule, but getting published as a new author is so difficult in itself that you should probably not add the hardship of being the exception to the rule. Until you’ve proven yourself as an author, I recommend sticking to the norms of your genre, whether it’s word count, character age, or series vs. single title.
For example, if you’re a thriller writer who wants to create the next Jack Reacher or Tracy Crosswhite, you know that’s possible. There’s a ton of precedent for successful, character-centric series in the genre. And if you’re writing cozy mysteries or children’s chapter books, series comprise the vast majority of the genre, so you’d better have a series planned or else you’re not as likely to get published.
On the other hand, one of the most common mistakes I see in memoir submissions is pitching a multi-book series. Not to say that one person can’t write multiple memoirs (from Nick Flynn to Doug Stanhope, some of my favorites have written more than one), but those books tend to stand alone, rather than acting as sequential books in a series. From an industry perspective, they’re usually sold in single-book deals, and even in the rare case of a multi-book memoir deal, the books themselves tend to end up as their own isolated entities, covering different subjects and being marketed separately, rather than as “book 1, book 2, book 3, “etc.
So, how did this change for Kerry? You can definitely sell a suspense series–it’s common enough–but if it’s your debut, you’re more likely to convince publishers to take on a single title instead. And that’s what happened. Kerry’s debut, EVERYTHING WE KEEP, was written as a single title and sold in a one-book deal to a publisher that mostly publishes single-title novels. It was an instant smash hit, and that’s where the caveat of “until you’ve proven yourself as an author” applied. Kerry is a master of one of my favorite common tropes of the genre—as with real life, we don’t necessarily end up with zero net tension and all of the details tied up in a neat bow. There’s room for the reader to imagine life continuing on for the characters, and when thousands of readers started begging for a sequel, we were able to go that route with Kerry writing the rest of the series over the course of two additional publication deals.
Following the success of the EVERYTHING trilogy, with each book landing on the bestseller list, Kerry was able to create NO MORE as an intended trilogy from the start. Though they still don’t publish a lot of series, her publisher eagerly agreed to make her an exception, signing all three books (and one single title) in one massive deal. The first book came out this month to rave reviews, and she’s almost done writing book 2.
Keep in mind that, despite the commonality of series in your genre, you’re usually best off doing a calculated amount of work at the outset rather than putting all of your eggs in that basket. Finish the first novel and polish it the best you can, then map out future titles, but don’t actually write those remaining titles in the series until the first book sells. Sometimes book 1 doesn’t sell, and if that happens, publishers won’t be interested in reading book 2–it won’t get them to change their mind about taking on the series. But they may be interested in your next original concept, your next book 1. That’s what happened with Julie Kagawa. Her first YA fantasy series didn’t sell, but then her second hit the New York Times list, and she’s been writing series ever since. Then, years later, when she had the clout and the skills as an author, she revised her original series idea, and her longtime publisher happily bought it, so don’t throw anything away, either.
