Wednesday, April 11, 2012

How long is too long between books?

I’m wrapping up the last bits of the first draft of the follow-up to Chasing Filthy Lucre. It’s been a long process, with stops and starts. I think I’ve written close to 40,000 words on one version that will never see the light of day. It’s good stuff, but not right for this book.

I never intended to go this long between books. I have all three of the remaining books loosely plotted. It’s just finding time to write them all that’s hard.

Anyway, I got to thinking about this the other day and wondered if I’d missed my window. Have I waited too long between books? Is any momentum I had built gone at this point? We are looking at a little more than a year between releases.

So I turned the question over to the people who follow my author page on Facebook. They gave me some great answers, but I’d love to hear from all of you here, too. Here’s the question. Answer in the comments. I’ll respond.

When reading a series, how quickly do you want the next book to come out? Assuming that immediately is not an answer, what's the right amount of time between installments?

What if that series is not a serial, meaning that the next book doesn't continue the story started in the book before it, but features a recurring main character?

4 comments:

  1. I feel you're pain... we've been chugging along with ours' for awhile now, but what was supposed to take one year has turned into two. But then you look at Hollywood, where they're releasing sequels for movies that came out 20 years ago... so I guess an extra year or two isn't so bad...

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  2. Anything longer than a year and you risk readers forgetting about you and moving on to something else.

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  3. @Jason -- I try to tell myself that it's not that long in actuality, just the schedule I'd planned on.

    @Everett -- That's my worry. I don't want people to forget about me, but I also don't want to release something that's not ready.

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  4. My take? Never, never, never rush a book. If it's not ready, don't release it. Ebooks are forever, so it's better to create a product that you'll be proud of forever.

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