Starting Over-- series

by Rain Trueax

Many times, I've mentioned how it's not about simply putting a book out but about launching it-- if someone cares about selling that book. The first part is easy-- follow the dots. The second not so much. It has to be in the right genre, have helpful tags, places to let readers see it, ads, but there is another thing that makes a difference-- having it part of a series.

What a series does is when a reader likes a set of characters, a place, a theme, they often will follow it up. I got one criticism early on that i hadn't made it clear that the book they bought was second in the series. Readers like to read books, especially with connecting characters, in order. When you do an ad, a series makes a reader more likely to also buy the next and the next. I've seen it play out time and again. You pay to advertise one book but reap the benefit for the rest. 

Series can based on a place, characters, or theme. You have seen how that worked with wildly successful books, like the Harry Potter books, Game of Thrones, etc., but it's a plus even for those that are not.