Deciding When to Stop a Series

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Writing in series can be rewarding for writers and fun for readers, too. For writers, there's often not quite as much set-up work involved because main, recurring characters have been developed (obviously, you'll need to continue development, but you should already have a good base to work from) and settings are established. For readers it's fun because they've invested time in learning the story world and the people who populate it and have the ability to see new stories set in that same world.

But eventually, there may be a time when you (or your readers) wonder if the series should continue. In the best possible scenario, it's you and not your reader wondering this.

I think about this a lot. The last thing I want is for the series quality to deteriorate. With 19 books in one series and 15 in another, it definitely makes sense for me to consider series quality with every book.

Here are some of the questions I ask myself:

Are the characters still growing without doing anything too far out of character?  You want your characters to stay consistent, but there still needs to be space for reasonable growth of some kind. If the characters are static, think of ways to shake things up a little.

Is anything about the series stale? This could be anything from the same settings to the same group of characters. Consider whether there are ways to introduce new spaces or even new characters (either sidekicks or conflict-generators) to your books.

How are my reviews? Although it's never fun to look at them, if you're writing as many books as I do, it's important to get a general feel of what readers are saying. The big thing I want to catch is if there are many readers saying that the series has slipped in quality.

How are my sales? How is reader engagement? Like reviews, these are other powerful indicators. Are sales still strong? Are readers still emailing you or contacting you on social media about them? Are they looking forward to upcoming releases?

How do I feel when it's time to start drafting a book in the series? Is it hard for me to come up with original ideas?  Is it fun anymore? Am I excited to visit the story world and its inhabitants? If I'm not, that's a bad sign.

Are my series tropes still working? Am I leaning on them too much? I wrote a post on series tropes here. They're the fun recurring rituals that readers of your series expect (maybe even just a running gag about a character's messiness, etc.) Are they becoming a crutch or do they still add some fun to the series?

And before anyone asks, I'm not stopping any of my series. :)  But I spend a lot more time on quality control than I used to.

What do you consider when looking at series length?

Questions to Ask When Deciding When to Stop a Series:
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