How Do I Decide Which Book To Write Next? And…

How can you, the reader, affect my choice?

The first issue is inspiration.  I almost never write two books from the same series one right after the other.  To sit down and know, as I put my fingers to the keys, that I’m doing my best work, I have to know.  Deep inside.  That I’m inspired and that, for all the reasons that come together to make a good book, I’m capable.  But, putting artistic integrity aside, there are other issues as well.  Boring issues.

Financial issues.

Let me explain.

I have bills, and a family who insists on eating (at least) three squares a day, too.  My son is constantly outgrowing his clothes and my dog is constantly eating his action figures and all the same stuff you’re dealing with at your house, we’re dealing with here, too.  We’re a two income household and, like most two income households, we rely on both incomes to make things work.  Which means that as a matter of practical survival I need to prioritize the series that sells the best.

The Black Prince is ahead of Predators In The Mist, because while there are fans of both series (and I love you all), those of The Demon of Darkling Reach, as a series, are a) more plentiful and b) more vocal.  I’ve sold–I don’t know precisely off hand, numbers aren’t my department–something in the ballpark of twenty times as many copies of The Demon of Darkling Reach as I have of The Price of Desire.  There just aren’t as many people waiting for Predators in the Mist and those that are waiting aren’t–at least, to the knowledge of the Publishing Gods–waiting as eagerly.

So what can you, the reader, do to change all this?

Fortunately, a couple of things!  First and foremost, you can tell people you like the book.  Leave a review on Amazon.  Recommend the book on Goodreads; add it to a list.  Tell other people to check out the book.  A book doesn’t need to become a NYT bestseller to support an author and it doesn’t take a lot, believe it or not, to convince people that this is a book about which there’s some good buzz.  Conversely, though, it also doesn’t take a lot for the world–including the author–to decide that this book, and this series, is pretty much moribund.

So am I going to write Predators in the Mist?  Of course.  But unless the series as a whole suddenly becomes a lot more popular, not for another–I’m guessing–year.