Irini asked Juliet Marillier:

Hi Juliet! I know you've answered this question a million times over- the question about writing a 3rd Wildwood book. Whenever you answer, you mention something about wanting to write the third book, but that your publisher didn't want to go on. I was wondering if it's normal for most publishers to pick which book their writers write? And if so, why?

Juliet Marillier Hi Irini. No, it's not the usual thing for publishers to tell a writer what to write. But in this case, the book was part of a series, and I had a contract with the US publisher for only the two books. When I submitted a proposal for a third Wildwood book, the publisher asked me to put in a proposal for a new series instead. It is all to do with sales. Cybele's Secret sold fewer copies in the US than Wildwood Dancing and I think they assumed a third book would sell even fewer. That meant if I wanted to continue being published by them, I needed to branch out into something different (other publishers would not have wanted to pick up just the third book in a series.) I was very happy to write the Shadowfell series, which I love. But I am sad that many readers wanted a third Wildwood and didn't get it.
Juliet

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