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Do you prefer to read a series all in one go?
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I have no self control where series that I enjoy reading are concerned. I was late to the Hunger Games party and read the first book just after Mockingjay was released. Even though I had bought all three books, I wanted to leave a gap in between them of a month or so. Of course I finished all three in as many days.Personally, I wish I hadn't as I love the hype and excitement involved with waiting for the next installment. This is what happened for me with the Harry Potter series (which I joined when book 2 was released) and His Dark Materials.
Chris wrote: "I think they had no choice but to take a lot out when going to tv or else each book would end up as 300 episodes!" I agree. I also think they have captured the feel of all the characters and the relationships between them even if they gave different explanations for some bits.
Andy wrote: "Personally, I wish I hadn't as I love the hype and excitement involved with waiting for the next installment."
I'm the opposite :P I find that hype is often really hard to live up to so I prefer to skip that if I can. I try really hard not to get excited about books or films so they're not graded on a higher curve. Walking in blind it's harder to be disappointed, but when you're expecting great things, it's much harder for the book to live up to your expectations. Except when they're _that_ good. For example, I found Dune lived up to its reputation and GoT is just as amazing as everyone made it out to be so far.
I tend to read them back to back, if possible.
I prefer that the series is complete or close to complete, but I won't read the volumes back to back. For example right now I'm rereading Wheel of Time and I'm reading one volume a month. That way they are close enough together that I'm not going "who is that again" but not so close that I go "ENOUGH ALREADY WE KNOW" when the author's do the little reminders for people who are reading the books years apart.Thanks to the Kindle I'm completely out of the hardback game, so I no longer pay that much attention to publishing dates. I just keep adding titles to my private wishlist on Amazon and get around to the series usually when the last volume is about to be released.
I worry about me dying before the series is finished. Really. More selfishly, I also worry about the authors dying before the series finishes. I don't like reading a book and then finding out that it was the first in a series because it leaves so many loose ends at the finish--Lies of Locke Lamora is a good example of a book that I thought was a stand alone and turned out to be just the first of several. Right now I'm rereading all of the Vlad Taltos books so that I can remember what was going on in that world when I finally read the most recent one. On the whole, I've begun to try to avoid new series altogether, and I either go with standalones or series that have been completed. Don't even get me started on my belief that the whole idea of SciFi series exists strictly as a cash generation cow invented by the publishers. In rereading this, I think I may need professional help.
The story is told of Madeleine L'Engle, who got THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING when it first came out. She was so worried that Tolkien would die (it was WW2 at the time) that she prayed every night that he would live to complete the trilogy.
Except LOTR came out AFTER ww2
Brenda wrote: "I do know of highly disciplined readers who buy the series, and line them up unread on the bookshelf until the series is complete! I can't imagine doing this."Me either. I'm continually baffled by boxed sets of series. I've always thought, what if you buy the box set but hate the first book? Eeeek The pressure!
Brenda, LOTR was first published in 1954.
I always prefer to have the series complete, or nearly so, because if I like it I will DEVOUR the entire thing in a very short time. If the series isn't complete, I find that by the time the next book comes out, I have often moved on to another book/series...although this does actually work out nicely, because when I finally recall my original interest, there are often several more books out within the series by that time :-P
Chris wrote: "Brenda, LOTR was first published in 1954."And JRR fought in the First World War, which is something that is worth bearing in mind when people think that his tale mirrors the Second world war
Someone wrote an entire lit-crit book about how LOTR is about the First WW. Certainly the whole bit about the Dead Marshes is reminiscent of trench warfare.
Leslie wrote: "Brenda wrote: "I do know of highly disciplined readers who buy the series, and line them up unread on the bookshelf until the series is complete! I can't imagine doing this."Me either. I'm cont..."
And what if the "boxed" set only includes the first three books... then it looks weird on your shelf when you get the rest of the series (I got the first three Michael Scott Nicholas Flamel books as a birthday present in a box... I think I am going to throw the box itself away... as I got the rest of the series in hard-back... at least then it won't look so weird.) LOL
Since most authors seem to have a gap of at least 1 year between books in a series - NO. That said, I have been known to go back a reread an entire series at a time. I've also been known to do that when there is a significant time gap between books in the series to refresh my memory of what the heck has been going on too.
Shall I depress you? Usually, the author has all the books in the series written. They are in existence! Sitting on her thumb drive or mainframe, piled up in sheaves of manuscript. She wrote all three or four or nine volumes, years ago.
Why aren't these sequels HERE, on the bookstore shelf? Don't they know you are going crazy, waiting to find out what happens? Aha -- that's where the publisher is hedging its bet. They put out one, maybe two volumes, to see if they would take off. No? Nobody much bought them? Then they haven't invested the money to print vols. 3-8, or however many they were.
Tough on you, the reader. Misery on the poor frustrated author. Fine, however, for the corporate stockholders, who are the only important people in this equation. What can you do about it? There's no point in pounding on the author, who I assure you would see them in print if he could. Yell at the publisher.
And your real point SHOULD now be moot, Brenda. Unless the author signed a bad contract, he/she can now epublish the remainder of the now unpublished series.
But this is difficult, if the e-rights to vols. 1 and 2 are still being held by the publisher. If the publisher does not get off its lazy corporate behind and issue these ebooks, then nobody else can. And, would you buy vols. 3-8 of a series, if you couldn't read vols. 1-2?
Aha! Another excellent argument for self-publishing. Thank you, Brenda :)
I'm not sure how many writers have a full series written before they approach the publisher. Doubtless some do, but sitting writing more than half a million words over eight to ten years without approaching the publisher first shows both immense determination and immense self sufficiency.
I come late to a number of series and have taken to reading them all at once.Pros: I know what is going on, cliffhangers are not as annoying, I feel very attached to the characters and series arc
Cons: repetitive material to catch up new readers/remind readers what happened previously, author amnesia, little things that would not have bugged me if it was months/years between readings become glaringly obvious and frustrating, lack of character growth or growth that does not make sense, reuse of plot over & over again is much more obvious...
I'm now split on whether I should put time between books in series to see if I can remember enough to follow along while not being as bothered by the long list of cons.
Brenda wrote: "Shall I depress you? Usually, the author has all the books in the series written. They are in existence! Sitting on her thumb drive or mainframe, piled up in sheaves of manuscript. She wrote all t..."
Considering how many authors I know that have:
a. driven fans batty with the "look I know you want me to finish the next volume, but I've got this other project..." posts on their websites or
b. written series that go on forever with the books further and further apart and people starting to wonder if the author painted himself/herself into a corner, or
c. had to take a break from writing because of severe illness/depression/accident, or
d. died and either left the series unfinished or another author was brought in to tie up the ending,
I have a feeling the "it's all done well in advance" crowd are actually the minority. An outline, maybe. Written, no.
P.S. Tasha, the "one book in the series per month" is working pretty well for me to balance the "YES I KNOW" against the "who are you again".
Lara Amber wrote: "P.S. Tasha, the "one book in the series per month" is working pretty well for me to balance the "YES I KNOW" against the "who are you again"P.S. Tasha, the "one book in the series per month" is working pretty well for me to balance the "YES I KNOW" against the "who are you again". "Thanks that's good to know. I'll try that with the next series. I had no problems with Ilona Andrews or Patricia Briggs but Kim Harrison and Chloe Neill did not work reading one book after the other.
It is not deliberate. This too is due to publisher problems. If you hand in the ms for vol. 1 to the publisher, and it takes them 4 years to publish it, then what are you doing all that time? You are writing the sequels, naturally. So in year 5 vol. 1 finally comes out; vol. 2 is in the pipeline. Both tank, but by then the author has written vols. 3-8. Now what?
I think it really depends on the book/series/author. If it is a relatively unknown author that I really like, I will read them as they come out. However, if it is an established author where it really won't harm them in any way if I wait until all the books are published to read them then I'll wait. Then factor in the length of the series such as the Dresden series--5+ novels and I need to read them in batches. If it is a trilogy then I like to read them all in one go.
AND THEN add in how much I like the series and prioritize them. Perfect example the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S Friedman---all the novels are out and published but I read the first and put it on the backburner to keep up with the Newsflesh Trilogy. It's all very convoluted and arbitrary honestly. I guess it boils down to my mood at the time. But I definitely can't read 5 books in a series straight though. I need a break in between or else I risk burning out.
I just read Philip Reeve's 7 book Traction City series back to back and it was so good that I went into a kind of shock when I got to the very last word. All 7 starting with Fever Crumb.Another great completed trilogy I suggest (YA) starts with Everlost and another (adults) starting with God's War.
In a word, Yes. I read all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy in May 2012.
Brenda wrote: "It is not deliberate. This too is due to publisher problems. If you hand in the ms for vol. 1 to the publisher, and it takes them 4 years to publish it, then what are you doing all that time? You a..."Brenda, are you talking about a real situation (for yourself, or someone you know)? If so, I have to agree with Jenelle - a great argument for self-publishing (which is the route I chose); but even there you need to be careful and examine the terms. A true self-publisher should retain ZERO rights to the work. One of the reasons I went with Mill City Press is that their contract was clear and readable (without the need for a law degree) -- all of their services were spelled out, quality standards for printing and binding were specified, and they retained NO rights to the material (copyright was in the author's name only). If I decide to go somewhere else, the contract says they must surrender the files to me.
I mean... four YEARS to publish? Mill City got my 400-page first novel out the door in six months from the day I sent them the finished MS(would have been sooner, but they were waiting on me for cover art -- I finally let them do the design on it). They got my second novel finished and out to the booksellers in about four months.
And both of those involved printed books, hardcover and softcover, as well as ebook versions for both Nook and Kindle.
Oh, for sure. Nothing unusual about that.My first novel came out from DAW Books -- the SF and F publisher. I submitted the manuscript over the transom -- an unagented work. It took them a year to get back to me. And that was notably fast! After the acceptance, production -- another 18 months easy.
If a publisher WANTS to get a book out fast, they can do it. A good example is those 'instant' books that come out when somebody like Princess Diana or Michael Jackson dies. A paper book can hit the stands within the month.
I guess the self-publishers have to do it faster because the author is paying them for the service. The author is really their "customer" -- the source of their income, and the person they have to keep happy if they want to stay in business. On the other hand, as someone once remarked over in the Indie Book group, self-publishers don't have any investment in the book after it is published, i.e. no incentive to go out and sell it. Mark Levine of Hillcrest Media told (warned) me that 95% of self-published books sell less than 100 copies. Once a self-published book is out the door, it's the author who has to promote and market it.
John, you're using "self-publishers" to mean vanity presses or publishing service providers. True self-publishers -- authors who control all aspects of publication and receive most of the proceeds directly -- have every incentive to sell the book, though they may begrudge the time taken from writing the next book (which, in the end, may be the best way to sell the exiting book).
Here (IMHO) is the real secret to successfully self-publishing.How about writing a good book? I've downloaded 1000 "free books" and as many "free samples" of lower priced books. Thank you Kindle! How many of these books impressed me? Very, very few. Hugh Howey and John Locke are 2 of the most successful self-publishers. Sure, they promoted their work but the reason they sold so many after getting it out there is because the actually wrote great books and you could tell from the first chapters you were on to something.
Most self-publishing is horrible and revels itself immediately. The introductions are "Professor John Smith stood in his lab at Berkshire University". Oh boy, this should be pretty dull. No doubt it will have reviews (5 star) by people who miraculously reviewed 1 book in their lifetime (don't you realize how easy it is to validate a review) and the names are as unimaginative as possible. So, you can promote this stuff all day long and it won't sell or be widely distributed even at FREE.
Good grief, don't you people STUDY how to write? There is a way to involve your reader and you seem to completely ignore all the rules of making your story interesting.
GIGO.
OK Karen -- you've caught me out on the terminology. You are absolutely right. In the end, the only real "self-publisher" is the author (whether he or she uses a service provider or not).There is, however, a difference between limited-service vanity presses and full-blown publishing service providers. I doubt there are very many self-published authors who really do everything without using a service provider of some kind - even if only to hire a copy editor, or just to get the book printed and bound. Ebooks, of course are a lot easier to self-publish, but even there most authors will deal with a service provider (e.g. Amazon) to distribute the book. Sure, you can do it via your own website (which you could conceivably design yourself); but even then, you are using an ISP to get it out there on the web.
Honestly, I never thought about all the needed services until I started looking into self-publishing; and then I ended up going with a service provider that offered just about everything. I'm not just talking about the typical "package" that most of the vanity presses offer. A full-service provider will have a lot of a la carte services as well, everything from copy editing and proofreading to cover design and artwork, and not just a standard "distribution" package but marketing services as well. Some even give you the choice to go with print-on-demand or a regular press run (cheaper per copy, but with a required minimum volume).
Yes, authors who go that route do receive most of the proceeds directly (after paying up front for whatever services they need), and they do have the incentive to promote and sell the book themselves. And yes, I'm facing the dilemma you mention right now, as the time to promote my existing books is taking the time I need to finish writing the third book in the series.
But going back to Brenda's point, I'm able to do it on my own schedule, not that of a traditional publisher; and I retain all of the rights to my work. So if the publication of my next book is delayed because I'm busy promoting this one, I have no one to blame but myself.
Oh... and Jed, you are absolutely right as well. If, after I've spent all that money on publishing services and made all that effort to promote it, my book tanks anyway... well, I guess I have no one but myself (and my writing) to blame for that, either.
On the other hand, I'm still not going to give it away for free. People rarely appreciate anything they get for free; but maybe that's because most free stuff is worth just what you pay for it.
... and I may publish that next book anyway, just because there are two or three readers out there who actually liked the last book and want to read it. But that again is a choice you can make when you are self-published. :-)
The sad thing is that at least this writer is really good at writing. But not PR. So if you can't shill the bejeezus out of the thing, it may just lay there, however good it is. Furthermore, there are only 24 hours in a day. Time spent doing marketing is by definition time spent not writing. My life is too short -- I have too many othe4r books to write -- to spend TOO much time in marketing.
So, I'm NOT a writer. But if I were, I would publish a book when I was done instad of trying to make my mark with a series or trilogy. So, I'm curious why you're taking this strategy. I'm not being at all negative, just trying to understand the current mania of multiple books.John wrote: "OK -- you've caught me out on the terminology. You are absolutely right. In the end, the only real "self-publisher" is the author (whether he or she uses a service provider or not).
There is, howe..."
Actually, Jed, I didn't start out to write a trilogy. Twenty-plus years ago, I wrote a book; but I never published it. Then, a few years later, I went back and wrote another book, using the same "universe" -- kind of a same characters, same setting, new adventure ten years later story. But I didn't publish that one either. I also wrote a third book -- continuing the story, but this one skipped a whole generation. Characters were the grandchildren of those in the original; but I still didn't publish. Believe it or not, I wrote just for my own enjoyment. I liked my stories; but I was never sure that anyone else would like them.Then, a couple of years ago, I let some other people read the books (until then, no one had read them but me). They came back and said "Hey... you should publish these." So I looked into it and found that some amazing changes had come to the publishing world, and self-publishing wasn't the low-budget, vanity-only thing it used to be. I started reworking the books to bring them up to date, polish them up, and trim them to a reasonable length, and last year I published the first one. Now, this month, I've published the second. I'm NOT going to publish that third already-completed one yet, because I really need to fill in that missing generation in the story.
How do you become a writer?... Well, I think it was Asimov who said the first thing you have to do is write.
How do you become a published writer? OK... THAT takes a little more work; and it's still no guarantee you'll become a successful published writer. But hope springs eternal...
Brenda, I feel your pain; and at my age, my remaining life is probably a lot shorter than yours; but I'm not quitting, and neither should you. Write, girl...
This thread is about "series" books, and while it is not Science Fiction, I have to admire what Patrick O'Brian managed to do. He wrote TWENTY novels in a single series (the Master and Commander series, whence came the movie of the same name), and he died writing the 21st. He left behind a wonderful set of stories, and he never quit writing.
I am showing my ignorance here, but I had absolutely no idea Master & Commander, which I have on DVD, was based on a book. Oops!
I've read a number of good books that I've gotten for free or under $3 and I'm not sure spending tons of time marketing your books is the right thing to be doing. Keep a good blog on topics of interest to you and your readers. Participate as a reader on GR groups in your genre as you should be reading as well as writing. Write good books that are well edited with good covers. If you can take a small number of your fans and offer them a few perks to become your street team to be the ones to talk about your books. Rinse and repeat.I spend more time as a social media coach telling people to get back to writing than I do telling them to do more marketing. I think a lot of people are confusing things. It's not marketing that you should be focusing on its building relationships and if you are writing and talking about things that honestly interest you that should not be really hard to do.
Brenda I see your time here as marketing when you are involved in discussions about books or concepts. It's the right kind of marketing in my opinion. The more I get to know you the more likely I am to buy your books... Well I'm biased we've met a few times in real life and have mutual friends although I'm not sure you'd recognize my real name (Tasha Lennhoff) as you see my pen/business name more.
I have net you, Tasha (Boskone? Someplace up north...) I am bored by shilling. As Jerry Pournelle says, Ye flipping gods! I have books to write!Chris, what pleasures lie before you! there are TWENTY books about Jack Aubrey; you can be entertained for years. My only advice to you is to read them in order. Do not skip! M&C is sometimes called a roman fleuve -- a very long work, a novel broken into 20 separate books.
Chris, I second Brenda's comments! It's a far cry from SF; but O'Brian's Master and Commander series will take you back to the Royal Navy in the time of Lord Nelson (the time of "iron men in wooden ships"). O'Brian must have done an incredible amount of research as well. If you search then 'net you will even find cookbooks based on the meals he describes as being served aboard HMS Surprise (and the other ships Aubrey commands in the course of the series).But do take Brenda's advice -- read the books in order. The first four are:
- Master and Commander
- Post Captain
- HMS Surprise
- The Mauritius Command
While the movie was called "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (which is the title of the TENTH book), it actually combined elements from several books in the series.
I read the series before I saw the movie; but I have to admit that Russell Crowe portrayed Jack Aubrey exactly as I imagined him.
Enjoy!!
Awesome! I am getting jolly excited to pick the series up, I freakin love that movie! Thanks all
Jed wrote: "Good grief, don't you people STUDY how to write? There is a way to involve your reader and you seem to completely ignore all the rules of making your story interesting. GIGO. ..."
Absolutely true, I'm afraid you got what you paid for :-)
The problem with writing is that everybody does it anyway. (You are going to write a reply to this post, are you not?) Whereas, consider dentistry. Nobody ever gets up in the morning and says, "You know, I think I can extract my own molars!" It is obvious that you need some training and some specialized equipment to be a dentist. Not so with writing; everybody does write and the difficulties of plot, character, pace, and so on can easily be ignored until you actually get in there and try it.
Yes, everyone does it, though few do it really well. Most people drive cars, but few could handle the NASCAR circuit. Many people play golf; but few can compete in the Masters.Actually, (IMHO) the people who post here (on Goodreads in general) are probably far better writers than the average person. At least, they seem to have a higher degree of technical proficiency with the English language. Of course, that's just a starting point for a fiction writer. As Brenda notes, you have to deal with plot, character development, etc.; but unfortunately, there are still people out there who think they can write who have not even mastered the technical skills of grammar and punctuation, let alone learned how to handle a good metaphor.
Hey... every teenaged male seems to think that a driver's license qualifies him as an auto mechanic. It's been that way since the days of Henry Ford. The writing equivalent (being able to read qualifies one to be a writer)has probably been around since the days of the Greek philosophers. :-)
For me, it depends. Usually, no matter how many books there are in the series, I will wait until I own every single one and then I will start the series, reading them back to back. But sometimes I lose my determination and cave in, reading the book(s) that I already own and then desperately waiting to get my hands on the next one when it is published. To me, that is the worst agony ever: having to wait for the next book in a series to come out.
I'm new here and will dive straight in.For David Edding's Belgariad Series and subsequent ones, I had to wait for each book to come out. Actually, both my husband and I had to wait and then we'd squabble over who got to read it first. At the end of each book, I couldn't believe he'd stopped there. However, looking back, this series gave us pleasure for years and the books stacked up nicely on the shelves.
Asimov's books, like Foundation series and Robot series, I could read as fast as I could lay my hands on them. I would soak in that particular world for weeks or months.
My favorite place is a standalone story with a resolution that leaves me with a satisfied glow but enough ongoing threads and places to go that I'm actively looking forward to the next instalment. I am anti books sold on a chapter by chapter basis. For me, I know that until I've written that last word, and edited a thousand times (or so it feels) that first chapter is not complete. I learn so much about the characters through writing the whole arc that I need to go and fix inconsistencies up front. To be fair, that's a problem a whole series of books can face, but once you've published the first story you need to stick with the rules already set up.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Fever Crumb (other topics)Everlost (other topics)
God's War (other topics)
A Game of Thrones (other topics)
The Hampton Summit (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Ilona Andrews (other topics)Patricia Briggs (other topics)
Kim Harrison (other topics)
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Joe McKinney (other topics)
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When I started watching the tv series I was a bit dismayed about this but the way I look at it now is if having a taste of the good stuff leads the tv viewers to read the books I am happy
I plan to re-read them later thus year once I have read all the short books on my kindle so I can prop my yearly book reading challenge total up before I go and lose 3 months of my life reading these things....