Barb asked two related questions: "Are you planning on keeping this series going?" and "Do you have to commit to your publisher a certain amount of books in a series?"
Many publishers, especially of mysteries, write contracts with authors for two or three books in a series to get the ball rolling, so to speak, and to lock the author in to producing that many books. Also, if the series takes off after the first book, the author is locked into the smaller advances negotiated for the first contract until the number of books in the contract is produced.
Five Star doesn't operate this way. They contract for one book at a time. They don't offer a contract for the next book in a series until they've seen both the manuscript and the sales numbers for the first quarter after the release of the previous book in the series. This is why their series authors are on a roughly two-year cycle versus the more typical once-a-year cycle used by the rest of the mystery publishers.
So, I've only had to commit to one book at a time in the Claire Hanover series. I hope to keep the series going, possibly alternating yearly with another series that I hope to start (I've written the first manuscript already). However, I'm not the only factor in those decisions. The sales of TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET have to be good, Five Star has to offer me a contract for the third book, and the muse has to offer story ideas. :)
Many publishers, especially of mysteries, write contracts with authors for two or three books in a series to get the ball rolling, so to speak, and to lock the author in to producing that many books. Also, if the series takes off after the first book, the author is locked into the smaller advances negotiated for the first contract until the number of books in the contract is produced.
Five Star doesn't operate this way. They contract for one book at a time. They don't offer a contract for the next book in a series until they've seen both the manuscript and the sales numbers for the first quarter after the release of the previous book in the series. This is why their series authors are on a roughly two-year cycle versus the more typical once-a-year cycle used by the rest of the mystery publishers.
So, I've only had to commit to one book at a time in the Claire Hanover series. I hope to keep the series going, possibly alternating yearly with another series that I hope to start (I've written the first manuscript already). However, I'm not the only factor in those decisions. The sales of TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET have to be good, Five Star has to offer me a contract for the third book, and the muse has to offer story ideas. :)