Series vs. set of volumes

[Kurt]

I realize this will be received and rejected because of the sheer enormity of the task, however, I still hope something is done. The issue is in associating books as a series. There is really 2 basic kinds of series and they are currently lumped together.

There is a series which is really a set of volumes. Many times grouped and labeled a Duology, Trilogy, Tetralogy, Pentalogy, Hexology, etc .That is, there are several books that together make up a complete story line (or several story lines in many cases). I describe that as a set of volumes. The first book starts the story and is continued in the second, the first book's story-line not having been fully resolved, then the next follows. The books need to be read together, and in specific order, to have completion of the overall story.

Then there is a "series" which is a group of books with either the same character's, location, world, theme, etc (usually by the same author). One does not need to read all to get the full story. However, it is convenient to group those books as a series.

An example of the first is a trilogy such as "The Lord of the Rings", which contains the Volumes "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "The Return of the King" you will not want to stop reading till all 3 books are read and you want to read from 1-3. An example of the second type of series would be
Michael Connelly's books about Harry Bosch, each book is a separate story, sure there are elements that build as one reads from book 1 to 37 (whatever its at) but one could start in any book really and enjoy it.

So, its all about whether the books need to be read in order or not. And they should not both be labeled as a "Series" . Come up with a better term but for me its "Volume" vs "Series". If Goodreads could make that clearer it would be very helpful!

[Michele]

I understand the distinction you're making, but per GR's definition, a series doesn't have anything to do with whether stories must be read in order, but rather depends on whether the books feature shared characters (e.g. all have the same main characters) or take place in the same location (e.g. all set at the Dew Drop Inn resort).

A group of books with a similar theme or trope (e.g. they all feature second-chance romance or are Christmas romances or feature random different monsters) would not count as a series. There are some of these on GR that have been erroneously created, and if you run across any of those do please post to this Topic and let us know!

[Kurt]

I do realize that a set of books with a similar theme would not be assigned a series name and number. What I am suggesting is that perhaps another piece of metadata is needed. It is used when a book is part of a set of books that must be read in order and has a story line with a start and ending point within that set of books.

The hope is to be able to easily identify all books that are contained within a definite STORY LINE. That is, a resolution of the major conflicts, narrative, plot, in the overall story arc. This is typically, but not always, described as a a Duology, Trilogy, Tetralogy. etc.

In your second paragraph "A group of books with a similar theme or trope.." -- I agree those books are not a series and do not need to be identified within the metadata of GoodReads.

[Miriam]

We can add descriptions to series. I've used that to note when there are linked series, a recommended reading order that doesn't match publication order, etc

Could that help with what you're wanting?

[Kurt]

perhapos it would, bring it up with your decision makers to determine best solution