Submitting books to USA Today, O, etc...

[Patty]

This has been going on in the world of publishing for a very long time. Contract with known authors. It's a sure way to profits. I agree that many best selling authors books are sometimes thinly veiled repeats of the same story. Strangely, readers like those books. Once an author has created a character who readers love, there is demand from their publishers to write more books featuring that character. Mainstream publishers, and readers, are risk averse.

[Linda]

Not so strange, really. People feel comfortable with a known entity. That's why unknown authors have to work so hard to get published and read.

[Patty]

I am one of those fans myself. Some of my favorite ongoing characters are Joe Pickett, Jack Reacher, Mickey Haller, Harry Bosch, Kate Burkhiolder, Elizabeth Margaret Danaher - to name a few. That's why I started writing books with recurring characters.

[Linda]

Smart!