Show notes for Episode 98: Series Fiction VS Stand Alone Book
How to Write Fiction:
Which is best for building a readership and making a career from writing? Series Fiction? Or Stand Alone novels?
The best choice may come down to personal preference for each writer but, as far as building a readership and making a living from your fiction, there is no competition.
In this episode Author and Fiction Teacher Holly Lisle and I (host, Rebecca Galardo) discuss the question from a listener and Holly-student regarding what the best choice is for authors today. We’ll break down the best options, why they’re the best options and what varieties exist within series fiction, as well as breakdown Holly’s future marketing plan for her own series fiction – including the pros and cons.
After the episode: Have something to say? A question to ask? Jump into the FREE forums at HollysWritingClasses.com (no purchase or ownership of courses necessary) and share with us.
Join us in this week’s episode and if you have a question for us join us in the forums at HollysWritingClasses.com and get to typing!
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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE
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- FREE COURSE: Write Flash Fiction that Doesn’t SUCK (affiliate link, supports the podcast!)
- How To Think Sideways (affiliate link, supports the podcast!)
- Ordering to the Net
- Ordering to the Net (part two)
- How Should I Publish My Fiction (Commercial VS Indie)
- Pen Names – Why and Why Not?
- If I (Holly) Had to Do It All Over Again
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- LINKS
Credits: Producer – Rebecca Galardo. Sponsor – Holly’sWritingClasses.com. Intro written by Holly Lisle and performed by Mark Hermann. Our podcast is 100% free and sponsored only by Holly’s Writing Classes.
I listened to your “Standalone vs Series” aiarwip. Excellent! I don’t understand the algorithm thing. I trust that a series is better. Does this mean the best success is from publishing separate series published under different names? So, for example, I would publish one series as Betty Saunders, then another one as B.J. Saunders, then the third series as Elizabeth Saunders, etc?
I love your how-to books, especially, as I am not a fantasy fan.
Keep up the amazing work. And I truly hope the Ohio series does as well as you hope. You deserve it!
Hi, Diane!
Good question. But no. If you’re staying in the same genre, like cozy mystery, or small-town paranormal, or shape-shifter romance, or writing in the same world, as Terry Pratchett did in Discworld — you want to keep all your related books under one name, even if they’re in different series. You do NOT want to start your career over at zero with every new series you write.
So the strongest recommendation I have, from years of never realizing what I’m about to tell you and scattering my work over a wide array of unrelated genres under my own name, is this:
Find ONE genre you love enough that you can write in it for a lifetime, build your name, build your backlist, build your income — and at the point where you can afford to live off the income from those books, THEN create a pseudonym, and write in your second-favorite genre with that.