Too Much of a Good Thing

When I first started writing, all of my novels were standalone. It didn’t occur to me to write in a series until readers started reaching out to me asking if certain characters were going to get their own book. That input changed the way I approach writing. Now, when I write a story, I do it with a series in mind.

My shortest series is two books; The Lincoln Bothers. My longest is my six book new adult series, New Beginnings. To date, I’ve released four books in that series with two more on the way. I have a few that are four books and one that’s five.

Recently, I fell down the rabbit hole of reading a series that had sixteen books. Not only that, but it has a spinoff series that currently stands at three books. When I realized there were sixteen books in the series, I was a little overwhelmed. My first thought was that it was a lot of books and that would cost me a lot of money when all was said and done.

I ended up reading all sixteen of those books and am now on the first book in the spinoff series. While each book was a standalone, there were overlapping story arcs and, of course, appearances from characters in prior books. I could have chosen to read only a few of the books, but there would have been some confusing gaps for me.

Reading all of these books got me thinking. Is sixteen books in a single series reasonable? Is there such a thing as a reasonable number of books in a series? Can you have too much of a good thing?

There is no industry standard that dictates how long or short a series should be. Obviously, readers are buying these books. Each one had several reviews and most were positive. I did notice the newer books in the series had fewer reviews, making me wonder if readers had jumped ship. Maybe they got tired of the characters or the story line and decided they’d had enough. Or maybe the readers are still there but they just didn’t dedicate themselves to doing reviews as they did when the earlier books were released. Whatever the reason for the lack of reviews, it’s clear the series has a loyal fan base.

Some authors, me being one of them, know exactly how many books will be in a series before they even write the first book. Often, that is shared with fans in advance in order to increase the buzz for the series. That’s not to say authors are driven by demands of the fans. If the fans want more of a certain series, authors might be likely to deliver because it keeps readers happy.

As an author, I’m not just writing for the happiness of my readers. I’m doing it for my happiness as well. That being said, whether or not sixteen or more books in a series is too much isn’t for me to say. The author is going to write what she wants. The reader has a choice. Either read all the books and get lost in the wonderful world the author has created or pick and choose which booksto read. 

For this series, I’m sticking with it until the end. In this case, that sounds to me like the answer is no. This isn’t too much of a good thing.