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Series Can Kill a Deal Single title or series. It's a question that has plagued writers since the day that Odysseus set sail to rid the world of evil. Take a look at one editor's comment after recently turning down the first book in a fantasy series because the world that the writer had created "never felt as fully-realized as I would have liked," to which the writer wrote his agent: "Try to emphasize [to the publisher] that the 'world' of the story keeps expanding with each book. In book 2, the characters cross over to another continent with a different environment, and they end up fighting a terrible monster. In the third book, they climb over to yet another continent... where they end up taking part in a presidential election!" |
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In a way, he makes
sense. The first book in a series is, after all, merely the series'
flagship, the launching pad from which all kinds of good things are
destined to spring, a small part of the integral whole. Or is it? Ahh, be it that publishers were so receptive to
logic. Unfortunately, it just ain't so. Even those publishers who are openly receptive to acquiring series aren't necessarily interested in or swayed by the notion upfront. In the end, it’s the book in front of the publisher at the moment that counts. Telling an editor, “But wait, you should see what’s coming next!” just won't cut it. If the first book doesn't grab an editor's attention, no amount of persuading will change that fact. Look at it from the publisher’s point-of-view (not a bad thing to do when you consider that it's he who holds the purse strings and is laying cold hard cash on the table). If the first book in a series is published and bombs in the marketplace, the publisher is going to bail once the contract terms have been met anyway, and the rest of the series will be scratched. But if a single-title offering is a mega-hit, the publisher can always go to the writer and entice him to turn it into a series. (Money talks.) That's especially true of writers who are untested in the literary marketplace, wherein signing a single title for a publisher is always less costly and safer than signing a series. So the next time you ask yourself, "What should I write, single book or series?" because you're not sure which a publisher would prefer to see, relax. Series work well once the initial offering is off the ground and doing just fine. Until then...well, let's just say that the proof is in the pudding and let it go at that. And that's something a lot of writers, including this one, have learned the hard way. Smoke if you got ‘em.
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