How many books will WRAITHSHARD be?
Five. WRAITHSHARD will have five books, and I want to write and publish them all in 2020.
For years now I’ve been writing really long series and alternating releases between months – like, a FROSTBORN book the first month, a GHOSTS book the second, a FROSTBORN book the third, and then a CLOAK MAGE book on the fourth month.
I suspect, however, this might have reached a point of diminishing returns in terms of reader enjoyment. DRAGONTIARNA is only selling at about 35% of what SEVENFOLD SWORD did (though DRAGONTIARNA: WRAITHS got closer to 50%) and I think it’s because the entry level has inadvertently become so high, and people feel like they need to read all of FROSTBORN and SEVENFOLD SWORD first before DRAGONTIARNA. Like, I intended DRAGONTIARNA to be stand alone, but readers are generally completionists and prefer to read through everything and start all the way back with FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT. But with a series that long, (it’s 27 books from FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT to the first book of DRAGONTIARNA) you lose a lot of people along the way who lose interest or get busy with something else.
So, I think after I wrap up my current long-running series (DRAGONTIARNA & GHOST NIGHT – CLOAK MAGE was intended to have more stand-alone books) I want to pivot to writing shorter series more frequently.
But I only think that will work, so to test the idea out, I’m writing WRAITHSHARD.
And on that note, I’m on Chapter 18 of 20 of the rough draft of WRAITHSHARD: SWORD & FLAME. If all goes well, I’ll finish the rough draft next week!
-JM
As you know, I am hugely devoted to the Caina books but I would actually support them ending at some point. Call me a crazy romantic, but I would like to see her get a happy ending eventually! You have kept her pretty busy for a long time. I might advocate a beginning another series in that world, say in Nighmar (assuming there still is a Nighmar and the Umbarians haven’t overrun it completely) but doing as Terry Brooks did with his Shannara books and jumping ahead several decades. That way it could be a completely standalone series but you could still bring back older versions of some surviving characters to delight us longer time readers.
Thanks! That’s one of the ideas I’m considering for the long term.
Caina really needs to settle down at some point in time. She has saved the world a ridiculous number of times. I guess the only nation left she has not ‘saved is Anshan. Sadly, I have lost track of Frostborn after the story crossed multiple worlds, gates and parallel series. Sticking to one world is best IMHO.
Would be nice to begin anew from Sophia’s point of view. Her training as a loremaster and her adventures. Best to start completely fresh with Big Aunt Caina only in an advisory role, so new readers can join in. Sophia is also completely new to the South, so describing places can be done again her point of view.
The question I have here is what about the author? For me, it works better to have different projects, so if I run into a cerebral roadblock on one, I can switch to another and continue being productive, while allowing my subconscious to work on that issue. I also incur less mental fatigue that way.
How about you? Can you write full blast on a single series? Or are you figuring on swapping in other series if it starts getting to you?