What Makes a Good Series

It took Roland of Gilead seven books and more than twenty years to finally reach the Dark Tower, his final destination of Stephen King's wildly successful Dark Tower series, which spanned seven volumes and included crossovers in almost all of his previous novels. The books are a must-read for anyone who has ever contemplated attempting to create a series of their own--not just because of how successful they turned out (all have sold over a million copies), but because of how well done The Dark Tower truly is.

And here's a secret: publishers--and agents--love finding a new series. Why? Because when you write a successful first novel with promises to continue your characters, your readers will come back for more. Likely, they're willing to come back quite a few times, provided you can keep making the stories fun. Readers will follow a series just like viewers will follow a TV program ... as long as your idea is good (more on that later!).

When I first began talking with other authors and agents about my first mystery novel, everyone told me to leave it open-ended.

"Promise a sequel," one agent friend suggested time and again. "Publishers love it. If a book sells well, then the sequel is going to sell just as well. You get another book contract, and they get another hot seller." I took their advice, and the novel was considered by multiple publishers before I ultimately decided to publish with Odyssey Books.

So what makes a successful series? Characters. You need at least one person that the reader will want to follow. If you have two or three, then all the better--but you absolutely have to have one. It can be a hero or it can be an anti-hero, but it has to be someone the reader can relate to. In most cases, it has to be someone the reader can root for; but in some cases, it can be someone the reader wants to see fail. But you need the character.

My first successful series was The Grimm Chronicles, which I published on Kindle. Rather than write a series of novels, I chose instead to create "episodes" that were only 100 pages long. Thanks to the Kindle's ease-of-use, design came together rather fast, and I employed a professional editor to help me polish each "episode" before it was released (this is crucial if you're going to self-publish!). It took a few episodes, but the fanbase grew and each new episode release required less and less advertising ... by the time the series was coming to an end, book bloggers and readers were hooked! Royalties allowed me to take a nice vacation every year for 10 years. You can't ask for much more than that!

So here are some series to get you in the right mindset:

The Dark Tower by Stephen King -- A great series focusing on a handful of characters. Also, if you're already a published author, it's a great example of how to build upon and incorporate other universes into your novel.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling -- An example of how you can mold a lovable character into a moneymaking hero, no matter how simple and asinine the writing may be.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket -- There's a reason the novels draw in adults as much as they do kids. "Lemony Snicket" has created a series that smartly and humorously deals with adult themes in stories that are only aimed at children on the surface level.

The Grimm Chronicles -- Hey, if you like YA fantasy that has the feel of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," this one's for you!

Remember the most important takeaway from these examples: each one contains at least one character that readers want to follow. Your series won't go anywhere if you don't develop your protagonist!

If you're ready to get professional editing help to take your novel to the next step, consider working one-on-one with me! You can find more information at: https://kenbroskyauthor.com/editing-services/