Tag: book series

How to Manage a Book Series on Amazon

Ghost Walk and other books my Melissa BowersockBefore now, managing a series (starting a new one, adding or deleting a book, etc.) on Amazon was no easy task. Every time I added a new book to mine, I had to wait the obligatory 72 hours to see if it would automatically update (it never did), then send a message to Amazon to add the book, complete with ASIN of the new book and the web address of my series page. They would respond pretty quickly, telling me the update would take place within another 72 hours, although usually it happened before that. Okay, not a terrible ordeal, but certainly a PITA when I was releasing a new book every 6-8 weeks.

Imagine my surprise when, after my latest request, I got an email from Amazon saying I could update my series page myself! Yea! No more waiting on them. I don’t know why it took them this long to figure this out, but I’m glad they finally did.

Have you written a series? Or have you hesitated to wade into the waters for fear that it would be complicated to market the series on Amazon? Well, wait no more. Now you can do it yourself, have total control, and offer the full package to your loyal readers. Continue reading “How to Manage a Book Series on Amazon”

Managing Your Book Series

Melissa Bowersock Ghost Walk series 7books-tieredAre you writing a series? Many authors are, it seems. Some of us have discovered how satisfying it can be to extend one story into many, to watch our characters grow and develop. It’s actually something I never thought I would do, but now that I’m knee-deep in it, I love it.

Coming from a position of doing only stand-alone books for the first 40 years of my writing career, however, I’ve run into an issue. Continue reading “Managing Your Book Series”

Author Eats Crow – Never Say Never

raven on a tree branch courtesy of pixabayWay back in 2014, I wrote an article here on Indies Unlimited about how I would (almost) NEVER write a sequel or a series. I ranted quite a bit about inspiration vs. conscious, mechanical design of a plot, and I named names. As you might imagine, I got both positive and negative comments on that post, as I fully expected.

So here I sit, five years later, and I’m writing Book #22 of my paranormal mystery series!

What changed? Nothing.  Everything. I have no idea. Continue reading “Author Eats Crow – Never Say Never”

So, You Want to Write a Series?

Series_option1_laptop-3242862__340 (002)You’re an author and you’ve decided you want to write a series. Well, this is the post for you.

A series can be great for authors because it can draw in readers and keep them. If they like your first book and its characters, they’re likely to forge ahead and buy more books in the series. This is why there are so many series out there. Today, I’m going to talk mainly serial series. So, to get started, let’s get definitions out of the way. A serial series is one that has an overarching story arc throughout the series. Think Harry Potter or the Hunger Games. The books are meant to be read in order, and build on one another. A non-serial series will use the same world or the same character, but can be entered through any book in the series. Think of Sue Grafton’s alphabet mystery series or Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels. These are more like the “continuing adventures of” types of series, and each book can stand alone. While it’s nice to know the backstory of the character, you don’t have to know it to really enjoy any book in the series. Continue reading “So, You Want to Write a Series?”