I didn’t expect this when I started writing a series // writing, publishing, & marketing a series
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- 6 things I didn't know about writing/publishing/marketing a book series before I began writing a series as an author! If you're writing or want to write a book series-and especially if you also want to self-publish and market that series-then this video is for you!
Mentioned in video:
◦ Story Bible: • HOW TO MAKE A STORY BI...
◦ Podcast with Jessica Brody: (link coming as soon as the video is published!)
◦ Get Book Reviews with ARCs (Advance Review Copies): • How to get book review...
◦ How to Send an eBook (ARC) to Kindle: • How to Create and Send...
◦ How to Get Proof Copies of your book (aka physical ARCs): • How to Create a Proof ...
◦ 35 Marketing Strategies/Tools: • How to MARKET your BOO...
◦ PUBLISH AND THRIVE: heartbreathings.teachable.com...
◦ Writing a Series (PLAYLIST of all my videos on this topic): • WRITING A SERIES
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◦ THE SECRET SHADOW: / the-secret-shadow
◦ THE SECRET CURSE: / the-secret-curse
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◦ THE SECRET GIFT: books2read.com/thesecretgift
◦ THE STOLEN KINGDOM: books2read.com/thestolenkingdom
◦ THE JINNI KEY: books2read.com/thejinnikey
◦ THE CURSED HUNTER: books2read.com/thecursedhunter
◦ THE ENCHANTED CROWN: books2read.com/theenchantedcrown
◦ The Stolen Kingdom Audiobook: www.audible.com/pd/B088FVQNJK...
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Where you can receive digital early reader copies of my books, writing & publishing advice, help with your author platform, meet writer friends, and more!
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📚 M Y S E L F P U B L I S H I N G C O U R S E :
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📒 M Y O T H E R W O R K :
◦ EVALENE'S NUMBER: amzn.to/3sZPlKi
◦ PEARL'S NUMBER: amzn.to/3Kyp63Q
◦ MARKETING FOR AUTHORS SERIES: amzn.to/3pTrbPG
◦ THE CONFIDENT CORGI: amzn.to/36aJd9m
◦ Novel Planner Notebook (mug cover): amzn.to/3hYnzYo
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❤️ C O M P A N I E S I L O V E & A M A N A F F I L I A T E F O R :
◦ PUBLISH AND THRIVE: heartbreathings.teachable.com...
◦ WRITING STICKERS & the book launch planner (10% off discount code is BETHANY10): stoneridgestickers.com/?ref=Q...
◦ EPIDEMIC SOUND (where I get my music! If you'd like to try it for a month, using this link gives me a free month! Thank you in advance!): www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
◦ DRAFT2DIGITAL: www.draft2digital.com/bethany...
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Thanks for watching!
❤️ Bethany
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Хобби
You made some great points.
One thing I'm realizing now is I should have taken into account how long each book takes. It took me about 5 years to get my first book published. I thought book 2 would be done faster, but I'm still working on it 3 years after publishing book 1. I feel really bad for the readers who liked book 1, so I'm now wishing I had finished books 2 and maybe even 3 before publishing book 1.
Of course then, I might run into the issue you mentioned where if they didn't like book 1 I've wasted my time with books 2 and 3. It's the risk you take as a new author I guess :)
oh my gosh yes, I feel that. I have the same struggle with books taking longer than I'd like, and wishing I could publish them all quickly, but I think there's less risk with the method you're doing now like you said.
Thank you Bethany!
For my series specifically, I’ve decided to plan out and write all the books before I publish the first one because even though it’s a pretty stand alone series, there are certain threads that I want to tie together well and recurring characters that I want to keep consistent.
The hardest part about this series is how often it changes. I get ideas for more books and then I realize they won’t work with my main theme, so I have to take them out again. Making sure that each book has a purpose with my main theme and works together with the rest of the series has been really difficult, but I think I always make the right decision in the end, so I would say another piece of advice is just to trust you gut. You know this story better than anyone, and you’ll know what it needs to make it the best it can be.
Absolutely, glad you enjoyed the video! That's really cool that you're planning to connect some standalones - I didn't think to say this in the video, but I think that's the best of both worlds both marketing-wise and writing-wise! Keep rocking it, that sounds awesome!
I'm doing the same: writing them all before I'm going to publish them. Then it's going to be a different series where I'll do the same, and then write the spin-off to the first series. Got a lot to write lol ✍ 📖
Yes, exactly. That's how I've written my two book series.
Thanks for the video, Bethany!
I made a mistake in my first series where I published too soon, and unexpected things happened, and it took FOREVER, (at least 2 years) between books, which is a lot of time for readers to forget about you 😅 But for my next series, my plan is to write the first draft of all four, (I won't even really think about editing, because that seems to slow me down A LOT).
Let's hope it works 😊
Also, I loved Stolen Kingdom. That was one of the books that interested me on freebooksy. You must have done something right in that series, because I rarely seem to keep going with a series, but I'm going to continue on to book 2!
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks Erin! I totally get what you're saying, but the upside is that you've had time to learn about publishing and marketing, so I'd never see publishing as a loss, there's always something good to learn from it! And I totally get feeling slower than you want, I'm in the same boat, but we'll get there! So happy you enjoyed TSK, thank you so much! 🥰 ❤️
I agree with you 100%. I don't know how discovery writers write series and just make up things as they go. I HAVE to have at least a loose plan or I will write myself into a corner. I am on the 4th book in my Tournament of Mages series and they do get harder to write, especially when the plots of each book weave into each other! The only thing I might add to this video is that branding can become difficult while you are publishing. Buying or producing future covers ahead of several books sounds like a good idea until you get to book three of a planned five book series and realize your covers are all wrong and you want to rebrand.
Having a plan, even a loose one, is so helpful I agree! That's a super interesting point about branding, I hadn't thought about that but it could for sure become an issue or change along the publishing journey!
Thank you for this! The first book in my Duology comes out on Friday, and I’m looking at book 2 with a ton of nerves. This doesn’t actually make me feel better, but it’s helpful and important for me to know!
You’ve got this!
You are very inspiring, Bethany :) I watch your videos over and over again just to inspire me to write... :)
Aw yay thank you, glad you enjoyed!
This was really good! I’m writing a series that you could just read book one as a stand alone, or continue with different characters in a different but still connected story. There are currently three main books, one side background novella (I think) and a book compilation of short stories telling different backgrounds of characters. Sometimes it’s really hard to keep it all straight 😂
Yay thank you, so glad you enjoyed it! That's so smart to write a series of standalones, that's what I hope to do in the future because it's the best of both worlds!
Awesome info as always! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
I'm writing a middle grade series that's gonna be long; it's gonna follow kids from their middle school days to high school. I hadn't realized how long it would be, but now that I know, I'm excited. It's their adventures with a hidden library and encounters with cryptids (either made-up by me, popular cryptids, or my own twist on one). I've published two of them so far and I love it so far.
I'm also working on a duology about teens and young adults with superpowers trying to stop an evil organization from taking over.
Thanks for the video!
And your auto-gain on your mic must be good, or you fixed it in post, because when you dropped to a 'whisper,' your tone changed but the volume stayed the same as far as I could tell -- perfectly clear..
Glad you enjoyed! And that's so funny because now that you mention it, I hear exactly what you're saying... It's the mic in the camera so that tells me it's an awesome camera haha!
Thanks for the video! I'm in the process of editing the second book in a four book fantasy series (was 3, but too much to fit in) and yes, second book is much harder than the first since you have to juggle everyone from the first book while adding more and building the world. I've already got three or four standalone books in the same world with some of the same characters planned. A challenge I've had with the second book is including enough story and world building facts from the first book to fill in a reader who didn't read the first book while not info dumping. We don't get to use the "Previously on..." clips like TV series can. :)
Yay so glad you enjoyed it! That's awesome that you've gotten that far into a series already, it's tough but so worth it! Haha a "previously on" clip would be super useful, I wish books had that lol!
Thanks for the video.
Wonderful video, you're so expressive! And good info. Glad to have found you. I am writing the last book in my first series. Because each book is getting better as my writing improves, I now feel like I should have done a series of standalones instead. That way, the first book wouldn't be the weakest - arrrg! hahaha, but I have to finish now.
You're so close to 40k subs!!! Yay Bethany! Okay back to watching.
Yay! Thank you! 🥰 ❤️
I love your content. I love how you talk to us like we're having a conversation and not trying to perform for other too much. You have such great advice. I do know something that Sarah Canon has talked about is loss leaders in a series. Since it's important to get as many people into book one, after book three or so is out, she suggestions a huge price drop on the first book. Then people have an easier time getting into the series.
I also wanted to say that I really liked the softer talking. Your videos are always so calming and make me feel safe so I like putting them on before bed to help relax and this one was really nice to have today.
Thank you so much, that means a lot to hear! They always say RUclipsrs need to be “high energy” but I love hearing that you don’t mind the “real life energy” haha!
Excellent advice! I'm writing a three-part series and just put my first book up via KDP. Ultimately, I think I'll release them one at a time, then bundle them as an Ultimate Edition hardback later. (Then, of course, I've got the next three-part series in mind 😅) I'm about to get a set of ISBNs for publishing using the other venues you mentioned in the "Where I Self-Publish" video, so thank you for that insight too!
That’s an awesome strategy-nice work! Glad the videos are helpful!
I write more nonfiction than fiction, but the series model still applies. You've given me some food for thought. Thanks!
Love that! Glad it was helpful!
First off, Bethany, RED is definitely your colour girl! You were positively GLOWING in this video. It was a nice and bright beauty to light up my day :-)
Second, thanks for the tips on series. I have several different series in the works, my current WIP is a serial series like Brittany's Ash & Dust episodes.
Took her Series Bootcamp course and I'm eager to get episodes drafted for Camp Nano in April. Glad these tips can also be applied to serial fiction as well.
Have a great week / weekend, Bethany :-)
Aww thank you Avi!!
Your voice is so calming to me! Thank you for helping my stress today! I love writing my series but having kids to take care off makes it so hard to be consistent and when I have long breaks in between writing sessions I forget so much 🙃 😅 just gotta keep trying!
@@BethanyAtazadeh I love that! I will think of that next time my kids are making me want to live in a different world! ha ha!
Super helpful advice as always!! Perfect timing because I'm debating whether or not to make my work in progress a series or standalone novel. There's so many things to consider when prepping for a series and it's so overwhelming for me. Thank you for all the pros and cons about series, Bethany!! 😁 And will check out your podcast episode with Jessica Brody (love her work too!)
Thanks Hana, so glad you enjoyed it! :D And a third option that I didn't even think to mention in this video is a series of standalones - you get to do a little of both that way haha! But don't worry, the overwhelm feeling is totally normal, and we get past it by just doing one little thing at a time - you've got this!
Oh! And the episode with Jessica Brody will be coming out next week - so glad you're excited for that!
@@BethanyAtazadeh thank you for your kind words! I know you're super busy but thank you for always making time to share your wisdom. Your content keeps me motivated throughout my writing journey 😊
Bethany. A reviewer on coursera: write your first novel said that my novel which was originally a standalone could be turned into to a series because I’m creating a pantheon. Your video was very helpful. As I’ll be writing that as my debút series of five books.
That's awesome that you have more story to expand into a series, and glad the video was helpful!
I’ve here doing developmental edits on my book 3 finale and ohh gosh-the stress of wrapping everything up. It’s so real.
Haha I can relate! You’ve got this!
This is extremely helpful. Now I feel like I need to re-read and recheck my book... great.... 😂
Haha oh no! It's a lot of work to make sure things are cohesive for sure, but it's worth it!
Nice. I am writing a standalone series (or I'm not sure the correct term), but both my books are in the same world but they can be read as standalones. There will only be two, but I'm happy with this choice. Congratulations on your series journey. I didn't quite understand the chutes and ladders reference. But, it did make me want to play the game again to understand what you were saying. Haha. But, I did enjoy this video.
Standalone series are the best of both worlds, that’s awesome! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Thanks, Bethany! I have written two series and you're right that you have to have a "Story Bible" to keep you out of trouble. I always write in first person. I was done with the first one after Book 1 and 2, and wrote what turned out to be Book 3 about someone who had nothing to do with those two. But my readers wanted more of both of them. So Book 4 brought one of the characters from Book 3 to town and he turned out to be the cousin of the main character in the first two. The character and his parents from Book 3 came to town for his grandparent's 65th Anniversary. They're also the main character in Book 1 and 2's grandparents. And, just for fun, after writing 9 books of it, I rewrote the whole series from the other guy's point of view and that ended it as Book 10. That was more work than I expected because the character in Book 10 had a lot of things that he saw differently than the other main character and there were things that happened to him when the other main character wasn't around. In the other series, I didn't really like what I did in Book 1, so, since the main character is a warlock, in Book 2, he turned time back and re-did all of Book 1 and added some more stuff to it. In that series, there are other books that don't have anything to do with the main character of Book 1 and 2, but other characters in them are in all the other books. There are a few other books where the Books 1 & 2 characters are back as main characters, and one where the main characters in Books 1 & 2 have a cameo appearance. My main problem also, is I'm a pantser, so the stories are character driven. Although I always tell anyone who asks me how to write "It's just daydreaming and writing it down," it is a LOT of work, but a whole lot of fun, too. Thanks again for all the videos. They are very informative and helpful.
Yeah it helps so much! That's so fun, I wish I'd written in first person because I'm gravitating to that so much now! Glad you enjoyed the video, keep rocking it!
@@BethanyAtazadeh Writing in First Person really limits you sometimes. One book I wrote, -not in a series-the main character is an author on his way to a book signing, hits ice, and runs into the concret under the overpass and has amnesia. That was fun to write because the character got to find out who he is along with the readers. I won an award for that one.
I’d love to write a series at some point. I would definitely keep a story bible!
If you do I hope you love it! It’s a lot of fun!
I write a stand-alone romance series so anyone new can start from any of my books and work back or forth. Great video ❤
That's so cool, you get the best of both world's that way! Glad you enjoyed the video!
I’m going with writing all the books in my series first then publish them though that’s hard right now since book three is being really annoying right now, lol. I also have a bunch of other stories in this world I want to explore too so I guess I’ll have story fodder for a long time!
That’s awesome! You’ve got this! 🙌🏻❤️
Do I have to put my name on the front cover of my book? I really just want it on the side. Thank you for sharing your light, I will be using your channel to guide me with launching my first book! I'm almost done writing it, and as a newbie I see that writing a book is definitely a task lol!
That's a good question, I don't honestly know. I would research the requirements that Kindle Direct Publishing (or whatever vendor you're using) has on that.
Question about changing (or juggling!) genres: Wouldn't it make sense to also market each book or genre differently? It seems to be a catch-22; you want to hold on to current readership, expand it, *and* introduce either another standalone or another series in a different genre...how do you do it???? Is it just more piles of marketing moulah 😂
Thank you for this video and I'm loving the new podcast style. I did not expect to write a series at all. I'm in the beta reader stage for book 1/5. My problem with the marketing is that I accidentally wrote the last book first (I thought I could get away with a novel but quickly found out that wouldn't work). I know some authors who skip around in time with their series, so that's the approach I'm going with. But how is this approach marketable?
Yay thank you, I’m so happy you’re liking the podcasts! And that’s so fun that you started with the last book, love it! Totally normal to figure out what you need for your story as you go-you’ve got this!
I love a 30 book series (quinn loftis) and a smaller 6-7 book series (charmaine ross). Both have different ways of writing in fantasy. One is the SAME characters throughout the whole series and then having past main characters as current main characters. (example: book 1"s main character is also a main in book 4 and 9)
Meanwhile, the other series just has 1 main character and with each new book those characters become background characters. Honestly it doesn't matter how you write it. its the story, the journey, that counts.
I love writing series! But I find myself getting somewhat bored with the world after number three. But if I leave it for a while, I get excited again and have to return. My solution? Write multiple series all at once!
Yes! Series are so fun and that plan is perfect!
Ok, I have a question. The first
book in my series turned into a two book series. I'm almost done, should I release them together or one by one?
Sometime could you do a video about how to do a book launch for a book 2 or 3 versus a book 1 especially for an author like me who doesn't have a huge group of steady readers?
That’s so fun that you requested that because I literally have that topic on my video list near the top haha! I put it as “how to market a book 1 versus a book 2” but I like your suggestion of focusing on the launch specifically, thank you!
@Bethany Atazadeh - YA Fantasy Author ahh well you're welcome. I ask because I really need to know and my own research has gotten me nowhere 🙃 lol
For the prices, would you recommend to keep raising them or to keep something similar to the first book? So like, your first book is 2.99, would you raise it a bit more for your sequel or keep it somewhere 2.99? How do you know when to raise the prices?
I think that's all personal preference honestly! Every author is different.
💜💜
Did you traditionally or self-publish?
Would "episodal" books be considered series? Like Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys where each book is a whole new self-contained adventure on its own.
Yeah of course! Some of the things I mention in this video might not apply (in a good way) because a series of standalones would let you market any book equally and readers could enter at any point in the series, so it'd be kind of a best-of-both-worlds situation!
@@BethanyAtazadeh many thanks! Appreciate it!
10 or 15 book series? [guilt intensifies]
it was supposed to be a short story. And then i said, "well, it's kind of long, maybe 1 book" and then it went to 2 books. 5 books tops. It's looking like 9 books... And I'm still only on book4, so that number might change. Again...
Haha that's not a bad thing, if readers love a series they always want more!
I'm panicking with my book one!!!!
You’ve got this!
Me: Struggling through writing the first book, dying to get into the second one.
Bethany: The first book is the easiest.
Me: (Darth Vader voice) Noooooooooooo!
Bahaha oh no! While it's easiest to juggle information with a first book, now I'm thinking that subsequent books would be easier when it comes to characters/how things work, because you'd have had tons of time to get familiar with them and what they do! So there's still upsides! (Now I wish I'd said that in the video haha)
@@BethanyAtazadeh Whew! Thanks for talking me down! Hahaha!