Stand alone novels vs series, and first time publication.

[Bryant]

I'm somewhat conflicted. I feel that I have an idea that I would enjoy writing, and would potentially sell well, and would really like to pursue it. However, the story I have in mind is not one that I feel could be told well with only a single novel, at least without reaching a ridiculous length.

I don't know a whole lot about the publishing world, and having a book published, though I do know the bare basics, and what I do know makes me pause before I begin writing in earnest. I don't want to hurt my chances of being published by my first work being only the first part of the story.

Does it hurt my chances? Or ultimately, if the book was worth being published, it would happen, first portion of a trilogy  or not?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

to rehash the advice EUOL will be certain to give,

write the first book of a series. Then the first book of a second series, and then the first book of a third series.

Make sure each *could* stand alone if forced to.

This way you can market to three different publishers, wheras if you write three books in the same series, you can really only market to one publisher at a time.

[Bryant]

Hm. Part of me screams "No! I want to finish writing the story I have in mind, while it's still (relatively) fresh!", and another part thinks that it would do me good to keep things a bit more diverse, so when I revisit a series, I can look at what I did right with the first book, and also what I did wrong.

The prospect of writing a single series is daunting enough, though. Thinking of writing three different ones without concluding the others first is downright scary.

Hmm. Well, that gives me a lot to chew on. I certainly appreciate the advice. Thank you

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

well, the upside of it is you don't have to write a series. Just the first part of a series. look at it that way.

You do of course want to keep notes of any thoughts or outlines you have of any series even if you move on to the next one, so when you come back you're not working from scratch.

[Bryant]

With quite a bit more thought, I've realized that the story doesn't technically need to be a trilogy - and really, might be weakened by making it so.

I've started the writing, and I'm estimating that it'll probably be about 75,000-100,000 words in length, which had me thinking - 700/800 page books aren't exactly unheard of, and I think I could tell the story I have in mind quite comfortably with 175-200k words.

So I suppose now my question goes from "Would the book I'm writing be hurting it's chances of publication by being part of a series" to "Would the book I'm writing be hurting it's chances of publication by being about twice the size of the average novel?"

(Of course, I feel quite arrogant in even assuming the first book I actually finish writing will even be worthy of publication on it's own, much less have troubles with length or being part of a series.)

[Skar]

From what I've heard, large books are a bit more of a risk for publishers.  There's a barrier to sales because some people are intimidated by excessive book-length and there are significant printing and binding cost increases with books above a certain optimum size.

I think, though, that the risk a publisher sees in a long book is far outweighed by the advantages to starting a series.  Repeat sales possibilities and all that.  Why not make it a duology?

[Bryant]

Well, I'm not sure I'm comfortable letting the series sit for a period of time while working on something else. I'm not the fastest writer, so the length of time between book one and book two could be fairly long. Even with a good outline, character dossiers, and lots of notes, I'm not sure if I would be able to pick it up and still convey all of the ideas I had at the outset. Alternatively, trying to sell a series to a publisher leaves me with trying to deal with a smaller number of publishers, as Elhers mentioned.

[JenaRey]

Starting several series is just one method of going at it.  You can go ahead and finish the entire series all at once and start by pitching the first book.  Brandon's method works really well if you're prolific and can keep several series going at once, but for slower authors you may want to stick with slow and steady.  Longer books are not unheard of and are being supported by sales of books such as Twilight and Harry Potter the largest volumes coming in around 150-175K.  It's a risk.  I think the most important thing though is to start with creating a solid story, then find the home and break out that goes best with it.

[Shi]

If you want to write it, just write it! I think in when you write you should always do it for yourself first, and for others second. If you want to write multiple stories then by all means do, but if you just want to sit down and work on the one, then I think that would be the best thing. Sure, it probably doesn't highten your chances of getting published, but at least you enjoyed it! Same thing with how long it is, what feels best for the story? Stand along? Triligy? Even while you're writing you might change your mind, and there's nothing wrong with that.