5 Reasons That Sequel is Delayed

…and What You Can Do About It

You’re reading along that new first-in-series that you purchased, and decide that you love the characters enough to commit to the long haul: you buy the sequel. But wait, that’s not the last one either, so you go out searching for the third installment only to find that it doesn’t exist. The author, for whatever reason, hasn’t gotten around to publishing that last book. Why not?

That’s super-frustrating, though as an author myself, I understand why we sometimes have to delay. There are other reasons, but these are the top 5 that I could think of that have impacted my own writing.

1. The Author Is Really Busy

When I read George R. R. Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire, I remember that sensation of being blown away by the first novel, both as an author myself and as an avid reader. It was this feeling and some rather spectacular descriptions, along with delicious characters, that pulled me through the first several books of the series…until that last novel. Yes, I’m talking about A Dance With Dragons, where I read up until the last page, and then I reached (virtually, with Google Play Books) toward the final one only to find that it wasn’t there! Why not?

Well, as it happens, George R.R. Martin spent a great deal of time working on the Game of Thrones HBO limited series based on A Song of Ice and Fire. And if you look closely, he’s got multiple other projects floating about, not just Game of Thrones related.

Solution:

Being readers, we do feel your pain. Not much a reader can do about this either. Trust me, you don’t want your author to have less to do because that get’s into number 3 below. As an author, I try to plan my release dates which as much as a buffer as I can. On my upcoming works page, you can see my upcoming releases across different formats. At the very least, you can see what’s coming next and how long the next in the series will be.

2. Writing Sequels Takes Time

I like to plan out my series from the beginning. It helps me keep track of the characters and story arcs that weave throughout if I do at least a bit of planning. Even so, the majority of the work is in the writing and editing. For example, I can write about 1,000 words per day. That means that in any given year, I write 3 to 5 full-length novels.

But that’s only the beginning!

After that, I have to self-edit (add 1 month per), then editor-edit (add another month). I have to do the blurbs and potentially pitch the book to publishers or agents. Ignoring the unknown delay of pitching, it takes a good 3-6 months to get a quality book out, even with planning (at least for me). That means that even though I’ve got a backlog of around 5 novels deep (some with rough drafts complete), it’s still going to take a while to get that sequel out, right?

As a reader, this is super frustrating. Finish novels 1 and 2, and the next novel won’t be out until next year because it just takes that long to get a novel published, even if you’re fortunate enough to be an indy-author. I mean to say, if you care about quality, it’ll take you a longer time than just the 1-2 months to write the novel.

Solution:

As a reader, there’s not much you can do about this one. One way we authors work around this is to queue up several finished works. That’s what I did with the first 2 books of Virtual Wars, and I got them both out the same year (I’d meant to do the entire series this way, but couldn’t). Why don’t authors do this more often? Read on, dear reader! The solution to this problem can potentially be the same solution to #3 below.

3. The Series Isn’t Selling

This is a real problem, and part of why authors don’t typically release an entire series at once. You have to understand that authors are also book sellers, and they have to pay attention to things like read-through and such. Typically in a series, readership falls off (for even the best authors) from earlier to later books. (That’s one reason I write all mine to be stand-alone as well, so conceivably someone can enter my Reality Gradient series from any novel.)

A good read-through rate is 50%. That means that even for a good novel, the author will lose 50% of the readers between the first and second novel of a series. So if the first-in-series sells 200 copies, then only 100 will be sold of the second novel, and 50 for the third—if the novels are decently entertaining.

So what if the read-through rate from the first two novels is 10%? Or, knowing that the likely read-through rate is 50%, what if the first-in-series sells only 20 copies?

The author may not finish the series. Why bother if nobody’s going to read it? Remember: just because it’s your favorite series ever doesn’t mean it’s selling like hot cakes.

Solution:

Fortunately, there is something you can do about this one. Spread the word about the novels you love on your social media platforms. This will help others find it, buy it, and that will help justify the decision for the author to continue writing the rest of the series.

4. The Thrill Is Gone

Authors need inspiration! When we get the idea for a series, that’s amazing! It’s a whole new world that we’re eager to explore and see unfold. At some point in the process, that world is as much a surprise to use as it is to you as a reader. But after that first-in-series, it can get tedious to keep on keeping-on. We love the characters, but so much about the world and the situation is already in motion that it becomes harder to keep things lined up. And you may not know this, but characters are notorious for doing whatever they want, plot be damned.

So the second book is harder to write. The third book even harder, and so on through the entire series. It takes motivation to keep going, and this is where you come in.

Solution:

The one thing that as a reader, you can do to keep things moving, is throw accolades at the author. Send an email saying how much you’re looking forward to the next novel, or write a killer review that explains what you loved about the novel, and what you hated. That last part bears repeating: and what you hated. Why? The author may be suffering writer's block and often that means something isn’t working. The what isn’t working can be hard to find. Your words of wisdom may be exactly what an author needs to hear.

5. The Author Left the Business

Did you know that Frank Herbert never finished the Dune series? It was actually his son who finished it, with the help of an outline he found and some skilled writing friends. The same is true for Wheel of Time and others. These authors died before finishing. That’s a problem to which there isn’t a way to get the author to finish—because they’re dead.

But many authors get frustrated in this business. With artificial intelligence chomping at our heels, and powerhouses like Amazon, with which the author community as a whole has a love-hate relationship, and believe it or not, the ease of self-publishing, which has inundated the market with novels (not all of which are amazing, but that’s another blog entry).

So it’s not unusual for an author to leave the business altogether.

Solution:

Be the change you wish to see! This is one way that fan fiction really, really does help. If the author has left the business, then the only person who can finish it is someone who is as passionate about the material as the author was. So pick up the pen and start writing! If you need help, reach out to other authors and you’d be surprised at how easy we are to approach, honestly.

Conclusion

You do have some power in making sure the great novels that you love keep getting made. The chief among these are author feedback in the form of reviews and spreading the love you have for an author’s work through word of mouth or social media. Do either of these, and you’re helping an author more than you might know!

So go out today, pick your favorite author, and give them the energy to keep going by letting them know, good and bad, what you thought of their work. They will appreciate the feedback and it may be just the thing they need to get that next-in-series out the door!