Series 2.0 and the Price of Variety (Patreon)

I was watching some Patreon-specific videos done by Becca Syme (of the Write Better-Faster stuff I talked about recently) and she referenced "Series 2.0" by Zoe York. I went and watched the video and it sparked some thoughts and another round of reflection on my career so far and what I'm hoping to do moving forward.

It may be useful to watch the Series 2.0 video yourself, though I'll recap the parts I think are most relevant.

https://youtu.be/wP7zR02ccww

York talks about "Series 2.0" as a way to "elevate" your writing career. Specifically in genre fiction (and especially in self-publishing).

In short, a Series 2.0 is a series written intentionally to build on the successes and appeal of a series you've already written. Write in the same setting, write in a way that delivers more of what makes that setting/premise interesting AND do it in a more efficient fashion, and do everything you can to keep delivering the same brand/flavors of storytelling, but better.

The idea here, as I see it, is to go deeper with the same readers - developing a series that's perfect for a reader to buy and read as soon as they're done with the first series, under the notion that many readers finish something they love and then want more with that same vibe - same sub-genre, same tropes, etc. If you're able to deliver that for a reader because you have more than one series that fits the vibe/tropes/etc., you can get from a reader trying your series toward a reader maybe starting to think of you as a favorite writer, or at least as someone that can deliver for them in very specific ways.

Working in publishing, people often talked about how many of the biggest break-out successes are similar in major ways to established/well-known books/series, but with *just enough* innovation and/or variation that it satisfies readers' interests in novelty. Publishers love little more than a "sure thing" or a "proven success", since it's seen as more efficient to spend money magnifying a series/author who has already seen success. 

Thinking about these ideas and my own career, Series 2.0 has largely been out of reach for me, and the one time I really tried something like it, I changed too much to really build on the audience I'd already attracted.


A Tale of Two Urban Fantasies

My debut series was geeky urban fantasy, starting with Geekomancy, published 2012-2015. The first book sold well, I wrote two more novels and a novella, but sales dropped off across the series and the publisher wasn't interested in books beyond Hexomancy.

After writing Celebromancy, I wanted to do something different. The first three novels I wrote (not published) were all very different from one another. The first was geeky urban fantasy (I'd cannibalize the best ideas from that for Geekomancy), the second was sky pirate epic fantasy (the setting that would become Born to the Blade) and the third was new weird fantasy (Shield & Crocus). After writing two geeky urban fantasy novels in a row, I wanted some variety. Working with my agent, I came up with three pitches and sent them to my then-editor. Two were different kinds of urban fantasy and the third was a modern fantasy thriller. My editor was most interested in one of the UF ideas, which became The Younger Gods.

 I absolutely grew as a writer as a result of writing the book, but there clearly wasn't enough to bridge a reader's interest from the Ree Reyes books to The Younger Gods. Because The Younger Gods *did not* sell well. It's my worst-selling novel yet by a solid margin.

If we look back and apply Zoe York's idea of "Series 2.0," we can make some guesses about *why* The Younger Gods didn't seem to build on the success of the Ree Reyes books but instead floundered. It was too different. It was 1st person instead of 3rd person, a male protagonist instead of female, a deeply introverted and internal character as the lead in a setting with a very different magic system with a different tonal range.

There were some elements in common - both had inclusive casts (to the best of my ability), interesting action scenes, and distinct magic systems. But I think the differences outweighed the similarities AND slowed down the release of the Ree Reyes books (I had only the novella Attack the Geek out for the series in 2014 and then Hexomancy came a year later in 2015).

Who knows what would have happened for the Ree Reyes books if I'd gone straight from Celebromancy into writing a third Ree Reyes novel? Would that speed of release have changed the series' fate, given readers that liked the first two more of the same fast enough to build momentum?

Barring time travel, I can't be sure about any of that. But I can reflect on possibilities and try to take some lessons from what has already happened.


My First Decade As a Novelist After-Action Report

In 2014, I had three books out, each in a different series - Attack the Geek, The Younger Gods, and Shield & Crocus. All fantasy, but even while two were UF, they were very distinct from one another, as established above. And Shield & Crocus was more different from either of those than they were from each other. A new weird superhero action novel published by an Amazon imprint, written by an author with strong traditional publishing and retail field connections. A retail field where many bookstores refused to stock Amazon Publishing books (for totally understandable reasons).

I like novelty. I seek out new versions, new interpretations, new information. I love alternate universe episodes in TV, I love What Ifs? and parallel dimension stories. 

And my writing shows that. I've written urban fantasy, epic fantasy, new weird, space opera, interdimensional SF, and if we include the subgenres from Genrenauts, cyberpunk, western, rom-com, post-apocalyptic SF, and buddy crime drama.

Almost none of what I've done hits the Series 2.0 ideas of how to build an audience. I don't necessarily think Series 2.0 is a One True Way or even 100% the best idea for every author, even in self-publishing.

But the failures in my career's past are not only my fault. It's not just my novelty-seeking impulses. In traditional publishing, if a series is cancelled, an author is generally going to have an easier time selling the next book if it's somehow different from the series that just got dropped or didn't sell enough to "justify" a sequel. It's why there aren't sequels to Shield & Crocus or The Younger Gods.

Some folks might say "but you could self-publish to continue the series!" Yes, I absolutely could. And I did, with Genrenauts. And that was a huge process that was very exhausting and expensive, even with a successful Kickstarter. Self-publishing more Genrenauts stories has helped me understand that my career ambitions and authorial inclinations are best served focusing on traditional publishing - I like working with a team of people that are independently invested in my work, I like having supported retail distribution and the solid quality floor that (generally) comes with traditional publication. 

But in a version of capitalism where series are expected to blow up right away with basically no support due to staff being overworked and under-resourced, I've ended up with a career that spans across several series and several sub-genres.

Annihilation Aria is really the closest I've gotten to some of the things York talks about in Series 2.0. Despite being space opera vs. other sub-genres I'd already written, I did go into writing Aria looking to be more efficient, more immersive, to get better at the things I was already good at in writing (action, worldbuilding, characterization, fun), assisted by good editing and good packaging by Parvus Press. I thought about the tropes I like and intentionally put them into the work, while giving them a twist via my particular sensibilities.


Through-Lines

There absolutely are through-lines in my work. I can't help but be myself each book I write, even if I'm not consciously trying to iterate on things I've already done before. My books are going to reflect how I see the world and bear my "voice/style" to at least some degree.

What I've done in recent years is try to be more conscious of and deliberate in writing those through-lines. Whether you call that an author brand or style or whatever, I've tried to think about making on-ramps or connections between previous books/series and what I'm writing at any given time. I can put the genre savviness and trope twisting seen most specifically in the Ree Reyes books or Genrenauts into other stuff I write, even if it's not done the same way or highlighted as much as in those. I keep trying to become better at writing an inclusive cast that better-represents the world as it is and not the skewed version that dominates blockbuster media.


Take-Aways

"The new <subgenre the author is known for> series from <author already established through good writing and publishing support, maybe some awards nominations or wins" is one of the strongest pitches a publisher can give.

The Fifth Season was the new epic fantasy series from N.K. Jemisin, already established in epic fantasy when Broken Earth series started.

Wanderers was the new SF thriller from acclaimed author of two other interesting SF thrillers, Chuck Wendig.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau's marketing draws heavily on the success of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's hit novel Mexican Gothic.

These were all "More of what you like from X author." while also being new jumping-on points. 

But if you don't get enough support from the publisher for any given series to finish, to fulfil its promise, to gain and build a readership, authors never get that prime position of being able to deliver "More of what you like from X author" in the same way as this Series 2.0 kind of idea allows. Writers try to re-boot their careers by changing subgenres, categories, and often even their pen name in order to get a fresh start, losing out on that opportunity for the multiplicative effect of publishing multiple series with tight alignment between them in setting, tone, subgenre, etc.

If a publisher emailed my agent or me today saying that they wanted to pick up a series that had not gotten the chance to finish AND then have me write a new series in that same setting or sub-genre and tone, I'd *leap* at the opportunity. Because now I have a better handle on how to satisfy my interest in novelty while still trying to build a career. And readers would be happy because they'd get more of what they like and something new that probably still has most of the things that made them fall in love with the original series. AND those books would be easier to cross-market with one another due to the strong alignment.

These are all reasons *why* Series 2.0 is an idea that makes a lot of sense, and not just for indie authors. 

I just wish the market and industry was set up to make that more viable for traditional authors instead of a landscape where many series go unfinished, where authors bounce between sub-genres, trying to bring their audience with them while changing enough to give themselves another chance at attracting a publisher's attention and interest.

What do you think of this idea of Series 2.0? Are there authors you love that you think have done something like this really well? Are there authors you love even though or maybe *because* they are always changing and growing and trying new things?