To Be Continued (We Hope)

I promise this is not a query. I need advice on how to split a long, continuous story up into more than one book!
I recently completed a middle grade novel that took on a life of its own and decided to segue directly into a second book. In the sequel, the kids in the fist book must travel to King Arthur’s England to find a spell book and stone to break a spell cast by Merlin’s son in the first book. At the end of the first book, the main characters have resolved some things and are safe, so it sort of ends that “chapter” of the story, but they are in hot pursuit of another character and don’t have time to stop and celebrate.
Is it OK to have the book end at the beginning of the next story (they all arrive safely and are sitting by the sea in England) or does there have to be some more concrete ending to the first book (they are all ready to travel on to the next adventure, but sit around smiling and patting each other on the back before they go?)
It is too long to be one book (41,500 words.)

Surely you have read some books / series that do this? More than a couple, one hopes?

I just want to pause and remind everyone that my advice all alone is not useful to you. If you haven't familiarized yourself enough with children's books and with the craft of writing to have some good sense of your own, no matter how good my advice is (and I do my best), you won't be able to avoid misapplying it.

Good, now that that's out of the way: before you go rushing off to work on book 2 or 3 or 17, put all your effort into making book 1 as awesome and polished and whole as you can do. How to do this varies per book, so you have to use your own good sense in making this story the best it can be before your characters set off into a sequel.

If you can't get an editor excited about book 1, the ending to your series is going to come even sooner than you thought.

To Be Continued! Or Maybe Not.

How does one decide how to split up a story into parts if the book is too long and the story is continuing into another book? Is it OK to end a book with a cliffhanger, or should you always come to some kind of resolution?

It is OK to end a book on a cliffhanger. You should just be aware that if buying your book requires buying two or more books, the publisher is going to weigh their enthusiasm against the higher investment required.

If you're starting a series, consider whether you're writing the type of book that often becomes a series. Genre fiction often carries series. Quiet, literary novels... not so much.

Series Potential? Seriously?

When writing queries for chapter books, is it a good idea to mention "series potential" or plans for subsequent books? I know mentioning sequels when querying MG or YA novels is generally frowned upon, but with chapter books, it seems series are very popular.

It's the same for books of all kinds. Series are very popular-- with readers, with publishers, with authors. Everybody likes a series, because it takes some of the tough decision-making out of reading / publishing / writing, and once they get going, series give you a pretty good return on your money / effort.

"Oh!" you say. "Well then why isn't everything a series?"

[Here we pause to let my readers consider this question for themselves.]



One possible answer is that the author didn't / doesn't want the book to be a series; he/she feels it's complete in itself and doesn't see a way to continue the story past what's already been said.

But the real answer is: not everything is popular enough to be a series. Sorry.

If Twilight had had a readership of 5,000, there would have been no New Moon, Eclipse or Breaking Dawn.


The reason editors don't want to hear about the author's thoughts on their book's series potential is for the same reason we don't want to hear about the author's thoughts on the possibility of getting their book on Oprah: AUTHORS HAVE NO CLUE.

More than that, experience has proven to most editors that the authors who are all excited about writing a series are either:

a) people who are under delusions of the millions of dollars there are to be made in children's books and who are uninterested in the quality of their writing in their pursuit of those dollars, or

b) people who are unhealthily obsessed with their creation and whose last interaction with reality was passing it in the street months ago, when they couldn't quite place where they knew reality from. It looked familiar... did its name start with an "R," maybe, or a "D"?


So we worry that if you've been spending a bunch of time over-enthusiastically plotting out the further adventures of your book, you haven't been spending a bunch of time making your first book the best book it can be.

Write the best book you can. The best book-- one book. If the editor sees the potential for great popularity and the beginnings of a series, she'll suggest the series to you.

UPDATE: Michael reminds me that some types of series (like his Animorphs) are pitched as a series, but as he also points out, that kind of writer can come up with a really catchy idea and churn out a hell of a lot of consistent prose over an extended amount of time (54 books in 5 years, for instance). As I've reminded him, that's not most writers.

Mailbox Grab Bag II

When constructing the query letter for my YA murder mystery, should I mention that hubby's a sheriff's deputy and/or that I've used bits of real life mystery from our county? (With artistic liscense to protect those involved.)

Yes. I'm kinda intrigued right now.

I was wondering your opinion on the graphic novel sliding into the picture book arena? I have seen some picture books with a comic book format, and I know that The Little Lit Library has 'Toon Books' (Toonbooks.com). Just wanting to know if it was worthwhile submitting a picture book in this format? I'm not an illustrator, but I know how to write a MS in a scripted format with the different panels, etc. Is it realistic for someone who does not illustrate to submit a MS in this format?

Sure. It's only going to happen more.
But for those of you who haven't worked in this format before: it's not as easy as it looks. Read a bunch of graphic novels and think about the storytelling before you go submitting manuscripts in this format.

My question is: if you have a book published already through a small publisher, is it possible to find a different publisher to publish a sequel which also stands alone on its own merits? I am not asking about the legal aspect of being under contract, but is a sequel even remotely attractive to another publisher? The first book got some good reviews and sold respectably.

Sure, if it really stands on its own.

Does a contract for a young chapter book series differ from a contract for a novel or PB? In other words, let's say an author writes the first book of a young chapter book series. The pub acquires and wants a second book to follow. Does the contract have a clause that would give the pub. an out if the first book failed? Would the pub. wait/want to see the second book finished before releasing the first? And if the pub. does not like the second book would they have a clause in the contract that allows them to cancel the whole thing? We were discussing this in my writer's group and we were also all curious to know how frequently contracts are canceled and usually for what reasons.

This is a series of questions better addressed to an agent, because contracts vary a great deal from house to house. My answer has to be "no comment"... but perhaps Literaticat would like to weigh in?

My Question: I've recently finished reading John Green's new YA, PAPER TOWNS. I am a huge fan of his and really loved the book. However, many elements of the book were very familiar to his previous (award winning) books -- the geeky/nerdy guy with no other goal than being in love with/figuring out the unattainable, vibrant girl; the wise-cracking best friends; the "themes" batted back and forth at the book's end. These work well for John Green and in fact I look forward to them, but I wonder, as an editor, do you encourage your authors to branch out and try new things? Or do you let the sales speak for themselves? Taking John Green out of the equation, I guess my real question is, How important is it for an author to create a DIFFERENT book each time out? Or are revisited elements one way to create your own type of "brand?"

This will vary from author to author, book to book, and relationship to relationship. I love authors to try new things, but sometimes those experiments don't result in something publishable. (And in publishing, good sales always speak for themselves.)

I've been reading your blog for a while now, and it's pretty clear that you don't think self-publishing is a good option for any self-respecting author. Should authors/illustrators always try to go with a traditional publishing house? I realize that authors/illustrators are not the best judges of their own work, and that many will resort to self-publishing because of rejection (due to the fact that their books just aren't very good). Are there, however, any instances where self-publishing would be the better option for a well-written work of fiction?

I think self-publishing works well for a very small, very well-informed, very pro-active segment of authors. So it's not fair to say it's crap for everyone. But many, many people who self-publish do it under fantastic delusions-- delusions that most vanity presses do nothing to dispel. (After all, if it were only the small, well-informed, pro-active segment who self-published, most vanity presses would be out of business in a hurry.) So it's not something I'm going to recommend for most people.

My Manuscript Has Had Puppies. Want Them?

Is it better to sell a PB as a stand-alone and then mention to the editor that you would love to expand your book into a series after all contracts are signed? If you mention 'series' before contracts are signed, would that make an editor question if they should buy a book that has stand-alone potential?

If you send me a picture book I want to acquire, I'm going to acquire it. If you mention at that early date that you have ideas for second, third, and fourth books just like it, I'll explain why we're going to wait for some market feedback on the first one before we throw money into developing a sequel. I'll be nice about it, but I'll be rolling my eyes the whole time.

Lots and lots of authors are so enamored of what they've created that they envision it becoming a series. If the book-buying public turns out to be just as enamored, then great! If not, no dice.

Some types of books are best as a series, but as I mentioned before, they should have very solid market potential.

A Series of Risks

I have an idea for a book line. Is there a way to submit such an idea to a publisher and possibly obtain a contract to write some of the books for the line, and if so what are the usual protocols? I know the general guidelines for submitting a book and even a series of books, but I have never come across information regarding someone outside the publishing industry pitching a new line.

Send in an overview of the series and a sample of your writing in the form the publisher requests (eg, 3 chapters and a synopsis).


Series are harder to pitch because they require a significant commitment in money and time. Every acquisition decision is a bit of a gamble, so investing in developing a series is a BIG gamble. Acquisitions committees will only approve something that seems to have very solid market potential.


And you're asking the acquiring editor to plan to spend years ahead of her working on this series—so she'd better be looking forward to it that much more. If that enthusiasm and that surety of market response aren't there, it's easier to just reject it.