Is it true that your first book getting published should be a standalone and not part of a series?

[UltimaBahamut93]

I have read this before online and I just wanted to check here and see what you all thought. I've had it explained that it's sort of like a risk management for the Publishing Company if you are a brand new author they have no idea how well the book will sell so they would much rather publish a novel that is a one and done book rather than take the risk of publishing something that requires sequels to finish the story.

I am currently working on two projects but both of them are series. One of them I could potentially do as a shared Universe sort of thing where novel A and B take place in the same world but are not sequels or directly related.


And just so I don't have to create another thread to ask this but it has to deal with publishing I wanted to ask: let's say you go through a traditional publisher and you get book one published and it is supposed to have a trilogy but the first book did not sell well and the publisher doesn't want to continue the series. Are you typically allowed to self-publish the rest on your own?

 

[Prince of Spires]

If a book is good enough then I don't a publisher cares much either way. Though I suppose that there are about a million caveats and genre conventions in that statement.

One thing Brandon Sanderson has said that has stuck with me, is that for publishers, the ideal is actually to get a stand-alone with series potential. That is, book one needs to be a complete, self-contained story. However, there should be enough open hooks left to continue telling the tale in future books.

Mistborn book 1 by Sanderson is actually a good example of this (though it's his second published book...). It's really a complete story. There's very little that continues forward from that book. But it did well enough, so a sequel was welcome.

Publishers will not hesitate to simply stop a series if it doesn't sell well, or tell an author to keep it to fewer books instead of all books he has in mind.

As for your second question, that very much depends on the exact wording in the publishing contract you sign and is something you should get legal advice for when the time is there.

In general, most reputable publishers will get a Right of First Refusal (or similar). That is, whenever you write the next book, you have to submit it to them first, and they can accept it under the same terms as the first one. Usually a contract will spell out a specific time in which they need to make that decision (like they have to let you know within 3 months of submitting), though that's not always the case (if not, then you messed up and they can basically hold on for as long as they want...). Sometimes it's worded a bit differently, and they get the option to match any offer you received or something like that.

After they refused, you are free with it to do as you please. Which includes self-publishing*.

Though as mentioned, be very careful of what you've specified in your contract. I've seen some contracts that basically gave the publisher the rights to anything you ever intended to publish and they could simply hold those for as long as they wanted. And getting out from under that can be very tough. Or contracts that specify that you can only ever publish anything related to the first book through them (where related is taken in the loosest possible way). So read a contract before you sign it and make sure you understand every single word in it.

*sidenote on the self-publishing. It's not something to do just because you failed at trad-publishing. It's just as much work being a succesful indie author as it is a trad author. Just a different kind of work....

 

[Devor]

It IS true that the first book in a series is much more difficult to sell, and that “stand alone with series potential” is the magic phrase they like to see.

What that means for what you should do is up to you.

 

[Mad Swede]

Writing as someone with a publishing contract. My publishers don't make their decision to accept a manuscript based on whether it is a standalone story or not. What matters more is the quality of your story and whether they think it will sell.

My first novel was stand-alone, and it was followed by others in the same setting. I didn't set out to write a series and my books are not intended (by me) to treated as a series. I always aim to make the novels stand-alone, but with that written there are links between the stories. My readers seem to treat the books as a series...

My publishers advice is that if you're going to submit the first book in a series, make sure you have the story and character arcs complete for the whole series and describe these in your submission along with your description of the first book. That way they can make a decision based on all the information and not just some of it.

I can't say what sort of contract clauses a publisher would have if they took on a series. Given that my first novel was stand-alone my contract stated (and states) that my publisher has the right of first refusal on my next book, with the proviso that they have a limited time to make a decision after which I can submit to another publisher.

If you are offered a contract take qualified legal advice before you sign it. Don't assume you can read the contract and understand it, because publishing contracts are not the same as a normal commercial business contracts and some of the terms mean different things. Be sure to check what rights you are selling and for how long. Do not accept a contract which transfers your copyright or moral rights to the publisher. Make sure your contract includes reversion rights and the terms under which you can revert the rights to yourself.

 

[pmmg]

I would just add, as POS seems to have covered it, that I would not want to be in the positing of having a book 1 with a publisher they dont want to continue, and then having writing a book 2, that sounds like a mess waiting to happen that I dont want.

 

[Nyarote]

Writing the first entry of the series in a way that it can hold up as a 'standalone' book is probably a good approach. The publishers seem to care more about marketability (than book quality) though, which equates to social media following/existing network.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

It did used to be thought that a stand-alone was an easier sell. Now, it's really a case-be-case thing. It also used to be true that one could sell a book and get that contract - and often a cheque - with only the first three chapters and a summary. For a long time this held true, because Publishing as an industry is eye-wateringly slow to change. Later, that combo would net one a request for the full manuscript. And that happened quickly - in an industry where hearing back within six months was considered speedy, indeed.

When I was a kid and learning from my mom, they kept time in a geologic crawl.

And then we have today. Last story we placed in an anthology was accepted 45 minutes after we submitted it. I love the internet.

 

[Prince of Spires]

It also used to be true that one could sell a book and get that contract - and often a cheque - with only the first three chapters and a summary. For a long time this held true, because Publishing as an industry is eye-wateringly slow to change. Later, that combo would net one a request for the full manuscript. And that happened quickly - in an industry where hearing back within six months was considered speedy, indeed.

I think part of this also was that computers and email weren't a thing. Simply getting a full manuscript printed out and sending it via snail mail was a relatively costly and involved affair. Modern printers already changed this, and email / website submissions even more so. There's now no reason to ask for only the first 3 chapters, since it's the same effort and price as asking for a full manuscript.

Though it should be noted that I found a Dutch publisher who still only accepts physical manuscripts...

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I think part of this also was that computers and email weren't a thing. Simply getting a full manuscript printed out and sending it via snail mail was a relatively costly and involved affair. Modern printers already changed this, and email / website submissions even more so. There's now no reason to ask for only the first 3 chapters, since it's the same effort and price as asking for a full manuscript.

Though it should be noted that I found a Dutch publisher who still only accepts physical manuscripts...

Oh wow. I feel for their interns. Back to the days when you could ask, "So, how high's the slush pile today?" And that was well after when submitting a story by tossing it over the transom. The transom, for the kiddos, is the little window that appears over most doorways up until about 60 years ago. A great many of our literary legends made their rent by tossing envelops full of hope over the transom at 3am. It was actually pretty cool. Romantic, even.

I remember printing entire manuscripts and including the now legendary "Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope." Forget getting it back, or maybe even just getting read, without those.

I will say that since going indie, I haven't printed more than 5 or 10 pages of anything. All Hail E-mail! We even got rid of our printer. It wasn't working well and it was cheaper to buy a new printer than to buy ink for it. So, nope. Don't miss it.

 

[Malik]

Every book in your series should stand alone as well as working in a series. A reader should be able to jump into the story at any point. And yes, it's as hard as it sounds.