The Grand Illusion
The Amazon “survey” that I conducted last week revealed the emphasis and market power of series or linked books, but I didn’t say much about one of the most negative aspects – the fact that books not linked to “series” don’t sell well (at least not in the fantasy genre). Out of the 500 fantasy novels I looked through, so far as I could determine, less than a score, possibly less than that, were stand-alone novels.
I’m well aware of that problem. My last two stand-alone novels were Solar Express (2015) and Quantum Shadows (2020), neither of which sold anywhere near what my “series” books do. Every once in a while, a “series” author does write a stand-alone novel that’s wildly successful (such as V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue), but that’s the rare exception and not the general rule.
Even modest-selling linked books are being pushed out of the marketplace. I was thinking about writing another novel in my Ghost world, but Tor had no interest in such a book, and I know several midlist authors who can no longer sell novels to commercial U.S. publishers because their work doesn’t sell enough against the impact and marketing of multi-volume mega series.
Series books written by a single author have been around from the beginning of science fiction as a genre, but became more prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, including E.C. Tubb’s Dumarest series, Doc Smith’s Lensman books, and Marian Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover books, but these were essentially science fiction (if with often dubious science). The first popular English fantasy series is likely that of L. Frank Baum, beginning with The Wizard of Oz in 1900 and continuing with other authors for roughly 30 years, but after that, there wasn’t that much interest in multiple fantasies in a continuing setting until after the U.S. publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings in 1965, although the first widely popular non-Tolkien-spinoff fantasy series was The Wheel of Time, after which all manner of fantasy series proliferated (including the Saga of Recluce).
This proliferation has turned into an unkempt jungle, in which very few stand-alone fantasies rise out of the canopy of intertwined series. One of the ironies of the Recluce Saga is that, unlike The Wheel of Time, which was planned as a series from the beginning, The Magic of Recluce was written as a stand-alone novel, and after its initial publication, David Hartwell, my long-time editor until his death, asked for a sequel.
So, in a way, I’m also part of the problem, but I still continue to worry about the over-emphasis on mega-selling series and the way in which the internet and the marketing strategies of Amazon and Barnes & Noble effectively force traditional publishers to minimize stand-alone novels and make it ever more difficult for unknown authors to self-market.
One of the biggest problems with the mega-series approach though (and I’m finding this with the big multi-media franchises too) is the time investment to get into them these days.
Speaking for myself, over the years I’ve started several of the mega-series worlds, and then stepped away after three to five volumes to read something else. Thing is, now that I think about re-reading them – I’ve tried picking up from where I left off and forgotten too many details, so it’s pretty much a “start from book one again” situation, and I find myself thinking “I don’t have time for this series right now”.
Ditto for things like the ever-growing world of Star Wars, where I’ve lost count of how many TV series there are now, plus the books (and of course the core movies) and everything is interconnected enough that it feels like I need to watch all the TV series going back a decade or more before I can watch the latest offerings.
The big series/worlds I find myself coming back to over and over are the ones where although they’re set in the same world, the books more or less stand alone – either as individual books or trilogies (the above-mentioned Darkover is one example, but also Lackey’s Valdemar or McCaffrey’s Pern books (though they’re more interconnected). There is an overall order, but it’s possible to dip in and out of the world and not be completely lost (which is helpful for when you’re borrowing books from the library).
Exactly this. I find myself becoming much more of a fan of series books, where each stands alone, over serial books, where each is a small part of a larger story.
You can pick up any one you’ve missed and easily read it without stressing over what happened previously.
I can understand why the trend in Fantasy is for linked works in general though – it’s easier on worldbuilding, easier to market, and half the heavy lifting is already done.
I think it’s still less common in SF though simply because SF tends to still be a genre of “the big idea”, and few big ideas stretch well over several books.
Adrian Tchaikovsky is another author similar to our host, alternating inventive series works with big idea standalones, across both SF and Fantasy.
Those of us who view and comment here on a regular basis read books from our favorite authors as soon as they are published and generally read quickly. We have a To Be Read (TBR) pile and separate the hobbies of buying books from reading books. But the majority of readers don’t do this. They look for books occasionally and have a different perspective. For the average reader a book purchase and the time involved in reading it is an investment especially when there are other entertainment options. Most of the time people will look for a “safe” investment. If they can only buy one book and spend the next several weeks reading it, they want a sure bet. This is why series are attractive to people. They know what they are going to get. The downside of not liking a book is much greater than the pleasure of a new discovery.
The other advantage to series is they have staying power. If a series makes it, people will continue to start reading the series. A long series means reasonable quality to the average reader.
Think about it in terms of streaming instead of books. If a new series starts in the established universes, I am much more likely to watch from the first episode than for a brand new series. For a new series I will wait until the reviews are in. I don’t want to watch 6 episodes and have it end on a cliffhanger only for it to be cancelled.
Some of Lee’s standalone books are my very favorite SF titles: Adiamante, Archform: Beauty, Flash, and Gravity Dreams. Right up there with Neuromancer and Snow Crash.
And above, Elena puts for the case for a series of “standalones” or interconnected mini-series like Recluce- same world/milieu, different times, characters, situations. Those I like very much as well – I would add Seanan McGuire and Glen Cook to her list.
Agreed – I’ve had to repurchase the standalone SF books a couple of times now and I keep coming back to them for re-reads. I love Gravity Dreams, Parafaith War and Adiamante especially.
Too funny, I was just pitching Glenn Cook to one of my friends last night.
Specifically, the “Garrett, PI”series. For the uninitiated, the protagonist is a film noir detective and the stories take place in a medieval fantasy city with non-humans, magic, and etc. Cook has a very spare and economic style of writing, while engaging with interesting characters.
I thought “Solar Express” was a very early prequel to “The Parafaith War” and sets the stage for how that galactic opera came to be. There seemed to be such rich history you allude to in the first book and “The Ethos Effect” and I’m wondering if you’ve every thought to write more books in that universe and whether your publisher was interested.