Seems to be the trend nowadays. First novel of the Fallen Angel series. Book Three of the Steamy Hearts boxset. Sixty-eleventh part of the omg-you-need-to-keep-reading-this-unlimited-number-sequence. A hot tip to indie authors, especially those looking to set up recurring passive income, is to write as many books as possible and throw them on Amazon. The idea is that the more books you have, the more your promoting of your other books will eventually get your OTHER books found. I think.

A specific comment from one of my Chaos (un)Controlled reviewers was, “I personally liked a lot because it seems like every single young adult book has to be a series of at least 3 books when sometimes I just want one pleasant self-contained book.”

It certainly does feel that way sometimes, huh? I agree. Not knocking series at all; I’m considering doing a non-linear prequel to Chaos (un)Controlled for my next writing project. But Rixa’s story isn’t incomplete in Chaos (un)Controlled. University Heights could be revisited, sure. Other characters could get a spotlight. It’d be cool to take a Tales approach; where elements of the prior games are touched upon in the later games, giving the player refreshing “Aha!” moments, if they’ve played the others. But I don’t want to return to it just because series are the cool thing to do right now. There would need to be a real reason.

Currently, as an adult reader, the thought of starting a new series (from a reader’s perspective) is akin to climbing a mountain; my mind sees “Book one of…” and immediately responds, “Do I really want to get into this?” Finding the time to finish one novel takes awhile as it is. It’s like getting into a new television show. It’s like…now I gotta watch it and be invested. Thinking of the obligation is exhausting enough… -.- Let’s take a look at the series I’ve encountered and made it through:

Harry Potter. This one was an accident. The first three books were gifted to me and I ended up loving them and grateful that the journey continued after the first.

Fifty Shades of Grey. This one, I was conned. An old co-worker raved about how she loved this series so much, she re-read all of them in a week. Barnes & Noble happened to have a ridiculous sale, all 3 for $9.99 so I went for it. First one was amusing. Second one kept me interested. Third one was painful. I could only crawl through a few pages at a time for each reading session before major ADD kicked in. I finished only because I had committed to the first two.

Twilight. I was gifted the first book for this one too, and despite the purple-prosey writing style, it did keep me captivated enough to keep going through all 4.

Divergent. First one was awesome. Second one cool. Third one, bleh.

Seems like series have a habit of losing steam the further they go along. With the exception of Harry Potter.

Let’s look at a non-linear series. The Coldest Winter Ever was phenomenal. The long-after subsequent prequel Midnight offered a very different tale that I was sold on. I’m a sucker for Japanese culture blended into anything. The sequel to Midnight however, fell flat and unrealistic and lost my fandom. Whatever we forgave or gave a pass to in the first one, began to pile on as the outrageous elements became a Rollout. I recently learned there was another release in the non-linear series; A Deeper Love, which follows Winter’s sister apparently. It’s on my reading list because, of course, the commitment.

If potential readers can find the time to commit to Chaos (un)Controlled, just ONE standalone book, I’ll be happy. Whether many are jumping on the series bandwagon for the sake of sales, or love of an epic story-journey, I still say there’s a niche for the pleasant, self-contained book that the busy reader with time-commitment-issues can store on her shelf.

~Tael