When To Self-Publish The Next Book In Your Series

From C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, books in a series have long been popular. When a story spans more than one book, readers can spend more time visiting their favorite characters and worlds. And writers have the benefit of a built-in audience eagerly awaiting their next editions! If you’re thinking about self-publishing a book series, it’s important to consider the timing of each release. The experts have helped authors navigate this process and have some advice about when to self-publish the next book in your series.

Timing When To Self-Publish The Next Book In Your Series

Having a rough estimate of your timeline is important — you can’t expect to publish a book every six weeks if it takes you three months to prepare and release just one! Planning and staying organized is vital to successfully publishing a book series. Begin by estimating how long it will take you to self-publish a book. You may also want to consider hiring some help for certain steps to ensure your book looks professional, suits your genre, and stays on schedule. You never want your books to seem half-baked or rushed. Readers will notice, and the negative word-of-mouth can tank your current sales — and sales of future books.

If your books are longer than the average 50,000-word novel, you may want to publish them further apart to give your readers enough time to complete a book before the next one comes out.

How Many Books Should Be Ready Before You Self-Publishing A Series?

Should you write the entire series before you self-publish, or should you instead write only the first book and publish it before moving on? Each writer is different: Some prefer to write and publish one book at a time, while others recommend having three book manuscripts ready before you start self-publishing a series. This gives you a good head start and helps you publish on a consistent schedule. If you write one book and then struggle with the second (or the fifth or the tenth), your timeline may suffer, and readers may lose interest if they have to wait too long for the next installment of your series.