Publishing a series of Books - WritingForums.com - Writing Forums, Writing Challenges, Critiques and Help for Writers

Sparx · 08-14-2006, 05:26 PM

The children's fantasy book im currently writing is the first of four books in a series. I've almost finished the first draft of the book and after I’ve done editing the first draft, I plan on sending it to an agent. However, I read a book on how to get published and it stated that if im writing a book that is part of a series I should finish all the books first before sending it of to an agent. Personally I find this kind of unnecessary because it will take me at least 7 years to finish all the books so is it compulsory to finish the series before i start sending the first book in that particular series to agents?

Mike C · 08-14-2006, 06:46 PM

Finish the first, and write outlines of the others. And make sure that the first book works as a stand-alone.

Sparx · 08-14-2006, 09:14 PM

Thanks Mike C, thats exsactly what i was thinking. I made sure that my first book worked as a stand alone with a proper ending that leaves subtle questions unanswered. Yeah i see now that if make the book stand on its own then it will be easier to get published.

StephenP2003 · 08-15-2006, 10:07 AM

Yeah, that reminds me of one of my favorite books as a kid, "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen. The book worked perfectly as it was, and it made me all the more excited when I discovered that there was another book about it. Then, two more books were released a few years later.

Nickie · 08-15-2006, 11:26 AM

You can always let the agent/publisher know that you intend to write a series of books. If they like the first one, they'll very likely offer you a contract for the others as well. Doing outlines for the follow-up books, like Mike suggested, would be advisable.

Nickie