My seventh book is a breakout success, at least by my previous experience with self publishing. Not only is it selling well but it has lifted the sales of my previous six novels. Even my short stories are selling, which I understand is unusual. (They are sideline stories to one of my series.)
With this happy circumstance comes a problem. I'm getting questions from readers about sequels for the books. The questions are most often included in the 240+ reviews of the book on Amazon and Goodreads. But they're coming in via my Facebook page and website.
This could happen to you, and may already have. Perhaps you could share your experiences.
I had no ready answer for this seventh book. I don't understand why it is so popular. It follows much the same themes and style of my previous books. But it also broke several of the rules which I've always thought were universal for genre fiction. I expected the book to disappear with even less sales than the previous books.
The idea for it came to me as I lay awake one morning coming fully back from sleep. An image of a little girl asleep and naked but unharmed being discovered in a park one morning. I could not get her out of my mind. To banish this ghost I began to write her story. It unrolled into existence almost without effort, day after day, for five weeks until her story was done. I ignored all rules I'd learned and just let it happen.
Some kinds of sequels are easily understood. Sherlock Holmes, for instance, has an interesting character, settings, and plot patterns. There's always another crime for a detective to solve. Think of one, set your detective to work on it, and it can almost write itself.
I put the book aside and continued working on the novel interrupted by my "ghost." But now I have several problems. My understanding of what a novel is and how to write it shaken, and with it my confidence in how to write stories. And what are the next actions for my ghost to pursue? Because she has not been exorcised. She stands in the wings waiting for me to get back to her. And she has company; apparently I now have fans impatiently waiting for her sequel.
With this happy circumstance comes a problem. I'm getting questions from readers about sequels for the books. The questions are most often included in the 240+ reviews of the book on Amazon and Goodreads. But they're coming in via my Facebook page and website.
This could happen to you, and may already have. Perhaps you could share your experiences.
I had no ready answer for this seventh book. I don't understand why it is so popular. It follows much the same themes and style of my previous books. But it also broke several of the rules which I've always thought were universal for genre fiction. I expected the book to disappear with even less sales than the previous books.
The idea for it came to me as I lay awake one morning coming fully back from sleep. An image of a little girl asleep and naked but unharmed being discovered in a park one morning. I could not get her out of my mind. To banish this ghost I began to write her story. It unrolled into existence almost without effort, day after day, for five weeks until her story was done. I ignored all rules I'd learned and just let it happen.
Some kinds of sequels are easily understood. Sherlock Holmes, for instance, has an interesting character, settings, and plot patterns. There's always another crime for a detective to solve. Think of one, set your detective to work on it, and it can almost write itself.
I put the book aside and continued working on the novel interrupted by my "ghost." But now I have several problems. My understanding of what a novel is and how to write it shaken, and with it my confidence in how to write stories. And what are the next actions for my ghost to pursue? Because she has not been exorcised. She stands in the wings waiting for me to get back to her. And she has company; apparently I now have fans impatiently waiting for her sequel.
