I’m going to second Julie’s answer this week.
YES.
End post.
There’s nothing I’d love more than to have my favourite authors publish their installments in 4 month intervals but I understand that this is only a pipe dream. Although, admittedly, as much as a steady influx of series books would rock it would also suck because my TBR pile would be even more unconquerable. It would give me nightmares! I wouldn’t be able to read nearly as many debut authors as I do either, nor would I be able to catch-up on series that have been on my wishlist for ages. And all of those recommendations I receive from fellow reviewers and bloggers? Forget about it! So, I guess as much as I hate to admit it, the current system is probably the best option in order to save both readers and authors’ sanity. But DAMN! …do I ever want that next installment!
Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
If year long waits bother you, stay away from George RR Martin’s books. He makes his fans wait up to 5 years for a new book.
I read his first two books but yeah, I heard how hard his writing schedule is on his fans. A year’s already to long, I can only imagine having to wait 5!
+JMJ+
At first I thought the question was tongue-in-cheek (and already loved it for that), but then I read the rest of your answer and think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Year-long waits don’t seem ideal for those of us who have to live through them, but if they were shorter, maybe we wouldn’t value the new books so much. So what seems like the key to a bibliophile’s happiness actually isn’t!
Personally, I could easily wait a year before a new installment of a series comes out, but there’s a reason I usually start a series after it is finally finished. 😉
Sometimes I remind myself that the delay could be due to the author honestly not knowing what happens next. I still recall when we were all waiting for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and I overheard a boy complaining to his mother that J.K. Rowling wrote so slowly. He was quite the entitled brat, but I’m sure his lack of insight into the creative process was not limited to him alone. (If I remember correctly, the manuscript which drove Rowling to despair–to the point that she sent back the advance to her publishers, saying she didn’t think she could ever finish writing it–was that one!)
Then there are books which came out when they were “supposed” to but were huge disappointments. Take Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. I didn’t read the Hunger Games trilogy until all the books had come out, but I think few fans who had to wait for the last novel would have minded the suspense of a few more months in exchange for a better story. Yet this is something we can only know in hindsight.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder, I guess the same holds true for books! As readers, we sometimes forget that writing books is in no way easy. I’d rather an author who takes their time in order to deliver a phenomenal follow-up than one who rushes it and publishes a half-ass installment.
Oh how I would love to have the next installment sitting there, all wrapped-up and pretty, just waiting for me once I’ve finished the current one! But the only way that’s going to happen is if I wait until all of them are out and read them back-to-back-to-back. (Which does happen with some series that I’m late to the game on)
But you’re right, now matter how much I want the next one as soon as possible, we need to try and have some patience and read other things during the wait. It gives us time to catch up with other loves and meet new ones (so we can experience the same heartbreaking wait with them too)
Exactly! As reviewers, it’s important that we spread the love to as many authors as possible.
Waiting sucks — That’s why I have been complaining a lot lately about series. Is there an author that does not write series anymore? I am moving towards stand alone books. Waiting is excruciating, frustrating and down right infuriating…waiting a whole year for a book that sometimes doesn’t even live up to the expectation is even worse lol
As frustrating as series can be, they also seem to be the current trend. I have a hard time finding stand-alone books. There just aren’t as many out there unfortunately.
There are lots of standalone books out there. Lots. They usually don’t get 6-figure marketing budgets (thought sometimes they do–example ORIGIN) so you may have to look a little harder to find them, but they are there, I promise you. I have 2 standalones coming out starting next year that might have companion books someday a la Steph Perkins or Simone Elkeles, but they are completely separate story arcs.
If you want standalones, check out stuff by Sarah Dessen, Elizabeth Scott, Courtney Summers, Siobhan Vivian, Gretchen McNeil, Emily Hainsworth, Kenneth Oppel, April Henry, Melina Marchetta, Maureen Johnson, Nova Ren Suma, Laurie Halse Anderson, Dia Reeves, Eliot Schrefer, Carolyn Mackler, Jennifer Echols, Patrick Carman, Antony John, Tara Kelly, and Erin J Lange. yes, some of them do series too, but I’ve enjoyed standalones by all of them 🙂
Also, if you buy more standalones, editors will too 😀
This is way I love starting a series that is already finished or a few books in so that I don’t have that long of a wait.
Reading a great series back-to-back is great but then the withdrawal when you’re done is even worse!
Yes they should be! LOL Six months to a year I can do, anything longer and I’m lost when I start the new installment because it’s been so long since I read the previous one. I am really glad I started some series later on when I only had to wait a couple of months for the last book or I would have been really upset (i.e. Fever Series)!
It sucks not remembering parts of the story because the installments are too far apart. Who has the time to do a re-read everything a new series book comes out?
Yes especially if cliffhangers are involved!!
Yes!!!! I think it should. I know that it takes much work going into a book, but I think that if it is a normal size book 300 – 400 that maybe we could get 2 books a year. I know some authors do that, which I’m grateful. Long books, I”ll give you a break then. I wish all books were like 2 books a year in their series, b/c for me, I may read first book in a series and I”ve read a bunch of others in that year and by the time the next one comes out I either lost interest in the series or forgot what happened or what it’s about. For YA, I’ve mainly just lost interest by the time the next year comes around.