Christian fiction has taken more risks in recent years—novels have gotten edgier, and more literarily sophisticated—but one rule has remained unchallenged: readers continue to devour novels published in series. Think Karen Kingsbury, Gilbert Morris, Left Behind, Mitford... the list of beloved series and series authors goes on and on.
Readers are drawn to series fiction because of the familiarity. "With a series, there's a sense of comfort and return," says Shannon Hill, an editor at WaterBrook. "It's the same concept as serials or soap operas—a series allows you to feel like you're a part of people's lives."
What contributes to the success of a series? As with stand-alones, lively prose is a plus, as are well-developed plot lines. A feel-good, cozy setting helps, too. Readers return to Jan Karon's Mitford series, for example, because they enjoy escaping the anomie of suburban or urban living and experiencing the community of a fictional small town.
Historical settings can also satisfy a reader's desire to leave home and go somewhere different. "Core CBA fiction readers—I'm talking about the people for whom Christian fiction is bread and butter in terms of reading, the people who get a new book every two weeks—tend to be highly geared toward historical fiction," says Carol Johnson, v-p of editorial at Bethany House. "In historical novels, it's easier to step into another time and place and really connect with a setting," she notes.
Characters Welcome
But editors unanimously agree that what makes or breaks a series is characterization. Readers come back novel after novel because they want to know what happens next to the characters who have become like friends. Charlene Ann Baumbich, author of the Dearest Dorothy series (Penguin), knows that charming characters are a must: "If you like them, you aren't ready to say good-bye after one book. It's like welcoming them back into your living room when the next book in the series rolls around. I've had people e-mail me that they've been sitting at a stoplight wondering about one or another of the folks in Partonville."
Ami McConnell, acquisitions and development editor at WestBow—an imprint whose popular series authors range from Ted Dekker to Denise Hildreth—thinks a lot about sustaining reader interest. "Critical is frequency, predictability and innovation within the series," she says. "The innovation is the most fun part. When an author is intimately familiar with her or his cast of characters from all that work on the front end, they're freed up to do more innovation in terms of plot, setting and complexity. What could be a liability—in that the 'reveal' is already done—can and should be turned into a strength in the hands of a masterful writer."
The Magic Number
Even well-drawn characters and plot innovation can't keep a series alive forever. Bethany's Johnson says that it's hard to hold readers for more than three or four books. "We used to do six-book series all the time and it worked then, but there's so much more competition for the reader's attention—Bethany would now sign up a three-book series." Indeed, three is the new magic number—many publishers see a slight sales drop in a series' fourth novel. (There are, of course, exceptions to the three-book rule. Gilbert Morris's House of Winslow series, published by Bethany House, debuted in 1986. Over 2.5 million Winslow books have sold, and TheWhite Night, which will conclude the series in February 2007, is Winslow novel number 40.)
Karen Watson, acquisitions director for fiction at Tyndale, agrees that "it's much harder now" to publish 12- or 15-book series. Tyndale, like many publishers, is addressing the problem by bringing out shorter series and by ensuring that readers can leap in at book two or three with no problem. "These novels aren't exactly serial," says Watson, "though they do repeat characters and a given setting." In January, Tyndale House will release It Happens Every Spring, the first volume of just such a nonserial series. Co-written by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer, this quartet is based on Chapman's notion that marriages have four seasons. While the four novels will be set in the same small town and will feature the same characters, each will focus on a different married couple and could be read alone.
Just as marketers of tennis shoes and soft drinks know that the secret to a strong consumer base is forging brand loyalty when purchasers are young, publishers hope that YA series fans will mature into loyal adult readers. Julee Schwarzburg, senior group editor for fiction at Multnomah, says that when girls who read Robin Jones Gunn's teen novels grow up, they not only purchase her adult series fiction, they also turn their own daughters on to Gunn's teen series. Shannon Hill hopes the same will hold true for Melody Carlson, author of several teen series published by different publishers. In November, WaterBrook will launch a new Carlson YA series called Notes from a Spinning Planet, and in the summer of 2007 the press will release These Boots Weren't Made for Walking, the first novel in a Carlson adult series. Hill expects These Boots to find a ready audience in young women who read Carlson when they were in high school.
The Art of Marketing
Sequels lend themselves to creative marketing—readers who get to know and love characters want to keep up with those fictional friends while waiting for the next novel to hit the shelves. "Series are great to promote on Web sites," says Sue Brower, senior acquisitions editor for fiction at Zondervan. "We can use the Web to run contests and give other back stories for the reader to play around with between installments."
Zondervan has tapped into that with a new marketing strategy for its bestselling novelist Brandilyn Collins. To follow Collins's latest fictional endeavor, the Kanner Lake series (the first title, Violet Lake, releases in August), go to Kannerlake.com, where you'll find the "Scenes and Beans Blog." The blog takes readers to the Java Joint, Kanner Lake's coffee shop, where Pastor Hank Detcher, retired teacher Bev Trexel and other stars of the series will keep readers up-to-date on their lives by blogging. It sounds like a lot of extra work for Collins, but it's not, because she won't be writing the blog entries. Beginning in September, any fan can submit a message for blog consideration, and those reader-created updates that best fit the characters will be posted. (Who says the Internet's not changing publishing?)
Write Like the Wind
Clever marketing can only go so far in sustaining reader interest between installments of a series. Series authors must write quickly. Multnomah's Schwarzburg says that in order to both create and then meet reader demand, she wants to release two to three books per year. "A bestselling author might be able to release one novel a year and still grow his or her fan base, but most midlist or new authors don't have that luxury. They need to reach critical mass in a relatively short amount of time to be competitive and keep their names in front of consumers." WaterBrook's Hill wants to stick to one novel a year—still a hectic pace.
This fall, WaterBrook is releasing When the Heart Cries, the first in a three-volume Amish romance series by debut author Cindy Woodsmall. (Yes, Amish romance—a sub-subgenre of CBA series fiction, in which writers like Bethany House's Beverly Lewis and Barbour's Wanda E. Brunstetter have had great success.) WaterBrook is so excited about When the Heart Cries—"Even my mom read it, and my mom doesn't read," Hill notes wryly—that they considered moving up the publication date for the sequel. But after talking to Woodsmall, who didn't want to be rushed, WaterBrook decided to allow the traditional 12 months between installments. "For the quality of the novels and the sanity of the authors, we are trying to stay with one book a year," says Hill. "Readers will wait if they need to and if the book's good enough."
