Readers Love Series!

If the above statement is true, why do so many publishers cancel series before they're completed? I'm sure you've seen promising series get cut off at the knees, and you've always wondered what happened next. Maybe you've been the author of such a series, with readers asking for more and your publisher telling you it's not viable.

And, indeed, the publisher may be right. They have established marketing methods for bookstores, specific print runs to commit to, and more bright, new, shiny books to publish that might do better than your third one.

Enter the indie author, who, instead of targeting the tried-and-true paperback markets, will primarily sell ebooks online… and still make a living.

Yes, many an indie author creates paperback files, too, often uploading those to Amazon's Createspace dashboard, where books will be printed as ordered. And, while some sell paperbacks like gangbusters online, many of us sell virtually every single paperback by hand in our local areas. We may still think it's worth having them available.

But back to the topic. What does being indie have to do with series? Several things.

1. Indies are writing for the future, not the present. That may seem backwards when it's in traditional publishing that a book may take two years to get to market after it's written and approved, while an indie may write, edit, and publish a book in just a few months.

Still, each indie is only concerned with one career: his or her own. We know it takes time to build any business. We don't juggle the needs of multiple authors and an office building full of staff. It's just us and any editors, cover designers, etc, we may contract for specific duties as we can afford them.

Every time we release a new book in the series, it draws attention to the previous titles. Sales tend to go up on all of them. Nothing ever goes out-of-print these days—to the distress of many authors with bomb-proof traditional contracts. This is a bonus for indies. A new reader who discovers us in book two, or three, or four can click over to Amazon or another online bookseller and, with a few more clicks, purchase and download all previous books in a minute or two.

2. Indies can price ebooks to sell through a series. We have the luxury of offering a low barrier to entering our story worlds by pricing the first book lower than the others, or even free. An impulse buy/download will often result in sales of the other books in the series. Not always, of course, but many indies have experimented with this tactic with success.

3. Indies can adapt a series or lengthen it to suit the readership. Planned a series about three sisters, and the stories are selling like gangbusters? Add three cousins and expand the series to six books. Want to add a novella, a short story collection, and/or a Christmas tale to the mix? Go for it. We can listen to our readers and turn on a dime.

4. Indies can "value-add" to a series. I've had the opportunity to both contract an audiobook of my first book, Raspberries and Vinegar, and to submit it to a digital box set called Love Brings Us Home that also contains books by six other contemporary romance authors. This box set has been doing really well. Psst, if you haven't picked up your copy yet, hop to it! It won't be available much longer.

I've done some of this with my Farm Fresh Romance series since regaining the rights to them last summer. I republished the first two, Raspberries and Vinegar and Wild Mint Tea, in July and released the third, Sweetened with Honey, in November, four full months earlier than had been planned by my publisher.

I thought and prayed and noodled over the original idea then decided to expand the series to six books by adding more friends to the mix. I've just completed the first draft of Dandelions for Dinner and have every expectation of releasing it in early March, while continuing to write the fifth and sixth books. This will not only give more books for existing fans to purchase, but increase the number of entry points whereby new fans may discover them.

With the upcoming release of Dandelions for Dinner and the dissolution of the box set, I plan to place the first book at "permanently free" to draw more readers into the series.

I love hearing from readers who are invested in my Farm Fresh Romance series.

Here's what one reader had to say:

"I literally had moments where I missed this group of characters now that I've read all the books in this series so far… love the stories - each character is distinct from the others, which sometimes isn't true in series. These are not remakes of the former books. I love the entire atmosphere on this farm."

What do you think of series, both as a reader and as a writer?

Loyalty or Royalty?

With the release of Wild Mint Tea on March first, I've had the privilege of being interviewed on or writing guest posts for dozens of blogs. Yes, dozens. It's been a wee bit crazy, quite frankly.

Readers are loving Claire and Noel, and that is so gratifying to an author! The feedback has confirmed what I suspected, that this story is "better" than the first book in the Farm Fresh Romance series, Raspberries and Vinegar. By better, I mean that Claire is a sweeter person than Jo, and readers find it easier to root for her.

A question I often get asked is why I write stories set in Idaho when I live in Canada. There are levels to the answer.

One is that if Green Acres Farm were a real place, I could drive to it in twenty minutes if border traffic was light. Yes, my home in southeastern BC is that close to Idaho. The landscape and climate are the same as home, which is very helpful to me being as I write about farming and gardening.

Another answer is that when the Farm Fresh Romance stories began to form in my mind several years ago, Americans, who form the largest market share of English-speaking readers, often passed up foreign-set books in preference for the more familiar. This is, in fact, one of the reasons the International Christian Fiction Writers blog was formed: to help spread the news that authors from other lands might offer great stories set in other places, and weren't something to be feared or avoided!

To make my series the most appealing to a wide readership (which included agents and editors), I chose to set my stories in the USA. Ultimately I signed a contract with a small new American publishing house, Choose Now Publishing, who might've been open to a Canadian setting. As well, the doors to foreign settings have started to crack open. I chose not to submit the two completed novels in the series to an international overhaul but to stick with the way they'd been written in the first place.

In an exchange with Janice Dick, a fellow Canadian author who writes historical fiction, she said she had to choose "royalty over loyalty." The phrase stuck with me. I'd done the same. In an effort to have the best chance to actually sell my novels, I'd chosen that as more important than loyalty to a Canadian setting.

I make other choices for the "royalty" reason as well. I make sure my contemporary romances are written in both the heroine's and hero's point-of-views. I write to a standard romance formula, finding it doesn't strangle my stories at all. I make sure there's a happily-ever-after, which I prefer anyway. I make sure the word count is within the acceptable range for my genre.

God didn't give me "Canadian" stories. He gave me stories with universal topics and themes. The hope, the sense of belonging, the joy of being sought by God, the wonder of human love…these are all things that everyone can relate to. They're far more important to me than the little spot on the checklist that says where the story is set.

Sure, I have ideas for novels set in Canada. A couple are even written and waiting their turn for revision. Meanwhile, I have more contracted stories to write in the Farm Fresh Romance series…both because I want the royalties and because I want to reward the loyalties of my increasing fan base.

What about you? Do you find the setting as important to you as the themes, genre, and story line in a novel?

Valerie Comer's life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance and farm lit. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local food movement as well as their church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters. Visit her website and blog to glimpse inside her world.

The second novel in Valerie's Farm Fresh Romance series, Wild Mint Tea, released March 1, 2014.

Interview With Valerie Comer

Valerie and I first met on-line, when she offered to interview me for my books, which I thought was wonderful, and then invited me to join this prestigious group of bloggers.  And now I am honoured to interview her for her new book, the second in the series, 'Wild Mint Tea'.

The second tale in the Farm Fresh Romance series, WILD MINT TEA, finds chef Claire Halford, one of the three girls who created Green Acres Farm, one year later, juggling a job she hates and trying to get the farm off the ground.  When they agree to trial-host a wedding, the bride-to-be's brother is none other than Noel Kenzie. The same man who turned down Claire for a job in his reforestation camp as head cook.  With swooning glances, misunderstood arguments, delicious cooking, a change of heart and a forest fire, Claire and Noel are one couple you can't help hope get together in the end. You can purchase Valerie's new book everywhere. Including here.




Ok, first question. What did you have for breakfast?

A bowl of oatmeal with milk and honey.

What's the temperature like out there?

Freezing! We've had -15C with brisk east winds for several days—those are our worst and can cause frozen pipes. Not this time, whew.

Now, how did you come up with the idea of Wild Mint Tea? Did you know it would happen while you were writing Raspberries and Vinegar?

If you're talking about the titles of the books, both were written and underwent a title change when they were contracted last spring, so neither the concept of raspberry vinegar nor mint tea was present in the first drafts. If you're talking about what would happen to Claire, yes, I had a good idea as she was a strong secondary character in Raspberries and Vinegar. Just as I have most of the story in mind for the third book in the series.

How long did it take you to write 'Wild Mint Tea'?

I wrote Wild Mint Tea (working title Check Mate) in about 3 months several years ago when it looked likely that the series would be picked up by one of the larger publishing houses. They passed (three times over the course of a year!), but I was glad I had the first draft done when the contract from CNP came my way last spring.

Where there any parts, while writing, that you got stuck on? Where you just hit a roadblock and didn't know what would happen next?

It's been several years, but I remember the writing of this book as sheer bliss, the only time that's happened to me. I don't remember getting stuck. For once.

Who is your favourite character out of the two books?

That's like asking which is my fave granddaughter (frown). But I really do love Noel Kenzie, the hero of Wild Mint Tea, a lot. He's got moxie. Can a guy have moxie? If so, he's got it.

Oh yeah. A man can have moxie. So, which character is you?

The "me" character isn't in this novel. She was in the first one as the mother of the hero and will play a smaller role in the third one as an interested party.

I know you say that you are not in this book, but...I think you are. In the main character, Claire...what are your similarities and differences?
Hmm, I never thought of Claire being like me. We both like food, but she's a trained chef and I've never desired to be. I'm a homebody, but she is way more than I am. I like to keep things organized, but she is ten times more OCD than I am. Personality wise, though, you might be right. Huh. Never thought of it before...

How did you come up with Noel? He is a dreamboat!

First, Claire. Because I had three young women in the series, they needed quite different personalities or it wouldn't be any fun. Claire drew the short straw for being more level-headed and melancholic than the other two. Then I needed a hero who was her polar opposite! Which is how I came up with Noel. Of course, I didn't want him to be irresponsible, so I made sure his career goals were very different from hers.

How do you decide what your characters will look like? Do you use people you know? Do you think of movie stars? If Noel and Claire were to be compared to movie stars (as in characters in movies so we can imagine), who would you pick?
I actually watch fewer than five movies a year, so I don't pick from movie stars. I go to jupiter.com and browse. If you'd like to see the models I picked for Claire and Noel, they're on my Farm Fresh Romance Pinterest board. I'd be interested to know which movie stars these models remind you of! http://www.pinterest.com/valeriecomer/farm-fresh-romance/

 

A super hard question now. Pick a song to go with your novel.

Ha. Not so hard. Two songs. One is the old hymn "This World is Not My Home" for reasons you'll have to read the book to understand, and the other is the bright happy tune in my book trailer. I dare you to watch this and not grin for all 40 seconds!

Why Farm-Romance?

Why not farm fresh romance? They say to write what you know. I'm all about farming and good fresh locally-grown food. And who can't use a little more romance in their lives?

I completely agree. So. What's next?

I'm turning in my novella for Snowflake Tiara shortly. I'm partnering with the amazing Angela Breidenbach for that pair of stories that releases in September. Then I get to turn my full attention to Sweetened with Honey, the third Farm Fresh Romance novel.

If you had only one book to bring on a holiday, which would it be? Can't be the Bible or anything written before 1940. No Jane Austen. Everyone always picks Austen.

Whew. At the risk of all the Austen-lovers hating on me, I'm perfectly fine having her books out of the picture. But I'd probably spend so long standing by my bookshelf, picking up one book, then choosing another, then putting them both back in favor of a third that the ship would sail without me before I'd decided. So I guess I'll just pack my Kindle, because that solves everything.

Valerie's new book will be published this month! You can find more information on her wonderful new novel, and others at her blog, here.  She is having a paperback giveaway on Goodreads, but only to US addresses (boo!). But ONE LUCKY reader here can win a digital version (winner's choice of mobi or epub file) by commenting below before Monday, March 10.

"Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws."


Photo of Valerie goes here, but for some reason it's not working anymore.


Photo of me goes here, but that's not working either. At least we have a picture of her new novel and the gorgeous artwork done by Valerie's very own daughter!

Jenn Kelly is an author and she is figuring it out. You can find her at www.jennkelly.com