A rant about book dates and sectional novels

Just noticed another reader posted a book release update. Its now jan 2019…..I’ll have forgotten the story by the time this comes out. I loved the first books started with book one in 2009, book four was 2012 and since then….dates just get pushed back.
Now I see there’s a sixth book planned. The Sweet Scent of Blood (Spellcrackers.com Book 1)18 Jun 2009 Suzanne McLeod was book one, and I’m not sure whether to cancel order of next book as it could be another five years before that’s out 😉 At this rate I may not live that long 😉 Though I’m planning on making 100!! So many stories to get through.
I hate when authors do this. I’m still waiting for Kalayna price 3rd Haven book, read book one Dec 2009…..loved that and book two but since then nada…I’m sure there’s another couple of series that have just dropped like that too but I can’t even rememeber them now.
I read the early Diana Gabaldon (outlander ) series with first one lent to me when i was in hospital in 1995, just finished book 8 which was out last year. And there’s more to come….I didn’t enjoy this one or the last anywhere near as much as the first ones, maybe my taste has changed, maybe its just the long gaps have meant her style or writing has changed, or perhaps its just that its lost its impetus now. That’s why I love reading books back to back, for a total immersion in another world.
Authors must wonder why some of us wait til a series is complete before buying – well, unless you’ve a proven track of delivering future books this is one big reason. Money is precious, we don’t have funds to waste on books that leave us hanging in limbo for years til next one is out.

I’ve loads of part one, or parts one and two of unfinished series from when i first got my kindle and didn’t know this was so common. Now i look, and if I see more than one part one of a series without more completed, or ongoing I wait.
For some readers parts of a story are enough. for me I want ALL of it.

And don’t get me started on another pet hate – those “trilogies” that become four or five book series part way through. It smacks to me of opportunism.

That first happened to me with a Sylvia Day trilogy, that became a five book series on release day of the 3rd book. It appeared on my kindle as ordered and I found that wasn’t the end, I had to wait for more. It kind of makes me feel that as the books had become more popular than anticipated perhaps that she wanted to make more money from them… I’ve seen “ah, but there was too much story to include in one book” but whats wrong with a long book?

I’ve seen series and trilogies that are less than 400 pages in total – I’ve just reviewed part one of a 4 book series. Goodreads gave page info for part one as 400 pages – its not, it barely makes 100 so not only is that misleading info, but it could have easily been a 2 part novel, or even one. As it is I felt I’d just got into the story and it stopped.
Part one is free right now, and currently parts 2,3,4 are around 95-99p on pre-order but that could change. I’ve seen low pre-order prices to push sales up and then a big hike. at these prices its not a bad price for a 400 page book, and pt 4 *should * be out Jan 18 but who knows?

Some part books run into many section, Lisa Renee Jones for instance. I loved one of her series but it ran into so many parts and novellas, and I worked out to buy them all would be over £50 – that’s a lot of cash to most of us. I didn’t know when I started there were so many, I was lucky enough to get them for review but as I said in my review if I’d paid expecting three of four books as it was indicated when it first caught my eye I’d be pretty cross at having to pay all that to see how the story ends.
And thats my rant over, have a good sunday everyone 🙂

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