June 10, 2025

Keeping Our Series Fresh for Readers

Apple on books with text: Deepen Your Craft with Resident Writing Coach Jami Gold (at Writers Helping Writers)

It’s time for another one of my guest posts over at Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Writers Helping Writers site. As one of their Resident Writing Coaches, I’ve previously shared:

With this turn for another coaching article at WHW, I’m exploring how to make the books in a series “similar but different” enough to include more of what previous readers loved while still keeping things fresh enough to entice readers to return for later books in the series. Let’s dig into how we can ensure readers binge our whole series…

Writers Helping Writers: Resident Writing Coach Program

Continuing a Series: Enticing Readers to Return

First, come visit my guest post at WHW, linked above, where I’m sharing how we can entice readers to continue our series, including:

how to identify a standalone series vs. a non-standalone series
understanding why and how a standalone vs. non-standalone series requires different techniques
7 tips for ensuring readers continue a non-standalone series
understanding how “similar but different” applies to standalone series
5 tips for making a standalone series feel similar
8 tips for making a standalone series feel different
3 bonus tips for standalone series

Then, come back here for more about why readers read series and several examples for how to keep a series fresh, even if readers binge the stories one after another…

Readers Love to Read Series…Until They Don’t

From a reader perspective, a series with multiple books already released can be a great way to fill a reading queue. If readers find one book they like, they know they’re likely to enjoy the rest of the series as well. For voracious readers or those in reading slumps, a compelling series means they don’t have to struggle to find the next book to read and instead can simply binge several books in a row.

That “loyalty” to a series can be great for authors too. Not only can it be easier to write in an established series, as the worldbuilding will be at least partially established, but any success or marketing of one book will likely help the rest of the books in the series as well.

But at some point, readers often drop a series and stop reading. If we understand why readers quit, maybe we can make changes to prevent readers from giving up on our series.

What Makes Readers Give Up on a Series?

What makes readers quit reading a series? Share on X

There are obviously countless reasons why readers may stop reading our series. Just from my own experience, I can think of 3 well-known series that I’ve given up on, for reasons varying from feeling like the series lost its way to feeling a lack of progress, as the series-arc’s “big bad” villain wasn’t getting any closer as the books dragged on.

That said, let’s see if we can identify some of the big-picture reasons readers quit a series and what we could do to overcome the issue…

Lack of Time: Sometimes readers simply don’t have as much time to read as they had before. This issue can also be exacerbated by series with “too many” or “too frequent” releases, making readers feel like it’s too much work to catch up.
Tip: While we obviously don’t want to not release books, just because some readers may feel overwhelmed, we do want to make sure that our books are unique and not just retreads of previous stories so that our readers’ time will be rewarded.
Lack of Interest: Readers can lose interest in a series, even if they previously enjoyed the stories. This issue could be due to an infinite number of reasons, including: stories too similar, main character not growing or changing, genre/style drift, loss of quality, the background overall series arc not progressing, suspicion of author dragging series out for money, etc.
Tip: While it can be tempting to continue writing a successful series even as our creativity wanes, it can be difficult to make each story feel like it’s adding something to the series premise. Readers want to come away with the sense that they know the series’ world, characters, or overall arc better than they did before, and we don’t want to create a story that’s just marking a space in a series.
Lack of Knowledge: Readers may not realize a series has new releases, or they may forget about a series they’d enjoyed previously. Sometimes a reader may not even realize that a book is part of a series.
Tip: We want to market our books that are in a series as part of the series. This means putting information about the series in our book descriptions, front matter, backmatter, ads, social media posts, etc. We can also set up a newsletter and encourage readers to follow us on various platforms, so they’re more likely to hear about new releases.

Notice that the first two reasons of why readers quit a series both involve a reader’s sense of whether or not the continuing books in a series are worth it (from a time and/or interest perspective). As authors, we can somewhat overcome those “worth it” issues by making sure that our series stays fresh and continues to offer something new to readers with each release.

Case Study Examples: Keeping a Series Fresh

My regular blog readers here know that I’ve been struggling with health issues for quite some time, and the last few years have been worse. From a 3-car accident in 2022 that resulted in several new injuries to finally getting a diagnosis for problems I’ve had for decades, it’s been a rough couple of years. That’s a major reason why I haven’t been able to post as frequently or complete my much-delayed website redesign.

2025 has unfortunately continued that health trend, from my shoulder experiencing the most excruciating pain of my life to surgery on my foot, which was followed by a massive flareup of my recently-diagnosed psoriatic arthritis. The surgery and flareup kept me prone for almost 2 months, and I needed something to maintain my sanity through the setbacks.

Luckily, a couple of my favorite authors (they’ve even been guest posters here!) had written series I hadn’t yet read. My bingeing of their series not only helped my mental health, but also gave me insights into what keeps a series fresh, even when readers binge the stories one after another.

Example #1: Wendy Sparrow’s Love, Gaiians, and Monsters

What can we learn from @WendySparrow about keeping a series fresh? Share on X

The Love, Gaiians, and Monsters series by Wendy Sparrow is currently a 10-book sci-fi romance series (the 10th book released just today!) along with a few novellas set in the same world. This series shares a setting and over the course of the stories, slowly shares a series arc that becomes more prominent as the series progresses. As a romance series, each book follows the relationship of a different couple. Up until the final book or two (the series is planned to run for 17 books), the series can be read in any order, but readers will get the most out of the stories if they’re read in order.

Advertising banner for Wendy Sparrow's Love, Gaiians, and Monsters series, with thumbnails of all the covers and descriptive tags of the overall series: Fated Mates, Hot Aliens, Funny and Quirky, and Can be Read Out of Order. At the bottom, there's an "Available on Kindle Unlimited" notice.

Wendy’s series includes many features that keep the stories fresh, even 10+ books later:

Continuing Quality: As a well-written series, my most-favorite stories are scattered throughout the 10+ books. In other words, this is not a series where the first couple of books are good but the quality falls as the series goes on.
Unique Characters: The first 2 books are the most similar, as far as the characters involved in the romantic relationship, but this is often the case as a series gets established. From the third book on, the additional worldbuilding and the series arc slowly progressing in the background add more variation to each story and each featured couple.
Unique Premises: Rather than losing the draw of the premise from one book to the next, the slowly building series arc in the background makes the overall series premise more interesting as the series goes on. In addition, each book exploits different tropes and premise ideas within its story. From the titles in the series, we can see how Wendy has fun with movie and TV “Easter eggs,” which often inspire the vibes or subplots of each story, from a Beauty and the Beast trope to an anthology of sci-fi Western-style short stories.
Multiple Entry Points: Despite the shared series arc across the stories, which would often create a series that has to be read in order, Wendy ensures that readers can start the series at any point. Each book includes the earlier books’ descriptions to give a sense of the other stories, as well as a “Previously in the Universe” section (sometimes written in character, keeping with the worldbuilding) to catch new readers up on the general worldbuilding and series arc so far. (This “Previously” section also avoids the issue of having to repeat too much information within the story itself. Check out the online sample of any of the books to see how Wendy approaches this section, such as Book 3’s sample.)
Communication to Readers: Each book clearly states that it’s part of a series and gives hints of the upcoming stories to keep readers interested in the future releases. The book descriptions inform readers that the books are all standalone stories that can be read in any order, but that readers might get the most enjoyment by reading them in order. Wendy also includes this messaging in her marketing materials.

These features encouraged me as a reader to binge the series (and not get bored) and look forward to the next release. (Seriously, this series got me through the worst 2 weeks of my surgery recovery, keeping me from tearing my hair out while being unable to move over the 6 weeks before starting physical therapy. I’ll always be grateful for that “virtual” support.)

Example #2: Lizzie Shane’s Pine Hollow Series

The Pine Hollow series by Lizzie Shane is a 6-book small-town romance series. The books share the small-town setting and each feature different couples for the romances. There’s no overall “series arc” other than the couples of previous books showing up as side characters in later books. Rather than progressing to a specific series ending (such as with an overall series villain), the series ends on the couple that many readers were probably most looking forward to, as we’ve heard about their feud since book one. Because of this structure, the books are fully standalone and can be read in any order.

Image of some of the covers from Lizzie Shane's Pine Hollow series

This style of romance series, where we often meet the next book’s couple in the previous book, is very common and popular. However, if not done well, these types of stories can quickly feel repetitive and derivative. The common premise and lack of a changing background series arc can limit how much these stories vary from book to book.

Those of us who read romance can probably think of several examples of series that run into this issue of the stories feeling too similar. I know I’ve binge read some series where I couldn’t tell you after the fact which book description went with which couple, even right after finishing my read of the series.

I’m happy to say that Lizzie managed to avoid the problem in her series, so let’s look at how she pulled it off:

Series Premise: The premise of many of these styles of romance series follow a specific group, such as a family of brothers who each fall in love in their book, but that can limit the ways the stories can vary, as all the couples have similar backstories, etc. In contrast, the premise of Lizzie’s series is broader yet still clear: “Welcome to the small town of Pine Hollow, Vermont, where adopting a dog is the first step to falling in love…”
Unique Characters: That broader premise means that each couple can be truly unique, with their own backgrounds, backstory wounds, reasons for being part of the story, etc. In some stories, one member of the couple is local to the small town while the other is a visitor, and in others, both are locals, and so on.
Unique Tropes and Subplots: The series explores different tropes and subplots to make the evolution of each story unique. Some stories are second-chance romance, one has a reality TV twist, etc. In addition, although they each include a rescue dog as part of the story due to the premise, they each combine the rescue-dog idea with the romance differently. From getting dog training to a cat loving to irritate its favorite dog, the dog’s part of the story changes with each book, which helps each one feel unique despite the common premise.

Final Thoughts on Making a Series Feel Worth It

For another quick example, in my own Mythos Legacy series, each standalone book features a human character matched with a different mythology-based character (from shapeshifting dragons or unicorns to faeries or gargoyles). In addition, sometimes the paranormal character is the heroine and sometimes it’s the hero, which makes each story evolve over a unique path. The series will eventually have a shared series arc, but currently those details are just being quietly established in the background, making each book completely standalone.

I’ve spent my weeks of recovery reading dozens of stories, and while bingeing a series can often make the stories feel repetitive or derivative, these two series by Wendy Sparrow and Lizzie Shane escaped that issue. In other words, even if you’re not attempting to avoid slowly going mad as I was, a well-written series can feel “worth it,” even over numerous books. I hope these examples help point out how we can keep a series feeling fresh, even if readers binge them one after another. *smile*

Have you ever quit reading a series mid-way through? If so, what made you give it up? Has bingeing a series ever made the stories feel more repetitive to you? Does this post give you ideas for how to avoid those problems and keep your series fresh? Have you read either of these series, and if so, do you agree with my assessment? Do you have any questions about this topic? (My WHW posts are limited in word count, but I’m happy to go deeper here if anyone wants more info!)