Support for Indie Authors discussion

I'm well into writing my series now, but there are a couple of things about the way it's listed on Amazon that bug me slightly.

1. On the series page and on each book page, it says Keepers of the Wellsprings is a 3 book series. This is misleading, because I'm actually planning on 5 books total. Is there any way to set this without naming the remaining books? I don't want readers to think they're picking up a trilogy and then get to the end of book 3 and be disappointed to find the subplots unfinished.

2. I have a short story which takes place in between books 2 and 3. I'd love for this story to appear with the rest of the series on the series page, but Amazon won't let me list it as 2.5, and I don't want to call it book 3, because it's not a full length book. It's more like a fun aside.

Anyone have any solutions? Thanks!

I'd like to know if people have suggestion for #2 as well. Sorry I'm not much help.

If I'm understanding this correctly, I don't think there is a way to fix this, short of stating that the series is planned to be 5 books in the descriptions. Amazon does not do "placeholders" for future books. But I do see authors stating how many books they plan, sometimes with titles and sometimes not.

Our series will also have at least 2 side-stories and a related short story. We haven't decided how to handle that yet. Chronologically, the side stories will be 3a and and 5a since they happen at the same time as Books 3 & 5.

To get Amazon to include them in the series we'd have to disconnect the Amazon series number from the book's chronological sequence. If it is clear in the description where the story fits, it might be OK to do that. I'm not sure it is required that books in a series be published in the strict chronological order of the series (I don't think Amazon would care.). And series have been published this way in the past.

So strictly speaking, I don't see a reason you couldn't label your short story as book 4 (or 5 or 6) for the purposes of the KDP setup, unless KDP won't allow a book to be included in a series that has already been published. If you labeled it as "book 4" in the KDP setup now, it should [if allowed] show at the end of the series list and that wouldn't imply it's a full-length book, since the product page clears states it is a short story.

Not sure that helps much, but that what I think I know. Contacting KDP might be useful for clarification on these points.

Owen wrote: "If I'm understanding this correctly, I don't think there is a way to fix this, short of stating that the series is planned to be 5 books in the descriptions. Amazon does not do "placeholders" for f..."

I understand what you're saying, but I definitely do not want to list the short story as Book #anything. I think it would be far too confusing. I guess it's best to just leave it as it is now.

Use 0, 1.5, 2.5, etc to number your side stories without changing he order. My prequel is book #0 and shows up as part of the series, but not the series page. Also, ignore the series page info. It's never right until the series is complete. Instead, you're better off writing something like "book #2 in the 5 book series, (series title)" to let folks know more are coming.

I don't think you can use decimals, can you? If you enter 0, it is the same as leaving the volume number blank. It will not show up in the bundle page.

You can indicate the number of books in the complete series in the description or in the subtitle, but again this is just fudging, because it doesn't actually change the way Amazon lists the series.

Christina wrote: "Use 0, 1.5, 2.5, etc to number your side stories without changing he order. My prequel is book #0 and shows up as part of the series, but not the series page. Also, ignore the series page info. It'..."

It won't let me use decimals... or 0.

I have a slightly different problem. I wrote "Miranda's Demons" as a stand-alone book, but there was so much implied in backstory I ended up writing the prequel, which became the Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy. In principle the overall story has two books following this trilogy, but Scaevola is not really the main character in either of them, although he plays critical but minor parts. It is a series, but how do I indicate that that the trilogy is actually a trilogy, even though it is only part of the story?

Ian, I'm not sure that you do. I've read your description three times and I think you are saying it is a five-book series now.

I guess you need to decide whether it is a trilogy plus a duology, in which case you use two different series titles (though they may be similar, such as "the ABC trilogy" and "the ABC files" or "the ABC world" or "the ABC continuing saga".

Or else just keep it simple and make it a five-book series, all with the same series name. A series doesn't have to have the same main character(s) in every book. My two published series' have a different MC for each book, though my upcoming one has the same character in the "detective" role, and differing "victims."

Missy wrote: "Christina wrote: "Use 0, 1.5, 2.5, etc to number your side stories without changing he order. My prequel is book #0 and shows up as part of the series, but not the series page. Also, ignore the ser..."

Weird. I have a book zero.

Hm. I'm going to need a book zero also. I have seen others do it so I assumed that it could be done. I wonder if Amazon would add it to the series page if we asked? I had to email them for all of my books except the first three in order to be added to the series.

Ya know, the book I have that is zero is in a series that doesn't have a series page, so I don't know if it would show up. My other series has a page, but honestly, I've seen no benefit over the one that doesn't

Thanks, P.D. I am stuck with the trilogy because "trilogy" is on the covers, so I need something else for the other two. Good idea.