Plan a Book Series This Preptober: 3 Reasons Why

If you've been around for a while, you know I love a good series.

A series has been the way I built my career. When I look back at the biggest leaps I've made as an author, every one of them came through a series: the deliberate creation of a story that was resting on my heart and that I knew I had to share. There's such a good feeling in my heart when I talk about it that I can't help sharing it with you.

What is Preptober?

Preptober is the month of October, when writers get their ideas together and plan what they'll write come November. It started as the prep month before NaNoWriMo. The NaNoWriMo organization has since closed, but plenty of writers still use October to plan and November to draft, so the tradition lives on.

Still, spending an entire month planning one book always felt like an opportunity missed to me. Why plan one book when you could plan a whole series?

That's just how my mind works. If I'm going to put the work and energy in anyway, I want to do it in a way that makes the most of my time. We work best when we put focused energy into one thing, and planning a series is exactly that. You're batching the same type of work, shortening the time it takes, immersing yourself in the whole process, and giving yourself a story that unfolds over the next few books.

How do you plan a book series?

In short: decide the big story that runs across all the books, give each book its own arc and ending, and map the major turning points for the whole series before you draft Book 1. Here are three reasons to do it this October.

3 Reasons to Plan Your Series This Preptober

Reason 1: You're going to be prolific

You don't want to be a one-hit wonder. You want an author career, and you want to write book after book. A series gives you a reason to keep going: you already know where the story is headed, and readers get invested in your characters and your world. For a lot of authors, a series is one of the most dependable ways to write faster and keep readers coming back.

When we're building an author career, we have to treat it the way we ultimately want to see it unfold. That means thinking about what comes next, and what comes after that, and after that. A series builds that habit in.

Reason 2: It takes a backlist

A commonly repeated rule of thumb says it takes somewhere between 22 and 28 books to earn a decent living from writing. It's a rule of thumb, not a promise, and nobody can tell you what your own path will look like. But I think the real point is less about the number and more about what happens along the way.

By then, authors have built a writing habit and found their groove. Their branding is settled. And they've let go of a lot of scarcity, because it often takes a number of books before you finally say, "You know what? I can really do this." A backlist gets you there, and a series is one of the fastest ways to build one.

Reason 3: You can map out a series in three days

This is the one I'm most excited about. Hundreds of students have gone through my 3-Day Plan Your Series Challenge, and every time I hear incredible news about writers finally creating the series they've always wanted to.

Do it this October and you'll have your first book planned and ready for November, and you'll know exactly what's coming next... and next... and one more next.

Ready to plan your series?

If you know you want to keep doing this author thing, and you know a backlist is how the magic adds up, what are you waiting for?

Join the 3-Day Plan Your Series Challenge →

I can't wait to see you inside!

P.S. If you want the full system for planning, writing, publishing, and promoting 4 or more books a year, that's what I teach in the Rapid Release Roadmap.