From: Sherryl Clark <sherrylc1>
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 08:49:45 +1100

I've been reading the posts with great interest, especially those from librarians who talk about young readers starting with series and moving on. The comfort factor is one, levels of confidence is another. While my daughter never read Babysitters Club, she did love all the various series that involved letters, diaries or penpals (there was a series called Penpals, another called Dear Diary). No doubt these are now out of print as new ones have taken their place. She is a great reader and moved between series and single novels depending on her mood. However, I'd like to ask a question that is more about publishing - if any editors here would like to answer? Or anyone? Are series taking over from "stand alone" novels? I ask this for two reasons. One is that there seems to be many more series around now than say 10-15 years ago when my daughter was of that reading age. The other is that when I asked a publisher here in Australia whether some very popular series they published were creating problems for marketing and sales of their "stand alone" novels, she reluctantly admitted that Yes, they were having to be very careful that the series did not overshadow their other books. Do publishers think series will continue to grow in popularity? Are more new ones on the way? How do publishers and editors view series? Sherryl Clark
Received on Thu 01 Dec 2005 03:49:45 PM CST