What Should I Do Now?

Well, it’s been almost a year since I published the first volume of my Any Tomorrow Trilogy.  And I must say that the results have been remarkably unremarkable.  I made a decision to break up my 300K word novel into three parts, but my feeling is now that it just hasn’t worked.  Lots of potential readers have downloaded samples and a few took advantage when I offered Any Tomorrow: The Calling for free from Smashwords, but not enough have actually purchased my books for me to call it a success.

Breaking up a single story into three books also presents some problems besides sales, such as:

· instead of one book I have three books to market simultaneously,

· I have three book descriptions to write,

· when I ask for a review, most reviewers want to review one book?not three,

· and after long reflection, I don’t think each of the books stands independent of the others.

That last point is probably the most important.  For a good trilogy to work, each book has to tell a complete story but leave the reader yearning for more.  I don’t think mine hold up to that requirement.  So what do I do next?  I need a fairly quick solution since I’m in the middle of writing two other novels.

I am considering reconstituting the original version as a single volume, publishing it with the title of Any Tomorrow, and including some additional content.  I’m also considering publishing it exclusively on Amazon (at least at the beginning) since I really haven’t gained anything from publishing on Smashwords.   And if I do go that route, I’d probably take advantage of Amazon Select.

Reconstituting the original version also has another advantage.  If I were to try the traditional publishing route, I would definitely pitch it as a single volume.  I would now have that volume ready to go.

So what do you think?

As a reader, do you like a series of books where each installment leaves you hanging?  Or do you want the whole story at once?  I really value your opinion, so tell me about it.

And you writers, have you had luck with a trilogy?  Whether you have tips or horror stories, let me know.

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