Whenever you begin to write a story, you need to decide if it’s going to be a standalone story or the first part of a series. What you decide is up to you, though there are good reasons to choose one over the other.
Standalones are the easiest to write. Since everything is contained in one book, all you have to worry about is the beginning, middle, and end. The story is easier to focus on since you don’t need to worry about leaving open threads for the next book. Once the book is over, it’s over. I find standalones to be better for contests or starting out in a new genre. My book The Invasion of Planet Earth is a standalone. Since I’m new to self-publishing, I wanted to get my feet wet before rolling out with the “big guns” I’ve been working on.
Series are a lot harder to write. You can’t just think about book one, but all the other books in the series. On top of that, you need to make each book stand on its own, which can be difficult. However, series are the most fun to write because they offer the most opportunity to be really creative. Plots that were introduced in book one can be expanded upon in subsequent sequels, and any ideas you forgot to include in one book can be added to another. Typically, each book in a series ends with a cliffhanger to get the reader excited about the next book. A standalone book ending with a cliffhanger would be seen as a cheap shot.
So which is better? A standalone or a series? There’s no easy answer to this. Generally, series are more popular than standalones. If you look for writing tips online, many sites will suggest writing a series over a standalone. Why? Most of the intellectual properties, or IPs, you know are likely franchises/series. What movies are really popular? Star Wars, Marvel films, Mission Impossible, etc. Popular video games? Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, etc. Popular books? Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Game of thrones, etc. These IPs have the one thing standalones don’t: brand recognition. Even if you never watched a Marvel movie, or played a Call of Duty game, or read a Game of thrones book, you likely heard about them. Many people will anticipate the next Game of thrones book and will buy it in droves when it releases; this is the reason why sequels always dominate the top ten charts: anticipation/hype drives sales. When writing additional standalone books, it is harder for people to anticipate the next book because it will be different from the last one and not feature the same characters. Essentially, with each standalone you release you have to convince people to get invested in it, while with a series you need to only convince them with book one and they’ll automatically be interested in the rest of the books.
It isn’t impossible for standalones to be successful. Authors like Stephen King and Margaret Atwood have written many standalones that have garnered success. Stephen King is known for writing horror, such as It and Cujo, and Margaret Atwood is known for writing dystopian novels, such as The Handmaid’s Tale and The Heart Goes Last. To build your author brand through standalones, your books must have this type of consistency. If you stick to a similar genre or theme, then readers will know what to expect whenever you release a new book. Writing standalones in different genres and with different themes can create confusion about your author brand, which would make it harder for you to sell your book. However, this can also apply to series as well.
Sometimes standalones get turned into a series later on. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird got a sequel years later, Go Set a Watchman. Even Margaret Atwood is working on a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale called The Testaments. These are just a couple of cases where an author writes a standalone book, but then later writes a sequel because the first book was very successful and fans demanded more story, or if the author felt that there’s more story to tell.
I don’t have an answer to whether standalones or series are better than the other, but personally I prefer to read a series a books. I enjoy Rick Riordan books and I’m anticipating the next book in the Trials of Apollo series. I’ve also recently read The Rage War trilogy by Tim Lebbon and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t usually read standalones because the investment isn’t as high as a series, and I usually read them whenever it’s required for school. A couple standalones I’ve enjoyed are Life of Pi and All Quiet on the Western Front. At the end of the day, what really matters is that the book is good, regardless if it’s a standalone or a series.