Crystal Hunt - Strategic Series Author: Plan, write and publish a series to maximize readership & income (Creative Academy Guides for Writers)

I come from a really small town on Vancouver Island, on the West Coast of Canada.

Like, the kind of small where I could (and did) read every single book we had in town. I read at least one book a day, and have done that for most of my life. I read while walking, while cooking, on the bus, secretly through more classes than my teachers would want to know about, while in the bath you get the idea. I read my way through what was on the library shelves at school. And then I moved on to my moms shelves. And then to the public library. My parents even organized fundraising events to help the school libraries buy more books. (I know, right? Best parents ever.)

But for all that I was positively steeped in stories, I didnt actually know anyone who wrote books. It wasnt a job that came up on the list of possible careers. We never had an author come to our school. I dont remember ever hearing of an author visiting our local bookstore. It was way too small for that and this was of course all in the days before the internet or social media. You couldnt just Google someone and see that they were a real person.

Fortunately, I was shockingly stubborn in my conviction that I was meant to tell stories and have believed that since I was in kindergarten. My family was supportive and I moved to the big city at seventeen determined to find my people. Because the books kept appearing on shelves so I knew that somewhere out there were the people who were writing them.

So I read more, I studied English Literature at university, and I continued filling my notebooks with stories. It was a windy, twisty path towards the life I wanted.

And damn, but it was a lonely road sometimes.

But slowly, adventure by adventure, risk by risk, mistake by mistake I learned and met people and collected up a group of people around me who were supportive. Who were writers. Who knew other writers. Who were published authors. And eventually who were the authors that had written so many of the books that had inspired me to become a writer in the first place.

And two of the lovely people I met along the way were Donna Barker and Eileen Cooknow friends, creative collaborators and co-authors! And our goal with The Creative Academy is really to make sure that you have an easier time finding your people than we had.

Road tripsespecially the kinds we writers like to go onare way more fun with friends.

In this book I will share with you some of the tools and systems Ive used in planning my own series, and at each step of the way Ill ask you questions to get you applying that information to your own situation and stories.

But first, a little background.

I didnt originally set out to write a series. When I started jotting ideas in a notebook twenty years ago, I saw the stories all as stand-alones. My focus was on the characters, their lives, their relationshipswith the setting in the background.

While Ive known since I was five years old that I wanted to write books, I only focused on the storytelling side. I never really thought about the business side. If I thought about it at all, it was some kind of amorphous idea about getting the call from some publisher who had naturally recognized the brilliance of my work and was ready to make me famous.

Fast forward to a 25-year-old me, fresh out of a Masters degree in Health Psychology and tired of the academic world. I hadnt written a word of fiction in years, but more than ever I felt like it was my calling. My backup career education firmly in place, alongside a supportive partner, and it was time to tackle the whole being a writer thing for real.

I started with childrens books because I had a few picture book ideas and it seemed like shorter stuff would be an easier starting place. (Cue laughter its not. Like, really not.) I spent almost a decade steeped in the early (read before it was cool) indie publishing world. Creating 20+ childrens books, published through a combination of traditional and indie methods, taught me a ton about the publishing world, about myself, and ultimately about my still very supportive husband.

About five years ago, I switched my focus to writing romance, where I had always felt I was meant to be. Its my first love in reading, and nearly the first thing Id tried to writeas I started writing my first romance novel at age fifteen.

While attending every meeting and workshop on romance writing that I could find, I also worked my way through 20+ years worth of notes, storylines, maps, etc. to see how it all fit together. I researched the stats on what books and strategies were making money for indie authors out there in the world.

Everything I read said the best way to establish a dedicated fan-base while also making some cash and setting yourself up for indie publishing success involved writing a series.

I went back to my hard drive (and yes, a couple of binders) full of stories and gave them a close and critical look. Id basically been setting them all in the same kind of place, and then struggling to try to make it feel like different small island towns.

It wasnt much of a stretch to ask the question: what if they all take place in the same small town?

What if, indeed. I set out to bring my town to life, and the