Over the past four years I have noticed an increase in one particular type of profile that I enter into the Syndetics database. It’s not a fiction, nonfiction or children’s profile, but series. More and more authors are writing books that belong to a continuous series. They focus on a repetitive main character or group of characters. People seem to want to read more about their favorite character. They like to see how the character grows and develops throughout the course of the books. Series is not limited to one type of genre. You will find series in mystery, children, science fiction, fantasy, even nonfiction.

Mysteries, like James Patterson’s Alex Cross mysteries, focus on private detectives solving police cases. He is an African American widower struggling as a single father. Having him appear in a series, rather than just one book, allows the reader to feel connected to him and maybe even relate to his persona l experiences that he encounters. They keep reading these books not just to see what happens in the plot, but also to see what happens to the main character.

Another popular series is Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s fantasy Dragonlance series. This series focuses on a group of characters on a heroic quest. Over time the series got so large the authors branched off and created several other series from this main one. This continuation process is quite popular with series.

I’ve also noticed an increase in children’s series with the launch of Harry Potter and Twilight. Teens enjoy going no continuous adventures with their favorite characters. They watch them discover more about themselves as they go through high school and struggle with adolescent issues like in Lisi Harrison’s Cliques series.   I don’t think there will be a decline of series in the future. In fact I see an increase as more and more authors are signing contracts with their publishers to write series. They don’t want to stop their characters’ stories in one book. A series allows a character to develop and grow just like in real life which makes the reading experience more enjoyable and more fulfilling.