Author Spotlight: Series Discontinuation

Posted November 9, 2009 by Holly in Discussions | 14 Comments

Last year I read Cutting Loose by Susan Andersen, which was to be the first book in her Sisterhood Diaries Trilogy. I enjoyed it and was really looking forward to the second book, Bending the Rules, which was released at the end of June. I had it on my wish-list, and was planning to buy it, but then I received Susan Andersen’s July newsletter.

Because of a note she sent out in that newsletter, I decided not to pick up the second book, even though I very much wanted to read it. I’ll share it with you now:

Ava’s Story

I’ve received a ton of email from readers wanting to know when Ava’s story—the final episode in the Sisterhood Diaries Trilogy—will be out. I’ve put off responding because I quite honestly didn’t know how to say this:

There isn’t going to be a third book. After Poppy’s story the powers that be at HQN felt the series had run its course and didn’t believe it required the third book. Less than diplomatically my reaction was and is, “Are you bleeping nuts? You can’t just drop the third story in a trilogy—readers are going to feel betrayed!” But they were adamant about discontinuing it, so I gave them a proposal for Burning Up, a stand alone book. And that’s been going great. It’s about a big, sexy arson specialist turned small town fire chief and the video queen who comes home to the town that all but ran her out on a rail—and the sparks that ensue from the moment she hits the county line. It’s rocking and I love it.

But I also yearn to tie up the Sisterhood Diaries saga. Ava deserves her day in the sun and I very much want to give it to her. If you, too, feel there will be a chunk missing from this series, please feel free to share any thoughts or comments you might have on the subject with my editor, who can be reached at avastory@susanandersen.com.

In the meantime I’m sorry to have left you hanging. I really, truly hope that I can turn this around and give you the final sister in the Sisterhood’s story.

All the best,
~ Susan

My reaction when I read this was a bit fat W.T.F., which I promptly emailed to Casee, who is as big a fan of SA as I am. I think her response was something along the lines of, “That is seriously effed.”. And it is. It’s completely effed.

The other day I was in the mood for a contemporary and since SA is our Spotlight Author this month I decided to go ahead and read Bending the Rules (review to come). It was great, but now I’m even more furious that HQN has decided not to published Ava’s book. Because I want it. Badly. Even more than I wanted either of the previous two. Some things were eluded to and…well, I.Want.It.Now.

Unfortunately it sounds like I won’t ever get it. I didn’t send a letter to Susan’s editor back in July (I had some things come up in my personal life that distracted me), but I plan to send one now. I’m also going to encourage all of you to do the same. Even if you don’t read Susan Andersen or particularly care if Ava’s book is published, I would imagine this isn’t something we want to see happen on a regular basis.

I think this is especially ridiculous because Bending the Rules made bestselling lists. Why would HQN want to kill a bestselling series?

Which reminds me, I believe the same thing happened to Leslie Kelly and a series she had written several years ago. There were to be four books, but only two were published. Isn’t that ridiculous?

Will you write a letter please? I’d really appreciate it. I’m sure a ton of other readers would as well. You can email it to: avastory@susanandersen.com

Tell me, what do you think of HQN discontinuing the trilogy before the final book was published? Have you ever had this happen to a series of books you’d been reading?


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14 responses to “Author Spotlight: Series Discontinuation

  1. Ok, I haven’t read any of SA’s books, but discontinuing a trilogy before it’s complete is just so wrong… Maybe that could be the first Carina Press book. 🙂

  2. I’m disappointed to hear that. I just read Breaking the Rules this weekend not knowing it was the 2nd book. I’m going to pick up Cutting Loose this week and was looking forward to the 3rd book as well. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT???

  3. My daughter bought both of these books; I don’t know if she’s read them yet. I will pass the letter info on to her.

    The only series discontinued stories that I have are where the author decided not to finish — either to stop writing, or to move on to a new project. That’s very hard on readers, but of course the author has the right to make that choice.

  4. My reaction was also WTF when I got the newsletter. I had been following this series and had finished reading Bending the Rules prior to receiving the news from SA. I was really looking forward to Ava’s story and the news that the trilogy would be discontinued really makes me mad.

  5. Elizabeth Lowell has a series all having to do with jems. There were still 3 siblings left to go when the series suddenly stopped. It was years before we found out that she had moved publishers and couldn’t take the characters with her.

    The same thing happened to Nora when she left shiloutte. She can’t write about any of her characters that she created while they were her publisher.

  6. Gennnita Low had a duo of books – Virtually His and Virtually Hers. Mira published the first and kept putting off the 2nd until eventually they shelved it all together. I was really annoyed and wrote to MIRA about it.

    After some lengthy negotiation between the author and the publisher, the book’s rights went back to Gennita and the book has recently been published by Samhain. I haven’t picked it up yet but I will. The first one was excellent and it was really meant to be a back to back release because there was a large part of the story arc which was To Be Continued.

    I have the first book in this series but haven’t read it yet. I have enjoyed Susan’s other books and I don’t understand why they’d stop at 2/3, especially because (as I understand it)her books sell well.

    Are HQN commenting?

  7. red

    I got Susan Andersen’s e mail back in July (after reading Bending the Rules) and I just couldn’t believe there won’t be a third book in the series!!! I got so mad because I was really looking forward to reading Ava’s story and I was really mad that I won’t have the chance to read it now.
    I did send an e mail to Susan’s editor back in July and a good online friend of mine also send an e mail but till this day I didn’t get any response but I do hope that if enough people will send their protest will be able to read Ava’s story in the near future because I also have a strong feeling what the plot was going to be and it sounded like a potentially great story.

    I’m glad to say this is the first time (and hopefully the last!) that I start reading a series only to find out that not all books in the series will be published.

  8. It seems like Harlequin is looking out for #1. I still can’t believe they would do this.

    I’m curious to know if SA still has the rights to Ava’s book. If she really wants to come through for her fans, she would do some sort of self-published ebook. Which is highly unlikely, imo.

  9. To my knowledge, no, HQN hasn’t commented. I don’t know that they would.

    The thing is, I love Harlequin. A large chunk of my monthly reading is dedicated to them (usually). I think from a business standpoint they’re smart and know what works for their bottom line.

    The problem is, that bottom line often gets in the way of what might be good for their consumers. Not always, but more than I’d like. I can understand their need to look out for themselves, but it’s frustrating that there seems to be no rhyme or reason for why they do things like this.

  10. Casee, speaking of bottom lines, I doubt SA would release this as a free e-read or self-pub it. I would like to see her take it to another venue though (as Cindy Gerard did with Samhain). But I’m not going to hold my breath.

  11. Although I didn’t like Cutting Loose, I still bought Bending the Rules because SA has written so many of my favorite books and I’m an eternal optimist. (Haven’t read it yet, though.) So this news sucks. I hate it when an author isn’t able to finish a series. It sucks for the author and for the fans.

    HQN dropped Leslie Kelly in the middle of a series due to poor sales, and while that sucks, it’s also understandable. But if Bending the Rules was a bestseller, then what exactly is HQN’s reasoning behind this? I just don’t get it.

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