Connected books, featuring different protagonists set in the same world, have long been a staple of romance and series books, featuring the same protagonists, are starting to see an increase. As a reader, I am starting to suffer reader fatigue from the connected and the series books. Romance authors, more and more, have seen that connected/series books sell well. Roxanne St. Claire shared in August 2006 that her career really took off with the release of the Bullet Catcher series. She claims that readers do not want stand alone books and are disappointed to find a book that has no connection with others. In the article, St. Claire brings up the point that worries me as a reader the most: when creativity is shoved aside by marketing.
However, I do believe this phenomenon has changed the playing field for genre and commercial fiction writers. It has an impact on the kinds of stories that are told, the speed with which they are published, and the eventual success (or not) for writers who may not be hardwired to think in terms of connected series (or may not be able to produce them fast …
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