I often have people ask whether a book will have a sequel. Sometimes the answer is just plain “no,” sometimes it’s “as soon as I have time to write it,” and sometimes it’s “I would love to write a sequel for this but it’s not financially viable.”
Sometimes that last one upsets people. I get it. I, too, wish it was practical for writers to finish every series regardless of financial viability, because I, too, love the characters (whether they’re mine or someone else’s!), and want to see how their stories unfold. But this is a business, and writers have bills to pay, so writing things that don’t reliably make money is not best practice. Obviously. 🙂
So I’m trying a transparency experiment. On a handful of books on this site, I’ve put up a “where are we at on a sequel” thermometer that I’ll update monthly. The thermometers have to hit full before it’s financially viable for me to write a sequel to that book.
I have no idea whether this is a good idea or not, but it’s an idea, and I’m prepared to give it a go for a while. 🙂