How Should a Series Be?

As a fantasy lover, there are some series I love that have stretched to over a dozen books.  In epic fantasy, the same story and usually the same war goes on from the first page to the last chapter.  The same protagonists and their foes appear in each book.

There are some well know romance series that have stretched through ten or more books, but in romance each book is likely to focus on a different heroine and hero though characters from a previous book in the series may appear.  The series part comes in because the story setting is the same, as in town, or as in my dystopian series, The Chronicles of Solonia, in the same year after life as we know it on Earth has changed forever. 

How long should a series run?  I believe some stories take longer than four books to complete but when we're talking about romance series, I think the author has an especially challenging job of keeping the stories fresh.  If the setting is a small town, how many hot guys and girls can there be in one locale?  If it's a fantasy world or a futuristic society,  what new situations will arise in the community to create outside conflict? 

All my series, romance and epic fantasy are four books long.  Epic fantasy is best read in the order they're written but my romance series can be read in any order.  One Good Woman, book #4, in The Chronicles of Solonia, is now available for the terrific new price of $1.99 starting today.  You can read it and completely understand what the dystopia world is like.  Enjoy it for a bargain price and then check out the previous novels, A Greater Good, The Lesser Evil, and A Ruthless Good. 

How many books do you think should be in a series?  What's the longest series you're read?