MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How do you deal with complicated series information?

Mel · 08-11-2012, 10:40 AM

With the rise of long series, shared universes, and interlocking novels I was wondering how other people dealt with the cataloging issues. I'll share a couple examples that are perplexing me.

An author completed a 6 volume series years ago. The books are in Calibre and their series information is Series A books 1-6. Then the author decides to return to the series but follow a character written out at the end of book 2. So the new book is Series B book 3, with Series A books 1 & 2 reissued as Series B book 1 & 2.

A different author who wrote stand-alones in different gendres under multiple pen-names changed to doing series, then a shared universe, and is now retrofitting the previous series and stand-alones into the universe. It takes a flowchart to figure out the interconnections. Pen-name A has book 20 of shared universe that is book 1 of trilogy X, book 7 in series Y, book 4 of series M, and the hero has the same name as the hero in stand-alone book K because it's his great great grandson. The next book in the trilogy will be under Pen-name B, etc.

I've been putting the books under the main series and ignoring the smaller details but it can get confusing if I'm looking for something specific. How do the more creative (or more OCD) among you deal with this author trend towards recycling?

08-11-2012, 10:40 AM	#1
Mel Connoisseur Posts: 57 Karma: 6570782 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Android tablet	How do you deal with complicated series information? With the rise of long series, shared universes, and interlocking novels I was wondering how other people dealt with the cataloging issues. I'll share a couple examples that are perplexing me. An author completed a 6 volume series years ago. The books are in Calibre and their series information is Series A books 1-6. Then the author decides to return to the series but follow a character written out at the end of book 2. So the new book is Series B book 3, with Series A books 1 & 2 reissued as Series B book 1 & 2. A different author who wrote stand-alones in different gendres under multiple pen-names changed to doing series, then a shared universe, and is now retrofitting the previous series and stand-alones into the universe. It takes a flowchart to figure out the interconnections. Pen-name A has book 20 of shared universe that is book 1 of trilogy X, book 7 in series Y, book 4 of series M, and the hero has the same name as the hero in stand-alone book K because it's his great great grandson. The next book in the trilogy will be under Pen-name B, etc. I've been putting the books under the main series and ignoring the smaller details but it can get confusing if I'm looking for something specific. How do the more creative (or more OCD) among you deal with this author trend towards recycling?