Series numbering/skipping

[MerlinMama]

I think I'm complicating my life, but figured I'll ask my question in case there's an obvious answer. I know I could probably just renumber the series, and change all the covers, but if I don't have to I'd rather not.

I have a series of 34 books. A few of the books in this series are very small (<1000 words) and are basically the same story from a different viewpoint. I figured I might like to merge them, so for these types I'm not constantly closing and opening new. Then I have another 15 series like this to work through, all between 10 and 40 books each. A big pain!!

So: Book #1 & #2 of Series Introduction would merge. Is it...safe? advisable?…to NOT have a book with #2 in the series? If I have multiple skipped numbers, will it or can it cause problems for the database at some point?

Side question that I'm pretty sure the answer is no: Is there a way for both #1 and #2 to show up in series field for the new merged file?

[theducks]

A merged book would be a single book. The DB only tracks books.

IMHO it would be a mess if there were gaps WITHIN the merge. How would you tell there was a hole in the series

The Quality check PI has series GAP check WHEN the series is stored as a BOOK per series_index (Integer?) value (not merged)

[MerlinMama]

No, I would only merge 1 and 2 of the series, then 14 and 15, then 19 to 21. The rest (3 to 13; 16 to 18; 22 to 34) would remain separate, or not merged.

So if I understand, as such there would be no fatal errors if I have gaps (missing 2, 15, 20, 21) just possible confusion?

Ugh, as much work as it is, renumbering them all, changing the covers to reflect multiple titles, seems like the best way to go. That or forget it and leave them alone. Not sure yet...I didn't take into account my terrible memory that will forget my reasoning when I want to read all the series again in 3 to 5 years...

[BetterRed]

@MerlinMama - would re-sequencing series to something like this help,

1 -> 1.1
2 -> 1.2
3 -> 2.0
...
14 -> 13.1
15 -> 13.2
16 -> 14.0
...
19 -> 17.1
20 -> 17.2
21 -> 17.3
22 -> 18.0
...
34 -> 30.0

BR

[MerlinMama]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@MerlinMama - would re-sequencing series to something like this help,

1 -> 1.1
2 -> 1.2
3 -> 2.0
...

BR

No, if I'm not merging, then there is no point to changing series number. It was mainly to find out if NOT having a "Book 2 of Introduction Series" would cause problems.

Now I'm waffling between leaving it as is, or having that gap, but changing the numbers after the decimal of the series reflect the second book.

Example:

Book 1.02 (I'll hopefully know it is books 1 & 2)
Book 3
Book 4
...
Book 14.15 (again, hopefully remember it is books 14 & 15)
Book 16

In this case, I just couldn't merge more than 2 together, which I could live with.