Writers Chair - Julie Robitaille

The Power of the Series - Building Worlds with Julie Robitaille

What’s the secret to keeping readers hooked for seven novels? According to Julie Robitaille, it’s all about creating a world so vibrant that it feels like home. This week on In The Writer's Chair, host Lana McAra welcomes the prolific author and former English professor to discuss the strategic and creative benefits of writing in series.

Julie, the architect of the Corey Marin Female Detective series, shares how her experience in the classroom and her background in screenwriting helped her craft a series that balances social issues with high-stakes crime—all set in the unique, moss-draped landscape of Gainesville, Florida.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

• The "Economic" Writer: Why writing a series is a smart business move, allowing you to focus your advertising dollars on "Book One" while enjoying a high "sell-through" rate for subsequent titles.
• The Series Bible: Why you must keep a meticulous record of eye colors, minor characters, and setting details to avoid the dreaded "continuity error" that eagle-eyed readers love to point out.
• Standalones vs. Spoilers: How to write books that can be read independently while still rewarding long-term fans with deep character growth.
• The Setting as a Character: Why choosing a unique, real-world location like Gainesville allows you to skip the "reinventing the wheel" phase and get straight to the story.
• Amazon Ads & Algorithms: A peak behind the curtain of how Julie uses targeted keywords and Amazon’s "also-bought" feature to keep her series in front of the right eyes.
• The Audio Advantage: Why making your entire series available on Audible is essential for reaching modern readers who "read" while gardening, cooking, or driving.

Instructive Insight: The "Read-Through" Funnel

One of the most powerful reasons to write a series is the marketing funnel it creates. Instead of finding a new customer for every book, you find one customer for the series.

• Entry Point (Book 1): This is where you spend your marketing effort.
• The Hook: Once a reader connects with your protagonist (like Julie’s Corey Marin), they are statistically more likely to buy the next book without any additional advertising from you.
• Compound Value: By the time you reach Book 7, the lifetime value of a single reader is significantly higher than that of a standalone novel reader.

About Julie Robitaille

Julie Robitaille is an accomplished author with over 11 titles, including literary novels, psychological suspense, and short stories. She holds multiple degrees in English and Creative Writing and spent over 20 years teaching at Santa Fe College. Her Corey Marin series is celebrated for its strong female lead and its immersive Gainesville setting.

Connect with Julie:

• Website: jwrobitaille.com (Sign up for her mailing list to get a free download of her short story collection, Trust Me: Voices from the South!)
• Shop: Explore the Corey Marin series in paperback, e-book, and audiobook on Amazon.

Connect with Lana McAra:

• Podcast: In The Writer's Chair
• Publisher: Vendela Publishing

Ready to start your own literary legacy? Subscribe to hear more from authors who have mastered the art of the "unputdownable" series!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In the Writer's Chair. Candid conversations about the writing life with Lana McCara and Vandela Publishing.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome to In the Writer's Chair, where we pull up a chair to talk about writing craft, the writing life, and what's possible for writers right now. My name is Lana McCara, and I am delighted to welcome to our broadcast today JW Robotive. Julie received a BA in English from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, an MA in English literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MA in creative writing from the University of Florida. For over 20 years, she taught English at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida, where she published three Writers Resources textbooks. At the same time, she also wrote fiction, usually finishing a writing project just in time for the fall term to start. She has written several novels, four screenplays, and dozens of short stories, including the Corey Marin female detective series, which I believe has seven books in it, and a standalone psychological suspense novel, several literary novels, and a book of short stories, all set in Gainesville, Florida. Welcome, Julie.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

How many books do you have total?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

I'll tell well the the female detective series is a seven novel series, and I have three literary novels, a standalone suspense, um, and several books of short stories as well. So I have fun writing, clearly.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah, that's at least 11 plus. Eleven accounts.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. And several in the works.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

As always, right? I I look at my to-do list and I'm like, how am I going to get this all done in my lifetime? Much less this year. Today we're going to talk about the benefits of writing in series. So, what caused you to begin your first series?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Well, I had um I had written some screenplays that were police procedurals. I had a friend who was an assistant district attorney in town, and I had listened to her stories about the different crimes she was prosecuting, which is fascinating. But the screenplays I wrote were a male character. And when I decided I wanted to write a series, I thought I need to have a female detective. I gotta go with a female. Um, and so I kind of translated that interest I had in crime fiction into a series that has a female detective. And I I think of her as she's in her mid-30s. Um, she's got a complicated love life, a real diverse set of friends. Um, and it's a a series that is pretty much a it's I would characterize it as a police procedural with a social focus on social issues and then strong character development. So it's really strongly emphasizes characters throughout the series.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Did you have requests from your readers for more, or did you always plan to have it a series?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

No, I did always I I I well, you know, the first one, you never know. But I had so much fun writing that first one that I thought, well, the next crime is another novel. And that's one of the advantages of a certainly a detective series is the next crime is a new novel. Um and you can have your characters develop over time, but the novels can be somewhat standalone in that each crime is a separate novel, so they can pick it up, you know, they don't have to be read in order. Although I would recommend with my series that they start with the first one, which is called Romancing the Crime, because there's a surprise at the end of that that is given away in future novels. So you have some spoilers in future novels. But after that first one, you can kind of pick them up and read them independently because they're they focus on different crimes.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

So yes, yes. I um I like that device too, because then if someone goes to the library and they don't have book two, well you can always pick up book three.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Right. Right, right, which is nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, yeah. What suggestions uh do you have for someone who's thinking about maybe writing a series?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Well, series have just many, many advantages. Number one, they're hugely popular. You can just look at the number of series that are out there. Um I love series myself. If I find a writer I like, I really like to um keep reading in that series. So they sell well, they're popular. Um and they are they're economical for a writer because once you develop your characters and your setting, your world, you don't have to reinvent the wheel with each novel. And those things are there and they can be developed and deepened over the course of the series, which is really nice. And I find for myself the setting kind of becomes a character and is developed over time as well. I I tend to like series that are set in unique locations, like Louise Penny's uh Three Pines. I would say that's probably the closest to my series, the early Louise Penny, but also Ian Rankin set in Scotland, Donna Leon in Venice. I mean, all I just like um series that that let me explore a new um kind of exciting setting as well as the characters. So um there are lots of other advantages as well. Um there they when because they sell well, once you have a series, you really only need to advertise your first book in the series, because once readers pick it up and they like it, they you'll have a good sell-through for the other books in the series, which really helps you um economic, you know, be economical with your advertising dollars. Um it doesn't mean you don't have to you you want to promote each new novel, but still you most of your advertising money can go to that first novel. Um I would say, as far as advice, I would say, you know, as you're starting a series, I would think about do you want it to be an open-ended series with any number of novels, or is it a a trilogy or two books in the series, or is it a certain story that has a a definite end in the timeline? Um with detective novels, of course, it's pretty open-ended because each crime can be a new novel. I mean, you look at um Kilsey Milhone, you know, it's like they're the um grafton has got, you know, however, every letter of the alphabet, you know, and everyone is pretty much with her, it's pretty much a standalone. Kinsey Milhone will introduce herself at the beginning of each novel, and you're on to a new crime. So they can be read pretty independently. But they're just, you know, they're there's no need to have um a set number in a series. It's open-ended like that. Um, also I would think about um, you know, do you want them to have to be read in order, or can they be read as standalone novels? That's a good thing to start with. Um, one of the best recommendations I would have or pieces of advice would be to keep a series Bible. So for each novel, every time you introduce a character, I would, you know, record that, the brief physical description, hair color, eye color, age, um, characteristics. Um, because later, if you're in book five, you know, you say, Well, what's the name of that doctor she went to see in book two? And you instead of having to search through it, you have that whole list of characters and their names and their descriptions. Um, because readers may remember something you don't remember about their description. And if you give them the wrong eye color, it'll be an issue. So you want to make sure you get those, um, nail those character details down and and have it as an easy reference when you're writing.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Yes, for sure. For sure. I have a a sheet that I keep all that information on so I can make sure I'm not getting wrong. After so many books, I mean it's hard to keep them straight, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

It is, yeah. Well, especially we have minor characters that show up and you go, well, she went to what was that doctor's name, or what was the lawyer's name that you know. So you just have to make sure you have those details easily accessible. I mean, you can find them if you go back to the the scripting of the novel, but it takes a lot more time. So save yourself time, I'd say.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Absolutely. That it really does irritate me when I have to go searching for something when I want to be writing. So a series will streamline the writing process. What are some of the ways that it will streamline for you?

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Well, in that you have your world in mind. Already you've already created this world, this the setting. Mine is Gainesville, so I I know I don't have to reinvent that every time I write a novel, which I think is is a lot of work. I mean, it's it can be fun, but it's it's kind of nice to be able to have your group of characters. Their relationships develop over time. You can introduce new characters, certainly. I I do with every couple of books, there's new characters, a new detective that enters, someone who leaves the department, someone who enters, um, or just various people that she meets. So there are new characters that come in, which gives you a lot of variety, but it just makes it easier to have that grounding in uh what feels like a real world uh that um readers can get used to as well and have expectations about as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

So yeah, so is Gainesville your hometown?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

I've yes, most of my life. I mean, I was born in Puerto Rico. Um my parents were down there um working for the government, um, but um I've lived most of my life in Gainesville, went away to schools, but came back and taught here and and went to school here myself.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So yeah, there's there's such an advantage to being a hometown person and writing about your hometown. I've seen it time and time again. Yeah. When people come to the book table and you say, Oh, I'm from here and all the books are about here, you know, they immediately want to see, you know, what what you've said about I think most series are set in a very unique location.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Like I said, Three Pines for Louise Penny, Sue Grafton is her little town in the coast of California, Ian Rankin, it's um Edinburgh. So they're you know, they're set, and it's a it's one of the joys of reading a series, I think, is getting to know a new setting, a new place. And and those settings become characters, they become characters in themselves, I think.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

So yeah, yeah. Um, and you don't have to recreate all that, all the research done is there. That's all right.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Right. Yep, yeah, yeah. So if uh a writer is thinking about a series, I would strongly recommend it because there's so many advantages, both because it's economical, they sell well, and they simplify the writing task in a way.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah. Um and what about the marketing? When you're marketing a series, how do you structure that?

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Well, as I said, I would, you know, I would um when I have a new novel come out, I'll try to do a little um push to to get that introduced um to the my readers um through emails um and that sort of thing. And I need a little advertising. But most of my um emphasis is on the is book one, because book one is the entryway into that series. And once readers start on that, they tend to read through. So they tend to pick up book two and book three and book four. That's what I do as I as a reader. If I find a series I like, I want to go to the next one. Only find the next, you know, the next one in that series because I really like the world that um I've been introduced to and the characters, and I want to see I want more. And that's so that's one of the advantages of writing a series as well, that you have um readers who get to like your world and your characters and want more.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

So yes, do you do you hint about the next book uh somewhere in the no, I don't not know.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

I don't. I I I'll put a link to the next book in the back, but I don't I don't hint because the the that case is gonna be um a different whole crime, a whole different and she won't know what it is until until it happens, until she's called out to go investigate the next crime.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

So yeah, yeah. For the print books, um I have put the first chapter of the next book in the back of that book.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

That's a very good idea. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

But they they won't allow that for ebooks.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. I don't always have the next chapter um at the end of the one novel, you know, so I don't do that. But I do put links to, you know, I'll go in and put a link to the new book when I get it. When I have the new book, I'll go back and add that um to the end of the to the ebook. The last ebook. But yeah. But that's smart. That's a great marketing tactic if you can do that.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah. Um, do you ever sell your series uh book like as a package, like put a put a ribbon around all seven in one and and selling?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

I did check on it. I did a a box set for books one through three, but I haven't done that with the whole series. I mean, I've just been, I guess, busy writing the next one, but I did do a box set for one and one through three.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Was that successful?

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah, it was. It was. Although I find that people, you know, they tend to buy individual novels. Um, because they they it's hard for them to buy a box that if they don't know if they're gonna like that series or that like that that um those characters. So really just having a good book one and then um you can pretty much count on read-through after that. So do you do that? Do you um box them? Box your novels.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Um my series is a reprint of some books that came out years ago and repackaged them and and actually rewrote. Rewrote. Yeah, early work, you know. When you go back to early work, you're like, oh my gosh, did I do that?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Well, I went back and I went back and edited my first my I I had I got an editor when I started like book three or four, but I had didn't have a professional editor do I mean I'm an English teacher. I thought, I can do this. Well, there were a lot of errors that slipped in in those first couple novels. So I went back and re-edited very carefully um the first three or four to make sure. I think I'm on book five, just making sure not too many typos, nothing like that in there. Um, because those are distracting. I mean, you still see them in in all kinds of traditional publishing books. You still see um typos, but but you want to get rid of as many of those as possible. So it's worth going back to tidying things up.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Right, right. I want to take about 30 seconds right now to talk just briefly about Vandela Publishing. Vandela Publishing is a an author-owned and operated traditional publishing company. We are focused on helping our authors get their books into libraries, bookstores, and we have global distribution. We also help our authors um schedule speaking engagements. We have a publicity sector of the company. So if you have a book out there and you feel like you need more exposure, check us out. Vendela Publishing. It's V is in Victor at E-N-D-E-L-A Publishing.com. So when we talk about marketing, Julie, how do you do your marketing? Do you do Facebook or or what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

I do primarily Amazon ads. That's what I've I've focused on is Amazon ads. Um I'm thinking of experimenting with some other um areas, uh maybe book talk, um, trying to do something with book talk because that reaches a whole different audience, I think. Um but I I focus so far um on Amazon ads. Amazon ads.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

And has that been successful for you?

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, yeah, it it has, I would say. I mean, you know, reasonably so. Um I haven't really done much with the book ads or Facebook ads. Those tend to be more expensive and they spend money, they spend out your budgeting, um, your budget more quickly. Amazon ads tend to um not break the bank, but they have some results, so that's good. That's what I have liked about them.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

So with Amazon ads, it does that mean that the book goes to the top and it says sponsored next to it? I've never really understood that.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Um they have uh I mean there are so many, so many books, of course, being printed out all the time on Amazon and advertised on Amazon. So I think the way to get your book on the top, that feed at the bottom, um, they'll have, you know, people who they'll be people who read this novel also read these novels. So they'll have that recommended thing. But then they also have just books they think that the algorithm thinks that reader will like, and they'll advertise them based on your keywords, you know, whether you're talking about police procedural, female detectives, whatever, they'll advertise on uh like kinds of uh books. Um but the higher you bid for the ad, the the greater the chance of it being on the top of that list. So and I don't tend to spend a whole lot on my um per click spend, so they're not really high on that list, but they, you know, um people have found them and and then keep reading. And the thing, once a reader finds a series they like, then they're gonna they're gonna read through it. And then Amazon will advertise, let the that reader know when another novel comes out in the series, they'll say, Oh, you know, here's another novel in the series that you like. So that's always useful as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

So it kind of bumps you to the head of the line. The more you spend, the more it bumps you to the head of the line, yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yeah, yeah. So let's talk a little bit about character development in a series. Do you like develop the person's life a little more with every book, or do you have your main character stay pretty static?

SPEAKER_00 18:23

No, she does develop, and her relationships with her friends and love interests they develop over time. So she has certain, you know, fears that she's dealing with, she's grappling with, and you see her continue to grapple with those in each new novel, and in a fear of relation of intimacy and relationship, and you see her grappling with that as um as the novels go forward. Um, and she grows. You know, I think that's um we see that relationships in our lives develop over time. Um people don't change radically, but they do learn and they do um get more comfortable um with perhaps intimacy or um giving up some of those fears they had because of bad experiences in the past. So, yeah, I I would say she does develop over time. And her um then her friends have, you know, different kinds of crises that happen that she helps them through. Um, and that develops over the different novels. They're sort of um her groups of friends um are are fascinating and very diverse, and they have all kinds of issues that are very topical, um, that she helps them negotiate, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yes, I I can see that. So it's not so um rigid or formed that you have to read them in order, but you're going to get more as you go down. Yeah, yeah, that makes total sense.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

I mean, there are very few series that have that that you know have characters that that don't have development. People like you know, James Bond, that one, you know, he doesn't really change a lot. He's just, you know, the new every new novel or movie is a new crime. And the Sue Grafted novels. I mean, she will introduce herself at the beginning and then you're off on a new crime. So you don't see a lot of change in her um character over time, although she has different relationships and you know, some of the same friends and restaurants she goes to and that sort of thing, which is one of the fun things about a series. You kind of get to know the neighborhood that you know character is a neighborhood and and her friends. So it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Oh yeah, oh yeah. I love the Sugar Afton series. Oh, it's fun. It's just a lot of fun. Way back in the day. Yeah, yeah. And the ABCs, you know, just to me was so brilliant. 26 books, right there.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

I know I know, I know. But they don't have to be read in order. They can be they can be read independently because she does. Like I said, she introduces herself in that first paragraph and you're off and running.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

So yes, yes. Always a little bit of something going on in her life, but mostly it's all about the mystery.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. Um, so anything else about writing a series? You recommend them?

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Oh, I I love reading them and I love writing them. So, yeah, if you um are a someone who likes series, whether it's fantasy series or mystery series, detective series, um cozy mystery series, then yeah, I would say you might want to try your hand at writing them as well because that's a world you enjoy and you're familiar with, and you can um jump right in. I think series are wonderful. I both love writing them and reading them.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So yeah, me too. Me too. So, do you have anything um to offer our guests today?

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Um, I let's see, I do have on my website, I have a uh free book of short stories um called Um Trust Me, Voices from the South, which is, you know, you can't trust these voices exactly. They're all different voices, and and you have to kind of take them all with a grain of thought. But there's a free download of that trust me voices from the south book on my website if you sign up for my mailing list.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

So okay. Give us your website then.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

It's uh jwrobotie.com. Very simple. Let me spell that name though, J W Robotaye R-O-B-I, T A I L L E. There was a famous hockey player, Jean-Luc Robotai. Some people may know that name. It's a French-Canadian name. He's not relationship, but um, but that's a name that that people sometimes recognize from him.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

But so Yes, yes, absolutely. So where do we get more?

SPEAKER_00 22:37

So um so anyway, yeah, on the website you can get a preview of all the books um that are currently out, and um and kind of get you know you get to read the first couple first chapter at least of each of those, so that's kind of fun. So I'm sorry, you were asking.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

I I was just saying, where do we get more? I know your website, jwrobotai.com. Um is there anything else? I mean, Amazon?

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah, well, they're all on Amazon. So all of the novels are available as paperbacks, ebooks, and audiobooks as well on Amazon. So I'm gonna I'm an audiobook listener myself. I tend to um want to be listening when I'm driving or gardening or cooking or something like that. So I um mine are also on audiobooks. They're available as that as well. So that's kind of convenient.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

That is tremendous. I uh know so many authors who talk about getting audiobooks. You're the first one I've met who actually does it for their their whole series. That's great. Yeah, yeah. Well, Julie, thank you so much for being with us today. This has been tremendous.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Absolutely. And thank you for being with us today. Thanks for pulling up a chair.