Interesting question. The book is supposed to be a stand alone, one written to get an idea out of the way of other projects. Yet … either readers insist that they want more (or “Moar book!!!!!!!), or hints and comments dropped in the book lead to the sense that there’s more to the story, and that a second volume is needed to finish telling what should be told.

Some readers like a longer series. Others prefer to read single volume stories, perhaps a duology if necessary. Trilogies are relatively common. If a reader has been bitten by a publisher or author turning to padding in order to stretch a story and get more sales, or because the contract was for X books and if it takes four pages of clothing description per character to get to that contract length, then four pages it shall be … They probably will not look at a long series. Sometimes, a one-shot story is what a reader is in the mood for.

The WIP started off as a one-shot story. Introduce protagonist and world, tell story, move on. He’s content, his world is (for early Iron Age versions) tidy and stable, and all is mostly well in a culture where cattle raiding is hobby, art, and science. Except … As the story unfolded, more and more hints appeared that something bigger is hiding over the horizon. Something that will pull him farther out of his comfort zone, and push him into a role he might not exactly appreciate. He should. It would bring glory and riches straight out of legend. He’s also canny enough and well educated enough to know that behind the great legends are great trials, dangers, and discomforts. He’s allergic to discomfort.

So the story seems to be saying that it wants a sequel. However, will the readers? Will my time budget? I don’t know. And if readers are not interested, the cost in time of writing a second book in the world, with the same main character, might not be worth it.

I’ve done single-story books before, each with room for a follow-up, but whole in themselves. One is Daughter of the Pearl, a historical fantasy set in China. The story ends with a happily-for-the-foreseeable-future, the main characters intact, the big bad gone and problem solved. The other is Language of the Land, a steampunk adventure story (and the result of reading one too many essays about how wonderful a matriarchy would be.) Again, it ends with the main characters winning, the bad guys/gals losing, and justice done. Each has a little hint of larger worlds, and possible continuation of the stories, but both are stand alone novels. Neither one has had huge sales.

From a business perspective, stand-alone novels do not have the long-term building effect of a series. With each new book in a series, sales of earlier books get a little boost. A stand-alone has to support its own weight, and we as writers have to go back every so often and remind new readers that it is available*.

So will the WIP turn into a duology? I have no idea. I’m just now (after 55K words) finding out what the motivation will be that pushes the protagonist to do something dramatic, strange, and possibly heroic. And do it in a way that won’t break the character or demand that he grab a passing Idiot Ball™.

Will there be a sequel? Ask me in July. Politely. In soft tones, preferably with a nice cup of tea (a little sweetener and a few drops of milk, please.)

*Note, this is now. Back in the days of trad-pub, stand-alones went out of print and died unless the author had a NAME, or sales were so strong that the publisher decided to keep it in print. After the paper disaster of the 1990s, and the Thor Power Tools and related tax law changes, that support withered for most authors.