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Series
A series groups your books in reading order, so a reader who finds one of them can see where it sits and what comes next. This page covers how to set one up and what readers see when you have.
Series are part of Pro. On the free plan you can still type a series name and a number on any book, and both show on the book page as plain text. Making them into a real series with its own page is the part Pro adds. See what Pro includes.
A series is a record in your repository
When you create a series, byline writes a pub.byline.series record to your own repository and each book points at it. byline keeps an index so it can build the pages, and the records stay yours: you signed them, they live with your books, and another application that understands the lexicon can read them too.
byline never creates a series on your behalf. It can spot the series names already sitting on your books and offer to make them real, which is step two below, and it waits for you to confirm.
Setting one up
Open Series
From your account, go to Series under Books. The page lists every series you have, with the number of books in each and anything worth your attention, such as two books sharing a number.
Books → Series. Let byline find the series you already have
If you have typed a series name on your books, or imported one from a file, byline groups those books and offers to turn each group into a real series. Names that differ only by capitals or spacing are grouped together and you pick which spelling the series uses. Nothing is written until you confirm, and the confirmation says how many records it will write.
One series record, and one update per book listed. Or create one from scratch
Choose New series, give it a name, and add a description if you want one. The description is optional and shows on the public series page. Both are yours to change later.
Add your books and set the order
Add a book brings up your own books, published and forthcoming. Drag a row by its handle, use the arrows, or type the number straight into the box. A book already in another series moves across, and byline says so before you add it.
Drag, or type the numbers. Either way nothing is written until you save. Add a box set as a collection
An omnibus or a box set belongs to the series without having a place in the reading order. Add it under Collections and it appears below the numbered books on the public page, with no number of its own.
Check the count, then save
Beside Save, byline tells you exactly what it is about to write: one series record, and one update for each book whose place in the series has changed. A book you have not moved is left alone. Saving writes to your own repository, so the series is yours wherever you take it.
The count is what will happen when you save.
What readers see
- A page for the series
- Your series gets its own page, with the covers stacked, the book count, the year the first one came out, your description, and every book in order with its buy link. Readers reach it from any book in the series.
- Book 2 of 3, on the book page
- Each book in the series says where it sits, and links back to the series. Below the description, a reader sees the previous and next book, so they can keep going without hunting.
- A shelf of series on Browse Books
- Series appear in their own row above the book grid, once there are at least two of them to show across byline. Every book still appears in the grid below, so a title search or a genre filter finds all of them.
- A share card
- Posting a link to your series produces a card with the stacked covers, the name and the book count, the same as a book link does.
Changing a series later
- Renaming it
- The name is stored on each book as well as on the series, so that a book page reads correctly on its own. Renaming updates every book in the series, and the count beside Save says how many that is before you commit to it.
- Reordering, and gaps
- The number lives on each book, so changing the order updates the books that moved and leaves the rest alone. A gap is fine: if book three is still being written, number the ones you have and byline shows the gap rather than renumbering around it.
- Taking a book out
- Remove it from the list and save. The book keeps everything else and leaves the series.
- Deleting the series
- The series record is removed from your repository and the series page goes with it. Your books keep the series name and their numbers, so the line on each book page still reads correctly, and byline offers to rebuild the series from those names if you change your mind.
- If you move to the free plan
- Nothing is deleted. Your series records, your reading order and your collections are all kept exactly as you left them, and you can still see them in your console. What changes is that visitors stop seeing the series pages, and you cannot make new series changes until you are back on Pro. Everything reappears as it was.
Good to know
- A forthcoming book can go in a series before it is out. It counts toward the total and shows as coming soon, with its planned date when you have set one. You can start one from inside a series and byline brings you back when it is saved.
- A book you have hidden does not appear on the series page and does not count toward the total. A series with nothing visible left in it does not get a public page at all.
- Numbers are whole numbers from one upward. A novella numbered 0.5 or 2.5 is a common thing to want and byline cannot express it yet, so the usual workaround is to add it as a collection, or to number it in sequence and say where it falls in the description.
- A book belongs to one series. Putting it in a second one moves it, and byline says so in the picker before you do.
- A series holds your own books. Co-written and shared-world series, where the books live in more than one author’s repository, are not something byline can group yet.
- Two books sharing a number is reported on the series list and does not stop you saving. It happens halfway through a reorder and is worth a look before you leave it.
- Every buy link on the series page is your own link, going out exactly as you wrote it.
- A draft book is left out of the public pages, the same as it is everywhere else on byline.