Serial or Standalone? Kind of Both.

Is Connection Services serial or interconnected standalones? It’s sort of both.

The series progresses in time with each book in the life of the Connection Services app. Book 1 is the beta test of the app, book 2 is the first release to the public, book 3 will be the next updated release, etc.

In the stories, I’m trying to build details that show the app is evolving. For example, in book 1, I intentionally used a very blocky, simple text for the Connection Services messages. This formatting is visible in both the print and ebook versions. In contrast, all the regular texting the characters do is formatted into text bubbles.

My goal was to help distinguish the two forms of communication and show that CS was in an unfinished state. In book 2, this will no longer be the case because the app has been refined into something released to the public.

The series is also interconnected standalones. Although the books move through the life of the app, I provide enough context in each book that a reader could pick one up and read it without getting lost.

Because of the way I set up the series, the category for each book will be different. Book 1 is technically YA, and book 2 is not. However, all the books will be free of explicit content, and I’m a firm believer that people can read books about characters in a different age group from their own.

But no worries if this is not for you—each book will be labeled with the correct categories!