Skip to main content

How to Organize Your Books as a Series

A book series groups several related books into one connected body of work. It's built for trilogies, ongoing sagas, and shared-world standalones where Robin needs to know that book 2 comes after book 1, that the protagonist from book 1 is still a protagonist (or memory) in book 2, and that certain facts about the world are already established.

You can still write standalone books. You only need a series when more than one book belongs together.


When to Use a Series​

Use a series when:

  • You're writing a trilogy or multi-book arc with a single ongoing story.
  • You're writing a saga or long-running set of novels sharing a cast.
  • You're writing shared-world standalones (separate stories in the same world).
  • You're writing a companion novel or prequel to an existing book.

If you're writing a one-off novel, skip series entirely. Book Settings is all you need.


Creating a Series​

  1. Open the Series page with the Series button on the Home page. At phone width, open More, then Series under Library.
  2. Click New Series.
  3. In the Create a new series dialog, fill in:
    • Series title: the name of the series (e.g., The Broken Empire).
    • Tagline (optional): a short pitch or hook.
    • Description (optional): a longer summary of the series premise.
    • Cover image (optional): a series cover image.
    • Planned number of books (optional): how many books you plan to write. You can change this later.
  4. Click Create Series.

The new series appears on the Series page and is ready to receive books.

You can also create a series while assigning a book: in Book settings, on the Series tab, choose Create new series from the picker (same dialog).


Adding Books to a Series​

You can add a book to a series from two places:

From the Series detail page:

  1. Open your series.
  2. Click Add book.
  3. Search and select an existing book from your library.
  4. The book is assigned and placed at the end of the reading order.

From a book's Settings:

  1. Open the book, then click Book settings in the top navigation (in Write you can also use File > Book Settings).
  2. On the Series tab, choose Add to Series, then pick a series under Select or Create a Series (or choose Create new series).
  3. Click Save for that section.

A book can belong to one series at a time. Moving a book to a different series automatically removes it from its previous series.

From the Series picker you can also open Manage series (the Series library) or Open this series when a series is selected.


Reading Order​

The order of books in a series matters because Robin reads earlier books as background when helping you with later ones. In the Series detail page:

  • The Reading order section lists every book.
  • With two or more books, drag a row to its new position.
  • The position is saved when you finish the drag.

Book 1 is the earliest book in the series; the last row is the latest. If you need to insert a prequel, move it to the top.

On mobile

The mobile app uses up and down arrows instead of drag-and-drop. See Book Series on Mobile.


Series Cover, Tagline, Description​

Open a series, open the overflow menu, and choose Edit series. In Series settings, change:

  • Title: series name.
  • Tagline: the short pitch shown in series lists.
  • Description: full synopsis of the series. Robin can read this when you write later books in the series.
  • Cover image: upload a cover for the entire series.
  • Planned number of books: update if your plans grow or shrink.

Click Save changes when you're done.


How Robin Uses Series Information​

When you're writing or chatting about a book that belongs to a series, Robin automatically has access to:

  • The series title, tagline, and description - so it knows the broader arc and tone.
  • Summaries of earlier books - compact recaps of every prior book so Robin understands what has happened before the current one.
  • Shared Story Hub entries - characters, locations, glossary terms, and world notes that you've marked as series-wide stay consistent across every book in the series.
  • Reading-order position - Robin knows whether this is book 1, book 2, the finale, or a prequel, and phrases its suggestions accordingly.

This means when you ask Robin "remind me how Mara and her father reconciled in book 1" while writing book 2, the assistant can answer from the stored summary. You don't need to paste text from the previous book.


Series-Scoped Story Hub Entries​

The Story Hub supports three scopes:

  • Book - Only visible in this specific book.
  • Series - Shared across every book in the series.
  • Workspace - Available in every book you own.

When a book is assigned to a series, the scope picker on a Story Hub entry (character, location, glossary term, etc.) offers This series. Pick This series for facts that should stay consistent across every book: your main protagonist's background, the capital city of your empire, the rules of your magic system.


Exporting a Series​

From the Series detail page, open the overflow menu and choose Export series.... You can choose one of two packaging modes:

  • Omnibus: all books in reading order combined into a single file. Great for a "complete series" edition, beta-reader review, or a single PDF or EPUB gift.
  • Bundle: each book exported as its own file, in one ZIP. Great for uploading to a store that wants individual files per book.

Formats: EPUB, PDF, DOCX, Plain text, and Markdown. The omnibus opens with an "About this series" page (series title, author, tagline, and how many books it includes), and each book starts with its own divider page. The export runs in the background, and the file waits in the Jobs menu.

See also: Exporting Your Book


Trashing a Series​

Open a series, open the overflow menu, and choose Move to trash. Trashed series are hidden from the Series page but the books inside them stay in your library. Only the series container is trashed. A trashed series can be restored from Trash, which brings back the grouping and reading order intact. See Trash.


Standalone Books Still Work​

Not every book belongs to a series. Books without a series assignment work exactly as before. Robin treats them as self-contained, and the This series option in the Story Hub scope picker is unavailable. You can always add a standalone book to a series later (for example, when you decide to write a sequel).


See also: Book Settings | Creating Your First Book | Exporting Your Book | Book Series on Mobile