A few weeks ago I was listening to Robert Ludlum’s book Trevayne, which was originally published under a pseudonym because the conventional wisdom at the time was that people wouldn’t accept more than one novel a year by an individual.

Ludlum is dead now, and now, as with James Patterson and Tom Clancy, they’re putting his name on books that he didn’t write.

The notion that not only should we have to wait a year for each novel by a particular author but that this is a good thing has fallen by the wayside.

And why not? There is something to be said for novels franchising out and producing as much content and as many variations as the market will bear. Combine this with the Patterson model and there are tremendous opportunities.

It also has artistic advantages. As future installments can be planned in advance, it’s easier for storytellers to play the long game with storylines and ideas. Even better, it can add a degree of reassurance to the reader that the story will, in fact, end. Combine this with franchising and it opens up worlds of possibilities.