Welcome guest blogger James M. Jackson! Jim is a terrific author, editor, publisher, teacher, and friend. Congratulations on your new series. May it rival Seamus McCree’s success! Best wishes, Paula Gail Benson 

By James M. Jackson

Tomorrow marks a milestone I’ve been working toward for months: the official publication of Niki Undercover, the first book in my new “Niki Undercover Thrillers” series.

After publishing eight novels and two novellas in my Seamus McCree series, I thought launching a second series would be straightforward. Back in May, the timeline seemed generous—Book 2 (Niki Unleashed) releases November 11, 2025, and Book 3 (Niki Unbound) follows in 2026. How hard could it be, given Book 1 just needed a final polish and Book 2 one more draft?

Turns out I should have consulted my fellow Stiletto Gang authors first. The non-writing work required to launch a new series caught me off guard. Here are eight lessons I learned the hard way.

1. Your Brand Must Evolve (Whether You’re Ready or Not)

My tagline “Thrillers with a twist of financial crime” perfectly captured what made the Seamus McCree series unique. But Niki’s world doesn’t revolve around financial crime, which meant my carefully crafted brand had to go.

The visual brand needed an overhaul too. Seamus’s lighter colors and outdoor scenes reflected his good-guy nature and rural settings. Niki demanded something darker—she’s more domestic thriller territory.

After brainstorming with my newsletter readers, I landed on “Justice-driven thrillers with brains & bite.” The process was more emotionally challenging than I had expected. Letting go of a brand you’ve built over years feels like losing part of your author identity.

2. Title Strategy Becomes a Chess Game

I’ve always called myself “the poor man’s Sue Grafton.” While she used the alphabet overtly (A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar), I took a subtler approach with Seamus: Ant Farm, Bad Policy, Cabin Fever. Readers loved the pattern.

For Niki, I wrestled with Niki Un________ as the framework. Should I continue with the alphabetical approach? It looks nice on a bookshelf by maintaining series order, but ultimately, I decided that constraint would box me in. Sometimes the best title strategy is the one that serves the story, not the shelf.

3. Spinoff Series Are Continuity Nightmares

Here’s where things got complicated. My self-imposed rules created complications:

• Stories occur in real-time and real places.
• Characters age naturally.
• Niki appears in several Seamus novels.
• Shared characters cross between series.
• The first two Niki novels happen before the most recent Seamus books.

This meant maintaining both internal consistency within the Niki series and external consistency with existing Seamus books. My ad hoc approach to creating a series bible meant I spent countless hours recreating character timelines and fact-checking details across both series.

The backstory challenge was equally tricky. Longtime readers know Niki well, but newcomers meet her fresh. I had to satisfy both audiences without confusing the new readers or boring the faithful fans.

4. Established Characters Don’t Step Aside Gracefully

For over a decade, Seamus McCree has commanded center stage. Even in multi-POV novels, he dominated at least 75% of the narrative. But in Niki’s series, he’s supporting cast.

In early drafts, Seamus tried to steal every scene he entered. The man has presence; I’ll give him that. During rewrites, I had to establish new rules: no Seamus POV scenes, and he only appears when he can teach Niki something unique or raise stakes in ways only he can.

Learning to sideline your protagonist is harder than creating new characters from scratch.

5. Beta Readers Need Fresh Eyes

For Seamus books, I recruited beta readers from my newsletter subscribers, mixing series veterans with newcomers. But since attracting new readers is a primary goal for Niki’s series, I needed predominantly fresh perspectives.

I partnered with Pigeonhole, paying them to provide an early draft of Niki Undercover to fifty readers who’d never encountered my work. Pigeonhole serialized the novel into ten daily segments, allowing real-time feedback and reader discussions.

I found the process very useful. Early feedback revealed that my opening scenes presented Niki as too harsh. While she can be tough, that’s only one facet of her personality. I rewrote those crucial first chapters to show her full complexity.

Unfortunately, Pigeonhole closed before Niki Unleashed. Fortunately, I could use newsletter subscribers who hadn’t read the first book to test whether the sequel stood alone.

6. Your Website Architecture Crumbles

Adding another series to a Seamus-centric website wasn’t just about updating a book list. The entire user experience needed redesigning.

Potential readers interested in Niki needed different entry points, navigation paths, and information than Seamus fans. Reading order becomes crucial. Character introductions require separate approaches.

Since I hadn’t thoroughly updated the site in years, I simultaneously tackled modern web protocols. After countless hours, I’m finally approaching the finish line on the complete redesign.

7. Cross-Promotion Is a Full-Time Job

Most readers never visit author websites. They discover new books through “Also By” pages in the books they’re already reading. For each new Seamus book, updating these pages was simple—add the new title to the end of the list.

Adding a second series required reformatting these pages. With eight novels, two novellas, four boxed sets, and multiple retailers, I’d forgotten how time-consuming it is to update and upload each version to the correct platform.

Each format (paperback, eBook, audiobook) needs updating across multiple retailers. Multiply that by ten books, and you’re looking at more than 100 uploads.

8. Your Author Bio Lives Everywhere (And I Mean Everywhere)

I made the rookie mistake of not maintaining a master list of where my bio appears. Forgetting to update a few bios for a new Seamus book was annoying but survivable—at least people knew about the series.

But failing to mention the Niki series anywhere would be catastrophic.

Every book’s back matter needed updating. Each retail site has different word count requirements, necessitating multiple versions. My website, social media profiles, guest blog bios, and writing organization profiles all needed refreshing.

The scope was massive. Author bios lurk in more places than you realize until you’re frantically trying to update them all.

The Reality of Modern Publishing

In a mythical world, exceptional writing would be enough to attract readers. Quality would speak for itself, and much of these eight tasks would be unnecessary busywork.

In the real world, marketing isn’t optional. Every step I’ve outlined—and many more—is crucial for a series launch to succeed.

As Niki Undercover officially releases tomorrow, I’m both exhausted from the preparation and excited for readers to meet this complex, driven character I’ve grown to love.

Wish Niki and me luck.

Short Biography:

After earning earning a B.S. in Mathematics with minors in Education and Psychology, Jim worked for thirty years as a consulting actuary and earned an MBA from Boston University. He retired early to pursue fulltime writing. Among his work is a nonfiction book on bridge for intermediate players, One Trick at a Time: How to start winning at bridge; the Seamus McCree series that to date consists of eight novels (Ant Farm, Bad Policy, Cabin Fever, Doubtful Relations, Empty Promises, False Bottom, Granite Oath, and Hijacked Legacy), two novellas—Furthermore and Low Tide at Tybee—and several short stories; and the Niki Undercover Thrillers, an offspring from the Seamus McCree novels. Characters in both series age in real time and the two series share some characters. The first two novels of the Niki Undercover Thrillers—Niki Undercover and Niki Unleashed—take place before Granite Oath, and the last, Niki Unbound, occurs after Hijacked Legacy. Jim blogs with WRITERS WHO KILL and his website is Home Page of Author James M Jackson.