A few notes from the perspective of a long-time editor of science fiction.
Recapping
This is by far the most common error for aspiring series authors.
When you're writing a series, don't include previous event recapping of any kind in the actual storyline. If you feel you need to provide an idea of what happened in previous volumes in the series, it belongs in a preface so it doesn't aggravate the living daylights out of people who are reading your series. Which I guarantee is exactly what will happen.
There's nothing wrong with a recap, except when it is shoehorned into the story. What you're doing then is forcing your most dedicated readers — the ones who are interested in your whole series, each and every volume — to endure re- (and re- and re-) reading story content you've already provided. It's extremely annoying. You can save them from this abuse by simply putting your recap in a preface where less-serious readers can find it, and the rest of us can ignore it.
Please do that. We'll all thank you for it.
Irony
Irony is a joy when it's well written. What absolutely ruins it is when the author points it out: "Ironically, Bear didn't like bears." Just write "Bear didn't like bears." Let the reader discover the irony. They will enjoy the experience, and they won't be thinking nasty thoughts about how you, the author, are belaboring the obvious.
Yes, some readers won't see the irony. No harm done. They may get it on a re-read; and everyone is more likely to re-read your work if you don't treat them like they're clueless.
Self-Publishing
There are two basic paths to releasing SF works.
The first is the traditional (and considerably more difficult) one of obtaining an agent for your work, which will provide you with protection and marketing of your various rights (for example, film, television, plays, audiobooks, serialization and so on), see to it that your work doesn't contain a whole range of errors, and of course getting you a contract with a publisher. To follow this path, you really have to be at least a decent writer. Not to put too fine a point on it, but most hopeful authors... aren't that. Not you, of course.
The other way forward is to self-publish using one of the e-book platforms or a print-on-demand book manufacturer. This is much easier, as the only one involved in every step of the decision-making process is you. However, there are some serious downsides.
The most notable one is that if you self-publish, no traditional agent or publisher will consider your work going forward. That's right: taking the self-publishing route completely closes the door on a number of important future possibilities for that work. Now, it must be said that if you are a truly awesome author, and you manage to go viral, you can do well this way. But because you are responsible for all promotion, distribution and so forth, the deck is heavily stacked against you. Most self-publishing efforts end in few sales and considerable distress.
The via-agent path is by far your better option. The key to that lock is writing a truly excellent book/series, making sure it has been professionally edited and carefully gone over by beta readers who you will in turn carefully listen to, then, and only then, submitting it to a literary agency with a known competence in the genre you are writing in.
If you can pull this off, your chances of success going forward are immensely better. If you can't pull it off, frankly, don't quit your day job. If your work is good enough to attract an agent — but you go the self-publishing route anyway — you've almost certainly shot yourself in the foot. No movies, no foreign sales, no help with marketing, etc. self-publishing is definitely easier as far as getting your work out the door goes, but it is by no means better.
The Basics
It never hurts to review some basics.
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