History ScheduleSlip / Literature

** It should be noted that the series is never dormant in anyway during these gaps, even discounting the hype surrounding the TV adaptation. There were [[Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg two novellas]] published between books three and four, and one more published between books four and five. After book five and in the long wait for ''The Winds of Winter'', Martin released three novellas and [[Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire two full-length]] [[Literature/FireAndBlood companion books]]. The problem is that all of these books are prequels, which doesn't help sating the needs of fans who just want to get on with the present already.

* ''Heavenly Tyrant'', the sequel to ''Literature/IronWidow'', has been delayed from 2023 to April 30, 2024. Creator/XiranJayZhao admitted that not only they're a slow writer and doesn't want to rush the story but they had other projects to make income. They also revealed that production timelines are very long for publishing which took two years to be released.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' suffered between its 15th and 16th books. Creator/JimButcher was able to get through the first fifteen books between years of 2000 and 2015, particularly impressive considering that his six book ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series was ALSO published in that time span. The 16th Dresden Files book came out in 2020, meaning there was a 5 year gap when the previous longest gap had been a bit under two years. Of course a second book was also published just a few months later, certainly making up for some of the lost time.

* The ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' novels have suffered from this as a whole: there was a hiatus of four years in between the releases of the ninth volume (April 2007) and the tenth and eleventh ones (May 2011). The biggest one was for the twelfth volume, which came out in November 2020, ''[[SequelGap nine and a half years]]'' after the previous one. In a similar vein, the second anime season got a release for summer 2009, when it was originally announced in 2007 for a Fall 2007/Spring 2008 release. Unfortunately, the constant delays of the light novels would be a detriment to the series, since the lack of material to adapt was partly what [[FranchiseKiller killed the franchise as an anime property]].

** Meyer originally announced that her adult foray ''Literature/TheHost2008'' would be the first of a series. That was 2008, and there's no word about the sequel since.

* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' by Patrick Rothfuss. When the first book came out in 2007, he claimed he'd already written the entire story, and that he was just revising it to work better as a trilogy. The second came out four years later, in 2011. The third volume still has no release date as of 2021. He publisher even said online they had not seen any written material of the final book at that point.

** Meyer originally announced that her adult foray ''Literature/TheHost'' would be the first of a series. That was 2008, and there's no word about the sequel since.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' suffered between it's 15th and 16th books. Creator/JimButcher was able to get through the first fifteen books between years of 2000 and 2015, particularly impressive considering that his six book ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series was ALSO published in that time span. The 16th Dresden Files book came out in 2020, meaning there was a 5 year gap when the previous longest gap had been a bit under two years. Of course a second book was also published just a few months later, certainly making up for some of the lost time.

* The main reason for the backlash against Creator/GeorgeRRMartin is the increasingly wide SequelGap of the later books of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''

* The fourth book in ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'' came out in 1993, the fifth is still being written and scheduled for 2014.

* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' by Patrick Rothfuss. When the first book came out in 2007, he claimed he'd already written the entire story, and that he was just revising it to work better as a trilogy. The second came out four years later, in 2011. The third volume still has no release date as of 2020. He publisher even said online they had not seen any written material of the final book at that point.
* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'': One book was released a year between 2005 and 2008 (albeit with a few months' difference). As of April 2011, Anthony Horowitz wass about to start ''Oblivion'' and was aiming for a 200,000 word count, stating that it could be "years" before it materialises.
** ''Oblivion'' was finished and edited as of May 2012, and was finally released on October 4, 2012.

* Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials books tend to eventually emerge rather a long time after they're announced. The Subtle Knife took two years to emerge after Northern Lights, and then The Amber Spyglass took almost four. He mentioned his intention to write a companion book to the trilogy called The Book Of Dust shortly after the publication of The Amber Spyglass in 2000. Seventeen years later the publication date - of the first part of what will now be a trilogy - was finally announced for later in the year. However, he did publish three small supplementary pieces in the interim to keep us just about going: Lyra's Oxford, Once Upon A Time In The North and The Collectors.

* Although no one could accuse Creator/BrandonSanderson of being unproductive, the fourth book of his ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' series has been victim of other works getting priority instead. ''Literature/ShadowsOfSelf'' and ''Literature/TheBandsOfMourning'' were published within 6 months of one another in late 2015-early 2016, a few years after the publishing of the first book led Sanderson to deciding to turn the (originally standalone) work into a multi-part series. He's had the final book in the series on his schedule several times since then, but each time it has ended up getting pushed in favor of other projects. Currently it has a tentative 2021 release date.

* The main reason for the backlash against Creator/GeorgeRRMartin. The first three books of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' were released in 1996, 1998 and 2000. The announced release date for the fourth book was pushed back several times as the book grew longer, until Martin had no choice but to split it into two books. Book 4 was released in 2005, utterly doing away with the "every two years" timetable that Martin had kept to beforehand, with an afterword promising that the next book would be released "next year". Put bluntly, that didn't happen. Fans were kept waiting until ''2011'' for Book 5, by which time the TV adaptation ''Series/GameOfThrones'' had already begun. Martin was adamant that his books would stay ahead of the series, though, and promised his fans that he would do his utmost to get Books 6 and 7 out the door before their plots were revealed onscreen instead of on-page. In 2016 the show finally overtook the books, with fans still waiting for Book 6. The show concluded in 2019, with book 6 still lacking any information on its release.