Concerns about book 3

I've almost completed the first draft for book 3. Just need to do a little more research for a chapter in that book and I can put it together to polish it up.

I originally intended to put all 3 books together, as part 1 part 2 and part 3 into a single volume to sell in amazon and retail stores through Lulu.

Not sure if that is wise. Part1 and part2 are suitable for younger readers and older ones. Part 3 has two sex scenes that are important to the story. The first gives you an insight to one of the other characters in the story. The second is the honeymoon scene between Jake and Sarah which would tie in nicely to the next story if I ever want to tell that one. These two scenes might or might not let the book qualify for the 13 and above rating. To cut them out would leave some holes in the story. Or I could publish book 1 and book 2 together, leave book 3 as a separate book.

Alternatively, I could skim through the 2 scenes briefly and tell very briefly, this happened to her and skip all the details. For Jake and Sarah I could sum up the entire chapter as they got married and went on a torrid honeymoon which summed up their lives together from then on.

Then again, maybe I should change all these plans, rewrite the story so that in the end, they are separated without that happy ending the two of them want. That way, I can skip that torrid scene altogether and qualify for a pg rating.

Still to early to finalize. You'll have to read the book to see how it ended up for them. Whether I go with their wishes hoping I'd finally get some sleep, or change the ending against what they want and probably wouldn't get any sleep until I continue writing their saga the way they want it.

For cafepress and clickbank, I'll publish the 3 books separately. Clickbank gets only book 1 because of the set up fee of the sale of the book and the fact that nothing has sold yet. The other books will go up in these 2 channels only if there are sales. If not then all 3 books get put together (and edited severely probably with entire parts removed) into a single volume for lulu. The full versions of each book would only be available through cafepress or clickbank.

Book 2 second draft is complete. I want to polish it some more and then work on book 3. Have to keep focusing on the mantra show, don't tell.

Background on each character

I subscribed to the writer's magazine. There was an article about character writing. About writing the back story of each character to help with the visualization of the character in the novel. The timeline from each character from birth until the story begins.

I just completed the timeline for Helen. She is a very interesting character. A lot more so than Sarah. Her relationship with the other characters, Torin, Jake and Bob is interesting and plays quite a bit in her backstory. Her past was a painful one too.

Not sure if I could fit her story into book 3 or should it be a separate book altogether. It is too good to waste I completed Sarah's backstory but there was nothing particularly interesting in her past until her story in book 1.

Will work on Bob, Torin and Jake timelines next. Jake's story promises to be very interesting. Somehow, he appears quite a bit in Helen's backstory too, though his relationship with her is very different from his relationship with Sarah. He seems to have a pivotal role in the sfx fantasy universe.

Bob is the character I have the most difficulty with. Probably start with his next as I need a chapter on him in the 3rd book. All the chapters on him are very very weak. Need to base him on someone, or a group of someones I know of. Maybe like Helen's story, he could turn out very interesting too.