diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_single.py b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_single.py
index 435c0b40cd..84a394eafd 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_single.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_single.py
@@ -382,6 +382,7 @@ class MetadataSingleDialog(ResizableDialog, Ui_MetadataSingleDialog):
             self.series_index.setValue(1.0)
         QObject.connect(self.series, SIGNAL('currentIndexChanged(int)'), self.enable_series_index)
         QObject.connect(self.series, SIGNAL('editTextChanged(QString)'), self.enable_series_index)
+        self.series.lineEdit().editingFinished.connect(self.increment_series_index)
 
         self.show()
         height_of_rest = self.frameGeometry().height() - self.cover.height()
@@ -597,6 +598,16 @@ class MetadataSingleDialog(ResizableDialog, Ui_MetadataSingleDialog):
     def enable_series_index(self, *args):
         self.series_index.setEnabled(True)
 
+    def increment_series_index(self):
+        if self.db is not None:
+            try:
+                series = unicode(self.series.text())
+                if series:
+                    ns = self.db.get_next_series_num_for(series)
+                    self.series_index.setValue(ns)
+            except:
+                traceback.print_exc()
+
     def remove_unused_series(self):
         self.db.remove_unused_series()
         idx = qstring_to_unicode(self.series.currentText())
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/database2.py b/src/calibre/library/database2.py
index 411e5ee98b..14caf07da1 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/database2.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/database2.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import os, re, sys, shutil, cStringIO, glob, collections, textwrap, \
        itertools, functools, traceback
 from itertools import repeat
 from datetime import datetime
+from math import floor
 
 from PyQt4.QtCore import QThread, QReadWriteLock
 try:
@@ -1080,7 +1081,18 @@ class LibraryDatabase2(LibraryDatabase):
                     if tags and tag in tags.lower():
                         yield r[FIELD_MAP['id']]
 
-
+    def get_next_series_num_for(self, series):
+        series_id = self.conn.get('SELECT id from series WHERE name=?',
+                (series,), all=False)
+        if series_id is None:
+            return 1.0
+        series_num = self.conn.get(
+            ('SELECT MAX(series_index) FROM books WHERE id IN '
+            '(SELECT book FROM books_series_link where series=?)'),
+            (series_id,), all=False)
+        if series_num is None:
+            return 1.0
+        return floor(series_num+1)
 
     def set(self, row, column, val):
         '''