Should I Remove Online Articles I Wrote That Appear In My Book?

buckaroo

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Hello,

I've written articles that I posted on my website and LinkedIn.

About 1/4 of a book I plan on publishing on Amazon soon contains the articles.

Does it make sense to remove the online articles from my website and LinkedIn? Will readers be unhappy if they learn that some of the content in a book they purchased is available for free online?

Thanks.
 

Williebee

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If you are publishing the book, rather than trying to find a publisher to publish it, I wouldn't remove the excerpts. I WOULD want to go back to those excerpts and add a "this is an excerpt from X book, available 'here'." I'd also want to add a "portions of this book were previously published 'here, here and here' entry in the book, citing and providing links to those articles." If it is a non-fiction book I'd definitely want proper citations to those items.

One other thought, if those previously written passages do not credit you -- as in perhaps you sold that work and it appears under someone else's name --- you might want to check to be sure you may claim ownership/authorship of them.
 
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cmhbob

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What Williebee said. Use those online pieces as part of your marketing. It's easy enough to edit them and point to your book page.

Good luck on your book!
 

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I also plan to use some of my website articles for my book, but I'm going to update these, to make them match the theme of the book and the book's tone.

I think similar content can be a good thing, as long as it's not always the exact same thing. Think of all the "YouTubers" who repeat themselves constantly in each successive video. People still watch them for two reasons: they might share something new (because they have a slightly different focus now compared to before), or they might say something in a new way (perhaps making a subject clearer). Most information is old news anyway.
 
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veinglory

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Not to be contrary, but I think that is to large a proportion of the entire book to also be available free. I would suggest reducing it to below 15% and definitely not what the reader might consider the "best" bits. I have had the experience of buying a non-fiction book to find the core bits were also free, and the extra parts in the print book were mostly fluff--very annoying.
 

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That's a good point, veinglory. 1/4th is a lot! (I must have missed that when I went to respond before.)