Re-releasing an improved version of a series?

My opinion only: it depends on your goal.

AFAIK, folks who've already bought and read your book are unlikely to re-download and re-read it, so you'll be doing this either for new readers, or for your own professional satisfaction. Both are valid reasons. If you think new readers will be more likely to stick with you for further books if you revise, it's probably worth it. If you would feel better about what you have in the world by revising, that's also, IMHO, worth the trouble.

What are you doing for marketing?

efreysson said:

... I actually haven't done anything for marketing for a while. Partly because I've tried pretty much everything and the ONLY thing to ever cause a blip on the sales chart has been Amazon sales advertised on Reddit. I've basically reached the conclusion that indie success is impossible without a strong social media involvement, an idea I loathe so much I honestly prefer to stay obscure.

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I don't think social media is really necessary. That's not to say it doesn't sometimes work, but AFAIK you're more likely to get traction through places like Bookbub. I used to love doing Gooodreads giveaways, although I didn't get any data about whether or not they bumped sales. But neither of those things requires you to be active on social media.

efreysson said:

Is there some accepted "etiquette" for this process? If I do go ahead and release a re-worked version of the first book with a new cover, do I just insert both in the same old Amazon slot, where the reader reviews are? Or do I start completely fresh?

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This I don't know. I've definitely heard of people having new editions that have kept the old reviews, but I don't know if there was something special they did for that.

efreysson said:

I tried doing both of those. Zero effect.

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Sorry; didn't mean to derail your question!

I don't know about new editions, but I do know people who've self-published after getting rights reverted who've been able to keep their old reviews, even with new covers. You may have to contact Amazon directly about that, but I know it's been done.

I was digging at the sales issue because revising three books is a lot of work, and it's not clear there'd be much sales return from it. In general the suggestion is to focus on new work (for both trade- and self-published authors). But I do get the desire to refresh your older work for new readers who might be looking for them.

efreysson said:

Between 2015 and 2016 I self-pubbed a fantasy trilogy on Amazon. I followed it up with an unrelated trilogy, and am now working on breaking into trad publishing.

But as I become a more skilled writer I am ever more displeased with that original trilogy. I feel it suffers from some issues, most notably the fact that it was originally meant to be part of a larger body of work which I wound up not pursuing, so a whole lot of exposition and setup is completely pointless. I also just feel that I can now do a better job with the basic setup and characters, and go deeper into some of the themes I brought up in it.

I've started flirting with the idea of taking the series down from Amazon and re-doing it. Not quite from the ground up; just opening the original Word file and making improvements as I go through it, mostly keeping the same scenes but making some alterations and adding a few new ones. Oh, and I'm also thinking of getting new cover images.

Is there a precedent for basically doing a "special edition" version of already released stories? Is this all just a crazy idea?

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Certainly on the indie author FB pages I see people recommending new covers and new releases of old work frequently enough. I've never seen it called a 'special edition'--I think people don't worry too much about that part of it, although of course with re-writing you would be producing a new edition, and I'd suspect you'd need a new ASIN. (and ISBN if you use those.)

(FWIW, tangentially, in poking around google for a few minutes I found a somewhat-relevant article about Cloud Atlas you might be interested to read. Apparently the US and UK editions are different, remarkably so, and this was the result of publishing quirks.)

But it sounds to me as though your underlying concern is personal unhappiness with what you wrote--because you are a more skilled writer now. If you find yourself dissatisfied and if that feeling nags at you, by all means do something about it. Put that bad boy to rest. If it doesn't actually nag, but is a passing thought and little more, then let it be.

That's not an answer to whether there is etiquette for editions or not--which someone else might know more about--but more of a response to the dissatisfaction that I think I hear in your post.

Have you tried the KDP forums?

https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/?language=en_US

I suspect I might well want to rewrite my books some time (way) down the road. But not sure. I'll be curious what you learn as you go.

If all you want is new interior content and a new cover, just replace the existing files with your updated ones. As long as you don't change the print size (6"x9") or title, you should be good with both the print and ebook versions. If you do change title or print size or author name that requires a new print version but not ebook version and the old print version will still hang around forever.

If you were doing this for a new chance at success for that series then you might want to publish new versions of the books because that gives you a new chance at improved ranking/visibility. In that case if you wanted the old reviews (which maybe are no longer legitimate due to your changes), you email Amazon after you publish the new versions and ask them to link the two editions of your books. That will link the reviews.

Diane Duane re-issued her "Young Wizards" series starting 2012 to clear up the problem of sloppy time-keeping between the various original volumes. The new series ("The New Millenium Editions") supposedly has a tighter timeline. I don't know what other differences there are.

So, yeah, it's been done at least once.

FWIW, you're unlikely to make much money from something that's already been released.

However, speaking as a reader, leaving substandard work up could definitely sabotage future efforts. I'm unlikely to pick up another book by an author that I've read and disliked. So, I would definitely revise it. Just be advised that writing new stuff is more likely to be directly financially rewarding.

And it's easy to reload on Amazon. I had to fix some proofreading blarts on Dragon Hoard, and it was no big deal. Just go to your KDP home page and reload. In a day or so, the new version pops up. Easy-peasy.

And don't worry too much about social media. That ship has pretty much sailed. I maintain my presence, but I don't put a whole lot of effort into it anymore, except for my blog. Everyone says you need an email list, although I'd moderate my expectations in that area, too. Ads are far more likely to result in book sales than any other single component, and they've gotten pricey.

So far, though, having missed the SP goldrush, I have yet to break even, let alone turn a profit. Almost everything costs (website, mailing list over 1k subscribers, bookfunnel to deliver ebooks, covers, etc.), and you need this stuff to look professional. I've decided to let go of expecting to make any money, at least until I've got more books out. It's better for my frustration levels. : )