Re-Publishing a book after heavy revisions (question)

TheAmir

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I'll keep this as brief as possible. A few years ago, my first two books were picked up by a small publisher. The publisher has since closed shop and gave all its authors their book rights back to do as they see fit with their work. I just ended up self-publishing since the chance of another publisher picking up an already-been-out book is very, very slim.

Fast-forward 4 years later: I've decided to pull the first two books of the series and to rework them a bit. The reviews have been solid, but I'm sure I could reach a broader audience with some changes overall to help narrow the focus a bit, and keep the series more thematically consistent.


My question is-- should I do my heavy re-writes/revisions and publish the book under the same series name, rebrand it, or should I just suck it up and try to finish the series as-is even though it could be much improved with some revisions?

Thanks in advance.
 

Girlsgottawrite

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It depends.

Are these changes you're talking about going to impact the later books as far as subject matter? If you're just making changes to clean-up your first books then it shouldn't be a problem, but if you are adding or removing plot points then anyone that's already read the first two books will be confused when they pick up the third.

So my advice would be if you're making substantive changes - repub under a new name. If not, then just continue with the series.

However, something else to consider if you choose to re-pub those books under a different title is that you're going to have to regrow your audience from the ground up, and some of the people who read your first books may purchase the new ones not realizing they are updated versions of a book they already read. If that happens you will not only get some angry readers but possibly lose a few in the process.
 

TheAmir

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Thanks for the answer! Yes, it would be substantial changes that would--while not exactly change the plot or outcome-- probably confuse previous readers. I had wanted to make those changes for a long time, but I've a special needs daughter and for some years (and especially after my publisher went kaput), I just let it stay up on Amazon because I had no real time to finally make those changes and revisions. Don't get me wrong: it has good reviews and an audience-- but it could be a -lot- better and reach a wider audience (I think/hope) with the changes I want to do, now that I've finally got the time to work on it again (as well as wrap the series up in book 3).

So I suppose I could re-publish the series under a new name, new cover art, etc, with a note to the reader explaining this series was originally published under blah blah title, but was revised and re-published by the author?
 

TheAmir

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I should mention, too-- likely I'll just make the first book perma-free so as to avoid the situation with people being angry and feeling "ripped off". I'd still charge for book 2 and (when it's complete) book 3--and eventually do a box set. But I definitely do not want to double-dip on readers if I can avoid it. I know it would upset me if I paid for a brand new book just to find out its not a "new" book--just a re-publish and heavily revised version of something I already paid for...
 

frimble3

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I have been upset in just that way:
Even if you do make the first book perma-free, please label it clearly as 'revised edition' or some such, just so that future readers will be aware. (Especially if the books are passed on or sold to someone else. Not likely if they're e-books, but what if someone starts the series on one reader, then changes mid-series?)