by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Last year I put out an ebook, myself. When I saw that book produced strong sales, I started immediately looking for other things I could put up online. :)
I decided to re-release A Dyeing Shame as an ebook. I’d written the book circa 2002-2003ish and it had first released in 2005.
I reread the book and winced a lot. The protagonist had definitely evolved during the next couple of books. And I didn’t feel like my writing was nearly at the level that it currently is.
I decided to edit the book. Heavily.
This ended up actually becoming a rewrite…a major revision.
Not only did I add some characters to the book, an important subplot, change some names, and mess with the plot points, but I also added to the book’s length.
Oh, and one more important thing.
I rewrote the book as a sequel, instead of keeping it as the first book in the series.
I’d done this because my current readers were familiar with several regular characters in the series. These characters weren’t in that first book. I included the characters in my rewrite and picked up the action from the last of the Myrtle books at that point, Progressive Dinner Deadly.
It took me absolutely forever to clean that book up. It took me a lot longer than it took me to write a book from scratch. I finally finished it up with great relief, got it packaged, and published it. It was much better than the previous version.
A couple of months later (December/Januaryish), I started getting emails from readers…people who’d read the first book in 2005 and were confused about the book order. Was this a different book than they’d read years ago?
I also got emails from readers who’d read the new edition of the ebook and were confused about the listed order of the books on websites for mystery readers.
One email said that she’d seen on a website (Stop, You’re Killing Me, which is a very popular site with mystery readers) that A Dyeing Shame was listed as the first book in the series with Pretty is as Pretty Dies as the sequel. She said that she just finished reading both and that she could tell that Dyeing Shame was a sequel, not the first book in the series.
And readers can be funny about reading a series in order. I try hard to write my books as standalones, but the problem happens when you introduce new characters. I’d introduced two new, regular characters in Pretty is as Pretty Dies. Because these characters were also in a book that was listed as a prequel to that book, it confused readers.
So, what to do?
Here are my thoughts on it, but I’m curious to hear yours:
If you radically revise a book and put it out as an ebook, consider putting (revised) or (2012 edition) in the subtitle or listed somewhere in the book description…somewhere that information will show up to a buyer.
If you decide to make an older book a sequel to your more recently released books, consider sharing that information on your website or share it with websites that list book order.
Because readers are paying attention! More, I think, than I might be. :)
Have you got any ideas to share on publishing radically revised backlist books? As a reader, do you like reading books in order?
I’m also over at writer Rachel Abbott’s blog today, talking about the Writer’s Knowledge Base. If you have a chance, hope you’ll pop over.
I definitely prefer to read books in order–otherwise it’s harder to catch up and get into the story. I’ve read a few books out of order before, but each time, after rereading the series in order, I know I’d have preferred to read it in order.
It’s not a live or die thing for me to read them in order, however I prefer it.
Nothing like readers keeping “their” authors in line. :)
Teresa
Is it possible to add a “Forward” and explain there that what the reader is holding in their hands is a new and improved version?
Good for you for recognizing the book needed work. I’ve done the same thing with older products. It’s a good news/bad news scenario, isn’t it?
Each story should not depend on another book for understanding, but too much backstory takes the reader out of the story. I have read books in the middle of a series that I enjoyed so much I wanted to go back and read the others to see how the characters evolved. I will check out the site, Sunny. Thanks for the info.
I try to read books in order, but sometimes I’m not even aware a book is part of a series. However, if I like the writing, I’ll make a strong effort to find other books by the author. Plus, sometimes I re-read the later book just to get a fresh perspective.
If you want to figure out the order of titles, check out Fantastic Fiction http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk
I prefer reading in order and if I read something that sounds vaguely familiar, I assume someone’s re-publishing and stop reading as I feel sure I’ve read it before! Maybe not the best way but I hate keep coming across odd bits that I know the outcome to.
Thank you for spreading light on this issue.
I’m just starting my series and have been wondering about just the things you mentioned.
Anonymous–I know what you mean. It’s funny how the characters evolve…even unintentionally…in a series. There can be a big difference from the beginning of a series to the end. I usually like reading books in order, too.
Teresa–And I *need* to be kept in line! Clearly! Ha!
Sunny–Thanks for the site! I usually like reading series in order, but sometimes I’ll skip around a little because I’m curious about series subplot outcomes (like with Deborah Crombie’s books.)
Pat–With mysteries, that’s definitely a special concern…if the reader knows the murderer, it takes a lot of the fun out of the story.
Marta–Hope it helps! Thanks so much for coming by and good luck with your series.
I try to read books in order since, if they are written in that order, some of the technology and social functioning may change over time. That said, we try to write our mysteries chronologically, but we also try to craft them so they can be stand-alone.
I LOATHE a series that requires reading every book in sequence in order to understand the plot.
You can read our second mystery, “Murder in Paradise” without having read the first one, “Murder… they Wrote” and you’ll understand everything.
I rarely read a series in order – it just never seems to happen. I probably wouldn’t notice the inconsistencies. But I like your ideas for solving the problem :)
I recently picked up a book and loved it. It was #4 in a series of 9. I read 5,6,7,8,and 9, then back tracked and read 1,2 and 3. The first three books were not as good. If I had picked them up first I might never have read the whole series.
That being said, I usually prefer to read them in order.
Lorna–You bring up technology….which is another good reason to update an old backlist book. I was surprised that my book was already outdated in so many ways!
Elspeth–It sure is! It just makes me wonder if I’ll think the same about my more recent books one day. :)
Paula–Oh, backstory is such a pain to read through! I think we can always slip in tiny reminders about how characters are related to each other, their place in the story, etc, without dumping a lot of info on the poor reader.
That’s a tough one. I like your suggestions. And I like what Elspeth said too, good idea. I’ve put out the same book with a new publisher and a new chapter, but the revision wasn’t much different. Still, it did confuse some readers so I totally understand the need to clarify for them.
~Heather
I read in order too. But if I find one that really intrigues me, I will read it and then search out other books in the series. I agree if you should rewrite, change the title, or cover you should let the reader know that.
I jumped over to your guest blog on Rachel Abbott’s blog and I found your Writer’s Knowledge Base extremely helpful. I’ve taken the liberty of re-posting the search engine’s address on my newly published blog “andsometimesshewrites.blogspot.com.”
Much thanks for such a helpful search engine.
I bet that did confuse some people. Since you rewrote so much of it, I wonder how many who owned the original version purchased the new one.
I wouldn’t want to even read my first book again, let alone revise it!
You know, the first thought I had was that somebody accepted this book and published it the way it was and then you thought it was such a steaming pile of crap that you totally redid it. Not only is that an insult to the publisher, it’s an insult to the readers that read it and liked it enough to continue from there.
Critique Sisters–I liked Elspeth’s suggestion, too. A forward would definitely help with any explanations.
Kat–That’s the best–when I discover a new series (even halfway through) and find that there are a bunch of other books to read!
Susan–Thanks so much for coming by! I’m so glad you found the WKB helpful. Thanks, also, for your blog link. Good luck with the blog!
Alex–I wonder that, too!
Ink Monkey Magazine–No insult meant to the publisher or readers, although I realize it could be taken that way. For me, it’s more of a statement of writer insecurity and the way our work is never really good enough to please us.
Jemi–Sometimes it’s hard to even tell when a book is a sequel or part of a series….I always wonder over that.
Anonymous–It just goes to show that writers grow as they go!
If you mess with a series? Oh, yes, DO say what you messed with, definitely.
And yes, reading order can be important, but confusion as to whether they’ve already read the book or not is even more important.
Plus… completists will want to acquire and read BOTH versions.
I’m one of those “in-order” readers. I hate thinking I’m missing out on something that happened before.
Oh, readers have very good memory. So I think you probably need to write in the preface, book description and book blub what changes you’ve made. I once chatted to a reader online and she could tell me what many scenes in my stores. Even I’ve forgotten some of them.
The Spinster’s Vow
Rachelle–That’s always true. Frequently in series there are large story arcs that go from book to book.
The Daring Novelist–Good point! No one wants to buy a book twice. Well, as you say, *some* might, but probably not many of us. :)
Enid–This is why talking to book clubs can be scary!
It’s a tricky one.
When I wrote the first of my Mountjoy series, I had no idea my publisher would want five more – or I would have written it differently.
So when I republished the six books, I made the first book into a prequel, and started the story sequence with the second book.
Hats off to you for doing the rewrite, I reckon that’s one of the hardest tasks for an author.
Hi Elizabeth — I’m one of those readers who’s very obsessive about starting with the first book in an author’s series, so I’d definitely want a revised edition to be labeled that way.
Hi Elizabeth – sounds like an interesting blog post – from which everyone is learning a thing or two.
As Teresa says – good to know your readers are keeping you in line! Wonderful to know that too …
Cheers and enjoy your weekend .. Hilary
Ah, I´m glad I read this before I got round to reading the book because I certainly expected it would be the first volume :)
I have also noticed the importance of telling readers exactly what they can expect. I have seen very negative reviews around when readers seemed to think they got something else than they wanted.