It’s your first book. It read perfectly when you wrote it. And again, during the many times you reread and edited it. And even later, when the editor took a look. It seemed okay then. And finally, that last time, when you made sure the editor caught everything. The story was just fine. But you kept writing. You released a few more books. And suddenly, somewhere down the road, you read a short section and discover problem after problem. It’s almost as if you planted problem seeds and they finally started blooming. Those issues weren’t in there the last time you read it, right? Wrong! There were always in there. You just didn’t know they were problems then. And you would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their dumb dog. Scooby aside, you could have gotten away with it (provided you let yourself). But that was before you decided to write a series.
I’ve been thinking about the writing process quite a bit lately. Not the actual ‘how to make it better’ part. I think about that all the time. No, the part that occupies my mind is more of a catch-22 variety. We, as writers, are judged by our worst possible work. And by that, I mean our first book. We naturally get better the more we write, which means each new piece we send into the world is going to be smoother and easier to read. But we face a problem when trying to gain new readers. Most people will not start a series on book two or three. If they’re going to start, they’re going to do so on book one. And that means, it’s your first book, it’s going to have some problems. This is part of the learning process. And while I hope one day it planes out, I’m not certain it will ever truly go away.
I didn’t notice right away. It took a few books for the pattern to reveal itself to me. But I eventually realized that my newer books weren’t moving very fast. At least not nearly as fast as my earlier work. And it seems my earlier work continues to receive attention, even in those slow times when everything comes to a halt. And that’s where I discovered the catch-22 of the situation. When you release your first book, things are slow. But gradually they pick up to a degree where you can trust so much interaction every day. And as you release more books, you expect the same treatment, but it doesn’t happen. At least not when you write a series. When you make this mistake, your earlier book gets all the attention generated by the newer ones. And that’s where the problem lies. People want to start at the beginning. And who can blame them? I wouldn’t want to start halfway through a story myself, so why should they? But as a writer, it poses a few problems. I want people to read my work. And with each new book, I hope to see my numbers rise. If I could get the same turn out on a new book as I had on the old one, things would be running fairly smooth. But unfortunately, that’s not what happened.
When I release a new book in a series, people are intrigued. I’ve grown enough that they tend to jump at a new release. But that only applies to existing fans. Potential new fans see the book, realize it’s a continuation, and on instinct jump to the first book. I’ve heard the same words time and time again, “I’ll read this one and see if I like it…” And that’s where the problem lies. Your first book will never be as good as your latest. This is a problem if you began your career with a series. Most people will not make it to your actual good work because you lost them during your learning phase, with a book that was not perfect.
This leaves you with a few options. You can go back every so often and read through the first book, finding all the areas you could have done better, and fix them, and release a new edition. Or you can keep working and not worry about the past books. There are pros and cons to both options, as well as long-term and short-term effects. I can’t tell you which is best, but maybe this list will aid you in that decision.
Short-term (Less than a month) Pros to Revising a Book
- Once the book has regained its momentum, new readers will be more likely to take a chance by seeing that you’re working toward bettering your craft.
- By informing readers that it’s been revised, some scorned readers may give it another chance.
- If you were planning to update the cover, during a revision is the perfect time to do so. It makes it almost like an entirely new book.
Long-term (Longer than a month) Pros to Revising a Book
- There’s a higher percentage that new readers will make it through to check out your later books.
- You’re showing readers that you care about what you write, and making an effort to fix the problem.
Short-term (Less than a month) Cons to Revising a Book
- Increased workload. In addition to your current schedule, you now have to make time for the revision as well.
- Having to start over with your online marketing. (E-books don’t display for a while after publishing. Which means any momentum they had is lost and will have to be built up again.)
- Lost royalties while the book is down. (You can keep the old version active while you’re revising the manuscript. But when you update to the new one, it’s going to take a while before it starts moving again.)
Long-term (Longer than a month) Cons to Revising a Book
- You’ll have more editions, which can be expensive, depending on how you’ve chosen to approach that business. (This isn’t such a big deal for e-books, but print copies are supposed to receive a new ISBN for each edition.)
- If you make the change publicly know, you’ve admitted to making mistakes. (Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You’re showing people you care enough to fix them. But some readers won’t bother giving you another chance, since you didn’t hit a homerun on your first swing. Fuck those guys!)
Short-term (Less than a month) Pros to Leaving the Inferior Product Alone
- Less work for you. This allows you to apply time toward your next book.
- Less stress about making sure all the details remain aligned. (When changing things, it’s easy to forget a small detail that could play a larger part in the future story. This also applies to formatting issues.)
- The book’s momentum will continue on its current path. (Good or bad)
Long-term (Longer than a month) Pros to Leaving the Inferior Product Alone
- The time you didn’t spend writing a revision could be used to write your next book, which will advance your career.
- Readers won’t have to concern themselves with which edition they have, as their choices will be slim.
- Your later, independent products will gain regular attention. As will any future series you write. (This will happen regardless of what you do.)
Short-term (less than a month) Cons to Leaving the Inferior Product Alone
- You’ll continue to sell fewer copies of your new books because readers aren’t making it through the earlier works.
- The day to day sales will begin to slip away into nothing.
Long-term (Longer than a month) Cons to Leaving the Inferior Product Alone
- You’ll never draw attention to your later books (in that series), as people won’t make it to the good stuff. With an inferior product, they’ll assume all your work is bad and will be less likely to give you (as an author) a chance.
- Your royalties will be solely dependent on new customers. Your return customers will be few and far between. (And it will be difficult to gain new customers with poor reviews.)
- Your earlier work will slip into obscurity and eventually be referred to as the black sheep of your writing career. This is sad because the first stories are usually the ones we loved enough to pursue this career in the first place.
So there you have it. The pros and cons of revising a book or leaving it alone. I could have gone into more detail, but I think there’s enough here to make the point. Personally, I’ve already gone through and revise my earlier works. But I warn you, even if you go this route, it is not an easy fix. Even if you do everything right, it takes time to rebuild a fan base. My advice, if you’re going to go this route is to consider a new cover and title. This will make it a new product again and will give you a shot at redeeming yourself.