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Refurbishing a book

by Johnny1975
5 replies
I've heard that books have their heyday and then they stop selling, or sales slow down. Others have said that you can earn an income from a book for years. I don't see why a good book can't sell for a long time. But I can imagine sales slowing down, for one reason or another.

Let's say you've got a book out there and sales slow down a bit. Is it ok to refurbish it? i.e. restructure the content, add or take away some bits, rephrase certain parts, giving it a new title and cover, and so on. Basically reinventing it.

Is that ok? Do authors do this?
#book #refurbishing
  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Yes, of course. It's your book and you can do whatever you want with it.

    Usually, when the material becomes dated or the author wants to add additional items a new "edition" will be brought to market. Whether you give the latest edition to your customers or put it out there for sale depends upon your sales strategy and (usually with digital books) what you have promised your buying customers. Sometimes marketers will promise "lifetime updates" as an initial selling feature for the book.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Cali16
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Johnny, unless you quit spending all your time asking questions and worrying about what might happen, and get off your butt and get your darn book published, you won't have to worry about what happens when sales slow down...
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  • Profile picture of the author workoutstuff1
    You could also take your e-book, and put it on a re-branding site. People will send your re-branded e-book out to their list.

    You can also make some evergreen videos that cover topics from your book, and then put links to a download page for your e-book. Could even offer the e-book in exchange for someone's email address.
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  • Profile picture of the author workoutstuff1
    You could also take your e-book, and put it on a re-branding site. People will send your re-branded e-book out to their list.

    You can also make some evergreen videos that cover topics from your book, and then put links to a download page for your e-book. Could even offer the e-book in exchange for someone's email address.
    Signature
    http://<font face="Arial"><font size...</font></font>
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  • Profile picture of the author lareynolds
    Absolutely it's okay to do this. In fact I know some authors who regularly run the equivalent of split-tests on their books -- changing covers, descriptions, blurbs, etc. -- to see what will boost sales the most. I also know authors who will go back and edit/revise their work, especially as their writing skills improve.

    The only thing that I probably wouldn't change on a book is the title, unless it's had significant editing or other content changes. Otherwise you run the risk of confusing or offending a reader who already purchased the same book under a "previous" title.

    But if you have changes to make, by all means -- refurbish away!
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