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Relaunching Your Old Book – Is It Worth It?

By on June 11, 2016
Relaunching Your Old Book - Is It Worth It? - Writer's Life.org

It is said that most sales of your book will happen within the first six months of launching it. This is when you need to focus on building momentum and hype and try to get as many copies sold as possible.

Of course, if it catches on you could see your book selling steadily for years. However, after that initial rush, most authors, will see sales slip, and then, as time passes, and fresh new books are released, see it get to the point where they are selling a copy only every now and then.

Authors obviously want their book to reach as many readers as possible, to build up a fanbase and of course, hopefully make some money in the process. So, with this in mind, is it possible to relaunch an old book, and with it reignite sales and interest, and, dare we say, possibly sell even more copies then ever?

The answer, in some ways, is simple. Yes you can.

There is certainly no rules or laws (!) against relaunching an old manuscript if you think it has potential to do well.

It is never to late for someone to discover and love your work, indeed, as audiences grow and change in time, it may be that when your first launched your book, the market wasn’t hungry for it, and now is the perfect time.

The key to relaunching an old book is really much the same as when you launch your new one. Remember most of your readers will never have heard of your book before, and will happen upon it because of the work you put in marketing and promoting it.

Will they care that it first came out 5 years ago? Why would they? If it looks like an interesting story, has great reviews and they are looking to read a brilliant new book, then when it was first published plays no part in their decision to buy.

So if you are thinking of re-launching your old book, then do everything you can to make it a success.

In some ways you should try even harder this time. You can’t keep re-launching your book forever (well in theory you could, but it would be very time-consuming!) so make it count. Come up with a firm marketing plan before you start. Try to get press attention, build up anticipation and a buzz on social media about the re-launch. Take every positive review you can find and let it inspire you to do well. Think of every which way you can promote your book and do it.

Everyone loves a good comeback story, and while there are no guarantees, if the book is written the hardest part is over, so why not try to make the most of it while you can?

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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