Should You Consider Republishing Your Novel?

How often do you think of your very first book and feel a twinge of embarrassment because of an obvious plot hole or typo? How many times have you wished you could erase it out of existence and write it anew, the way you want to now? Or increase its sales and reach by following a proper marketing strategy?

There may be other reasons to republish like the publisher who published your book going out of business, or deciding to publish your book through a publisher after having first self-published.

Here are some important points to consider when you’re deciding to republish your book or not.

1. Leaving poorly-written books unedited will impact your reputation

The more experience you gain as a novelist, you will naturally become a better writer. This may mean that the books written in your early-years may not be up to par of what you’re publishing now. Readers often go back to read the books of authors they like, so when they come across amateurish, plot hole ridden novels, it will seriously affect your reputation. If you’re seriously considering re-publishing, consider these early-bird year editions a good place to start.

2. You can get rid of bad reviews

Re-publishing your book as a new, revised version can get rid of those negative reviews that can highly impact your sales. When you allow these bad reviews to appear under your book, you’re automatically fending off newer readers. Use the bad reviews as a guide, and if you see a trending issue, consider editing your book. The smartest option to clearing your review section is to either completely unpublish your book and get rid of these reviews, or to republish it later and launch a separate marketing campaign to renew sales.

3. You would rather spend the time writing your next book

Some editors advise authors to leave their book as it is. Instead of spending more time on something that has already been published, you could simply work on your new book and utilize your resources and effort to make that a success.

Another reason to work on something new is because of the readers. When it comes to fiction, readers often prefer reading the original work or a new book published by the same author, instead of revisiting revised editions.

This is quite different in the case of nonfiction, however, as it’s perfectly justified to revise and update your book when there are major changes and developments in the field your book is written on. In fact, revision becomes essential in such instances since the content in your book would become obsolete and irrelevant.

4. You lose your rankings and reviews on Amazon

If your book was so badly written that your Amazon ranking is falling, then losing this data can be a bonus for you. Because when you unpublish and republish your book on Amazon, you lose your reviews and rankings.

But if the revisions you make are minor, with just a few tweaks and typo-corrections, you can simply re-upload your book (in the case of eBooks published via KDP) under the previous details. This way, you will be able to retain your reviews.

Unpublishing your book, however, does not mean that your book is going to completely disappear off the face of the earth—especially not if you published it via Amazon KDP. The print versions will still be listed on your Author Central Page, showing as “out of print/unavailable.” Therefore, republishing your novel as a revised edition is a better option, since readers will still be able to find your book.