Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 2 Volume 8 | Page 35

A’Morelli has also published the Elements of Style Classic Edition, which retains the flavor of Strunk’s original version – because it includes the full text of the original 1918 edition, though it’s supplemented with “edi- tor’s notes and study guide.” When it comes to being reprinted and updated, The Elements of Style has more lives than all the various “original,” “bowd- lerized” and “modernized” Complete Works of Shakespeare. Lest we forget one of the classic how-to best-sellers that keeps getting rewritten, con- sider What Color is My Parachute, the clas- sic find-a-better-job job-search manual writ- ten by Richard Nelson Bolles. Parachute has been in print continuously since 1970 – more important for today’s crop of job- seekers, it has been revised and updated eve- ry single year since 1975, and some of those revisions have been substantial. Finally, my own (ghost-written) book, Beautifully Profitable, Forever Profitable, is also out in its fifth (2017) edition, last time I checked. I wrote the first three edi- tions, before turning further updates over to the “named author,” who of course owns all the rights to the book (my ghostwriting con- tract was purely work-for-hire). Why update a book already in publica- tion? Why update a book that was already complete when first published? There are at least two compelling (read “profitable”) rea- sons. First, when a reviewer is considering a book to evaluate, the first thing he or she often looks for is the copyright date – if a book is even a year old, many reviewers re- fuse to consider it. Second, the same “it’s S UMMER 2018 not new anymore” feeling can influence book buyers. A book with a two year-old copyright date may turn off potential buyers. However, a book with a banner in the upper right cor- ner that reads, “New, Updated 2019 Edition” will cause both reviewers and readers to think this is a legitimately new work, one potentially worth their attention. Which brings up an important point: if you do re-issue the book with an “Updated for This Year” banner, make sure you actu- ally do revise the book. You can do this by writing a preface or foreword, an afterword, or perhaps a new chapter. Or, if your book is chock-full of statistics, go through and up- date each one, making the book indeed fresh and new. Be honest with your readers and review- ers, and not just because they might have also bought the earlier edition. If you play fair with your readers, it’s far more likely they’ll play fair with you. Updating your book also allows you – especially if you’re a self-publisher with an email contact list of first-edition book buy- ers – to offer those readers to buy the updat- ed edition at a significant pre-publication price discount. For instance, if you offer a $0.99 Kindle pre-publication sale on Ama- zon, and limit it to a single day, you might find that your new edition re-release is an Amazon category best-seller even before it’s even in (digital) print. Finally, once your book is an Amazon best-seller, that title (along with its market- ing benefits) never goes away. About This Tip: In my forthcoming book, Write Now!, you’re going to find in- terviews with more than 20 other authors P AGE 30 W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE