2nd Edition Book Projects

So far this blog has been a mini-teaching site, through which I’ve shared my experiences about the art and business of writing. That’s now going to shift somewhat and become a journal of the creation of 2nd editions of two of my books. I hope you enjoy following my progress. It may be more uneven that you imagined, but life does happen even when the keyboard beckons. Here we go ~

After a couple of clues crossed my path, I realized the time had come to either reprint or update two of my books, Your Pocket Divorce Guide © 1999 and The Many Faces of Journaling (01).

The first clue was a note on a book order for the divorce book stating the ISBN number “or the newest edition.” There was no newer edition, sir. The second was my insightful friend Cheryl’s comment that it was time to update and revise the book. Gee, I wonder … Then I discovered that the warehouse inventory for that book was down to 373 copies! Nuff said.

A few hours later, I rechecked the full inventory report and saw that Many Faces of Journaling, my best seller so far, was down to 420 copies. With so few copies of each in stock, it was a toss up as to which needed my attention first. But based on monthly sales, the journaling book won out.

The book industry states that there must be a minimum of 10% new material for a book to qualify as a 2nd edition. That won’t be a problem for either book.

Since I own the publishing company, Pen Central Press (www.PenCentralOnline.com), there were two to-do lists: one for revising and writing; the other for getting the new editions edited, printed, bound, and marketed. The first steps for the latter were to request printing and binding costs from Shelly at BookMasters. The other was to begin contacting cover artists to get ideas and quotes for 2 new book covers. [Yes, I could have simply plastered a “2nd Edition!” banner across the old cover art, but my marketing instincts tell me a new cover will be worth the cost.]

That done, I set up my project journal through which I will chart work done and yet to be done. Since these are my first experiences with 2nd editions, which by the way is incredibly exciting, I need to be able to review and evaluate the process later. After all, can the 3 editions be far away?

Stay tuned ~

Linda

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