About once a week during one of my day jobs I come across something interesting. I will see an ebook and in the beginning of the description it will say something like this:
Now re-edited!
Usually accompanied by a date when the supposed re-edit took place. And my first thought is what a shame and a waste. Here is someone who didn’t take the time, for whatever reason, when they first put their book up on Amazon to hire a professional editor. People complained because if a book is horribly edited they will complain and take stars off. The author listened to the complaints, which is a good thing, and got professional editing.
But here’s the problem.
Most of the people who looked at the book to try and decided if they want to buy it will never look back. Some of the new potential buyers will look at the comments and not pay attention to the “Now re-edited” part, and some will notice the update but will be turned off by the fact that the author didn’t put their best out there, to begin with. That’s a whole bunch of lost audience in a very competitive field.
Your story may be great, but the fact is there are many great stories out there. The problem for readers isn’t finding a story they want to read, it is trying to find the best story and adding it to an already full TBR pile.
The added sad fact is you had already gotten people to read and comment on your work. That is an amazing step that a lot of writers would almost give a tooth for – but instead of glowing reviews you get, at best, a couple of stars and the explanation that you could use a good editor.
Lessons learned for some, warnings for others. I know editing can be expensive. But when you think about all the love, energy, and time you spent on your literary baby isn’t it worth it to scrimp and save for some good editing so you never have to re-release as re-edited?
What do you think?
Oh and have a good day!
Paula
PS The fires here in California are not getting as much press but it pretty devastating. I know we all have been facing a lot of disasters but here is a site that gives you places if you want to help!