This is the first in a series of behind-the-scenes posts on the making of the 10th Anniversary Edition of The Writer’s Process, starting at the completion of the rough draft and continuing through publication. Follow along if you’re interested in the myriad decisions an indie author/publisher makes.
For a few years, I have been thinking of creating a tenth-anniversary edition of The Writer’s Process, my first and most popular book on writing. This raised a difficult question: how much of a revision would I do?
The book needed an update to address the elephant in the writing room: generative AI. Ignoring AI seemed irresponsible, particularly as colleges and universities have used the book in writing courses. But perhaps I could handle that with a pointer to my website. (Clearly I was resisting the new edition.)
The challenges of revising an existing book
Experience has taught me that revising a book typically turns into a major project, even if you think it’s going to be minor. (I revised Subscription Marketing twice!)
As background, The Writer’s Process is an independently published book. As the publisher, I don’t need anyone else’s permission to revise it. The bad news? As the publisher, I shoulder the work and expense of republishing. So, the decision demands careful thought.
Here’s the list of downsides and upsides that I came up with.
Downsides:
- A new edition is still a new book, requiring copyediting, proofreading, cover and interior design, indexing, proof copies, and all the work of publication.
- It’s potentially harder to build excitement around the launch of a revised edition than a new book. (Stay tuned for that.)
- The new edition starts with zero reviews on Amazon. (The first edition has more than 500 reviews.)
- The audiobook will need to be re-recorded, and I’ll want to update the workbook.
- I don’t want current fans to feel like they have to buy a new version (unless they want to, of course).
Upsides:
- The updated book should have a longer shelf life.
- It better represents my thoughts and voice today.
- It will be more relevant for colleges and universities with the updates.
Why I decided to revise
As you can see, the downsides look like they outnumber the upsides. But not all factors have the same weight.
Two wise friends convinced me I really needed to make a new edition. Evelyn reminded me that as my “flagship” book, it really needs to serve my readers, including those college students, by representing my current beliefs. Donna told me that reading the first edition now, she doesn’t hear my writing voice.
They were right. (Thanks, Evelyn and Donna!) So I’ve spent the last few months deep into researching, writing, and revising. Now at last I have a rough draft and the next phase of the project begins as I continue to revise and polish.
What I learned so far
As expected, the project took a lot of work simply because of who I am. I found new research, completely reorganized the first part to improve the structure, added new experiments and stories from the past ten years, and tightened up the rest. (It’s a longer book now.)
Because my voice had shifted, no chapter is untouched, and most have significant changes. Some chapters have been dropped altogether and new ones added.
The surprise? How much fun I found the process. Revising was like spending time with old friends. I loved digging into new research and discovering the subtle ways that my own approach has changed. (I dropped the research on willpower, for example.) Revising it was like solving a delightful puzzle. It filled my tank. I fell back in love with the book.
Main lessons for authors
Even without making major changes, creating a new edition of a book is rather like planning one of those elaborate vow renewal ceremonies. There’s less risk, because you know the relationship works. But you still have to book the venue, extend the invitations, get the cake … you get the idea. Same with the new edition. You know it works as a book, but you still have to do a lot.
If you’re making this decision for one of your books, know yourself. Can you do a small revision, or (like me) will you throw yourself all in? If you’re lucky, you’ll enjoy the process! You’ll also need permission from your publisher for the new edition.
