Turning a Book Alteration Into a Positive Marketing Experience

Sometimes I run little Q&A's in my SharingwithWriters newsletter like this one. If you would like to subscribe, send me a message using the subscribe window at the top  right corner of most every page on my Web site. The offer includes a free wordtrippers book!

Q&A a la Ann Landers

New Cover? Need New ISBN? Then What?

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QUESTION ON A LISTSERVE

I'm going to change the cover for one of my books — nothing else, just the image and the arrangement of type around it.  Do I need to give it a different ISBN?  It's the same book, just with a different package, both print and e-book.

From a small publisher on a YahooGroups listserve that deals with publishing problems

ANSWER FROM CAROLYN

Because I'm a marketer as well as an author, I believe you are not thinking long term about this change. As long as you are doing this, why not update the interior in some way. 

• Maybe add a study guide to the backmatter.
• Perhaps put an ad for the author's other books in the backmatter.
• Or try dedication or updated information in the frontmatter, anything that will give the reader more value or help him see the value better when he opens the book.
• Take the opportunity to clear up anything that is unclear.
• Maybe improve on the interior design since now--obviously--you know more about what works in terms of design. 

With only a little more effort, you can legitimately call it a second edition. There is a credible ring to the term “second edition”-a feeling left over from traditional publishing that it has sold a lot of copies (maybe it has). That puts you a step ahead. 

You can also run a new promotion campaign on it! New exposure for the book. New exposure for the publisher. New exposure for the author. You can even get Amazon to put a widget on the old version's buy page to lead readers to the new book, glorious with its new cover. That gives you double the Amazon exposure!

And, in that case, yep you need a new ISBN for sure! (-:   As a publisher you benefit from using your ISBNs yourself, but if you are a self-publisher, why not let Createspace supply you with the new ISBN at no cost and only pay for additional ISBNs if you see a clear advantage.

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Carolyn is working on two new books for her multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers: Getting Great Reviews Frugally and Ethically, and one on how authors can and should be involved in what goes on their book covers, front and back. http://howtodoitfrugally.com 

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 Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Editor; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .