Seond Edition Headaches: I Don't Want to Lose My Amazon Reviews

I sometimes run Q and A a la Ann Landers columns in my SharingwithWriters newsletter using questions that my clients ask me or that subscribers send to me. This is one of my favorites because involves two subjects that seem to interest authors most--Amazon sales and getting reviews. 

Q&A A La Ann Landers

Wahh! I Don’t Want to Lose All My Amazon Reviews

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUESTION:
Do you lose your Amazon reviews when you publish a second edition of your book?

ANSWER
You can get Amazon to post reviews from the first edition to the second through Author Connect. and, you can get Amazon to put a referral widget from the first edition to the second. They tend to move this widget around, but it's always been near the top of the first edition buy page (though not as prominent as I'd like to see it!). 

You can see what it looks like on this page for the first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://www.amazon.com/Frugal-Book-Promoter-What-Publisher/dp/193299310X/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452289798&sr=1-15&keywords=carolyn+howard-johnson). But please don't buy the first edition! The second edition is expanded, updated and, if I do say so, lots prettier! (-:

Do know that Amazon only transfers all of the reviews; you can't pick and choose. So if something in the first edition has been criticized and you fixed it in the second edition, they won’t discard that earlier review. Your only recourse is to use the comment feature that is found at the end of each review to dispute the claim—maybe with a thank you to the reviewer for helping you correct that in the second edition.

Just an extra here: If you just update your old edition rather than publish a new one, you may be losing more marketing opportunities than you ever dreamed of.  Of course,  a second edition should have something new about the cover (like the words second edition) or a whole new cover and at least 10% new content).

PS: Watch for the August-September release of my newest book in the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers. It is Getting Great Reviews Frugally and Ethically.   

-----
 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 .

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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

----
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 

__._,_.___

----
 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 .

Second Edition Blues? Here's an Amazon Tip

This is one of my favorite tips from my SharingwithWriters newsletter that always features tips; a subscription also includes an annual AllTips edition. You may subscribe and get a freebie book on wordtrippers at http://howtodoitfrugally.com.

 

If you have a book now in its second edition (or later) and haven’t been able to get Amazon to remove the first edition from its site to assure that your readers get the updated book, Amazon now offers a widget that directs readers to the buy page for the first edition. You can see how they did this for my Frugal Book Promoter at http://www.amazon.com/The-Frugal-Book-Promoter-Publisher/dp/193299310X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371782561&sr=8-2&keywords=the+frugal+book+promoter . You access help through your AuthorConnect (also called AuthorCentral) page, https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/landing?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 . By the way, the new edition of The Frugal Book Promoter is at http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo.

 

----
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 Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; 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 .