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Hi all,
I have a question.
Since my muse hasn’t been kind enough to show me the path to a new story, I’ve been going over some of my older stories, and when I reached one of my favorites, ‘Sara, Becka, and me’, I had an aha moment.
So, I’ve been reworking ‘Sara, Becka, and me’ a bit. I’ve gone over the grammar, made some enhancements, and added a thirteenth chapter (originally a twelve chapter work). And I’ve come up with a possibility of a new adventure for our couple of five or six chapters. Yes, it’s close to being done.
Now my question. How should I publish or republish this?
1. Should I replace the currently published 12 chapters with the updated ones, add the new 13th chapter, and then publish the new adventure when it’s ready, or
2. Should I publish the updated first 12 chapters with the new 13th chapter as a complete book, i.e., all 13 chapters together, and then a second book with the new adventure when it’s finished, or
3. Should I wait until the new adventure is finished and then publish the whole thing altogether as one book, or
4. … ?
Now, I’m very close on the 13 chapters being finished. And the new adventure is close.
Teddie
Comments
An Answer
I've done what you're doing about two hundred times. It's a matter of personal preference, but I would wait until the entire story is completed and publish it all as one.
To maximize reader interest (kudos and comments) split the story into four parts and post parts every three days. Title as Completed Part One of Four, etc.
Good luck.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Preferences
FWIW, I agree with Angela. Sara, Becka, and Me is one of my all time favorites. I would to see it done completely as one book start to finish, possibly with a slightly different title to differentiate the new version from the original, but I wouldn't like to see the original go away. And publishing it as one complete book with possibly 4 sections paced 3 to 4 days apart would be a good way to re-introduce it.
Rach
Rach
quis custodiet ipsos custodes
Replacing?
My own humble opinion is #2. Publish the 13 chapters as a separate book. Then publish the new adventure when it's finished. I don't think that the current 12 should be replaced.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
nice to hear from you!
Publish/post when your story is complete. Clearly label it 'New & Improved' with reference/link to original. Wait a bit and then delete the old version keeping the newest version public. The old version will serve no purpose due to your enhancements.
I'm glad to hear from you!
Regards & well wishes.
Dee
PS (say hello to your muse for us!)
Donna
Are we voting?
If my vote counts then I'd agree with Jill and Daphne. Many days of interesting new content on this site is much better than dumping a whole lot all in one go. I'd say we've seen examples of both. My assertion is that Nicola – the stand-in , for example, is generating more buzz than the single post One Dozen Roses does. It helps if you can make an argument about an episodic nature to the story itself.
Of course my advice is worth precisely this => <= much. There are other authors that get great reception with different strategies.
Cheers
Your friend
Crash
... this won't help much ....
- I'd like to see the originals left in place (unless >you alone< find them 'embarrassingly bad' ...), perhaps with an in-place 'update' as a new first paragraph that says "new and improved" is at (link/title).
- (This is just me...) My eyes start to glaze over (I'm guessing) at around 10-15 thousand words, and I'm thinking "OK, can I have a (new) chapter/section break already, please". Smaller (whatever that means) chapters makes it easier to find my place after a browser crash or reset.
- I think an "in-place" edit/update could be terribly confusing ... and could render existing/previous comments (semi-)non-nonsensical. (One author announced updates, and then did them in-place, leaving me confused enough to send them a message of "Huh?".)
- I'd have to know the old and new stories a lot better, >and< I'd have to be good enough to get paid as an Editor ... and that's not me, sorry.