by Linda O. Johnston
I’ve been wriing for a while, as those of you who know me, or know of me, are aware. I’ve so far had 57 traditional books published, with more to come—including one more next month.
Fun? Oh, yes! But some of those older ones had stopped being available, or at least mostly so.
However, my first mystery series is now available as ebooks, and my second is on the way as ebooks and audio! The first of those mystery series is my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries, and the second is my Pet Rescue Mysteries. Those Pet Rescue Mysteries available again now as ebooks and audio are BEAGLEMANIA, THE MORE THE TERRIER, AND HOUNDS ABOUND. There are two more in the series, and they’ll be on their way soon.
And I do have some of my earliest time travel romances available as ebooks as well.
If you’re a writer, have you also been in that situation? What do you do if you’re traditionally published and your first ones are getting old? They can remain available at online sites such as Amazon, but it’s a shame just to ignore them, right?
So what do you do? If they’re already available as ebooks, just continuing to promote them to readers might be enough. And audio can be fun.
What if there are more formats to come in the future? I’m not a techie person so I can’t suggest what they might be, but do you have any thoughts about it?
Or, if they’re in a series, why not write some more books to that series to get more readers interested in the first ones? Of course they need to be available, but if they’re out there as ebooks why not?
We put a lot of effort into our books. We put parts of ourselves in them. It’s fun to have them available and have readers read them.
So it’s a good thing to find ways to keep them available!
The Writers in Residence 
Linda, such an excellent idea. I imagine few authors thought of such a solution to ‘dead’ books that deserve to be resurrected. Thank you for pointing this out. A few of my books are traditionally published and one is out of print, but I am hoping all can now be born again as eBooks, although that might be up to the publisher to decide.
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You might be able to get the rights back to your older books, especially those that are out of print, and that’ll allow you to republish them as ebooks or otherwise!
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Books are timeless. Just as William Shakespeare. Why not promote some of the older titles. New readers will enjoy getting to know those characters even twenty years from now or longer. Those books will be a glimpse into the not to distant past for some and fond memories for others. And frankly, a good story really is as I said before… timeless.
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I agree, Gayle. Keep those stories, and their characters, alive forever!
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I’m still so impressed with your output, Linda! I think there’s a demand today for long-ago written books. If you have the rights to bring them back, I think that’s a great idea.
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Thank, Rosie! Not sure of the demand, but I’d rather they be available than not.
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Not a book, but a short story I wrote at least ten years ago and attempted to publish, will see new light next month in a newsprint magazine. Hooray. Maybe this year’s audience will be more receptive.
Best of luck, Linda, in your revivals. And I didn’t know you wrote time travel books!!
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Congrats on your short story, Jackie. And yes, my first published novels were time travel books–and one of them featured my favorites: Cavalier King Charles Spaniels!
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Like Rosemary, Linda, I am amazed by your writing output! At a recent book club meeting we talked about M.C. Beaton (Hamish McBeth and others) and her amazing writing output…you are running right behind her! Go, go! Wish I did have good ideas on bringing back–resurrecting. I have several titles languishing online…(smile and sigh.)
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Thanks! Yes, I intend to keep on going. And I admire those best sellers who are out there a lot more than me. Hopefully you’ll figure out how best to resurrect your stories too.
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Linda, if you can keep your older books available in another format, then why not? You may find new readers, or those that prefer e-books or audible books to print, and as you suggest, perhaps another format will evolve in the future.
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Thanks, Miko. I’m always happy to get new readers or make existing readers of my stuff even happier!
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