Episode 214: Should Writers Rewrite Previously Published Books?

The Pulp Writer Show

In this week's episode, we consider whether or not writers should substantially rewrite previously published novels. We also take a brief look at imposter syndrome in writers.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 214 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is August the 16th, 2024 and today we are examining whether writers should rewrite and republish their old books. We'll also take a brief look at the phenomenon of imposter syndrome in writers. Before we get into that, let's have a look at my current writing projects. Now that Half-Orc Paladin is out, my main focus is Shield of Conquest. I am 39,000 words into the rough draft, which puts me on Chapter 9 of 22. I think the rough draft will end up at about 100,000 words or so, but we'll see. I'm still hoping to have that out in September, if at all possible.

I'm also 32,000 words into Ghost in the Tombs, the third book in the Ghost Armor series. I am very much hoping to have that out in early October, but we'll see how the next couple of months go. I’m also 4,000 words into Cloak of Illusion, which will be the book I write after Shield of Conquest and Ghost in the Tombs are finished and that will probably be around November or possibly December. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to work on once those three books are done, but in all probability, it's going to be Elven Sorcerer, which will be the fourth book in the Rivah series.

In audiobook news, I have quite a few audiobooks underway. Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling is currently being recorded by C.J. McAllister. Half-Orc Paladin is already being recorded by Leanne Woodward. Brad Wills is currently recording Shield of Darkness as well, so hopefully we should have updates on those soon and then you can maybe listen to previews of those upcoming audiobooks on this podcast.

00:01:41 Imposter Syndrome and Writers

Now on to our first topic, imposter syndrome and writers, which is inspired by a reader question. Surabhi wrote in to ask: “Have you, as a very prolific writer, ever faced impostor syndrome or self-doubt? Do you still do? And what helps you overcome those doubts? I think self-doubt is something most authors go through.”

Well, to be totally honest, in my case, not really. Impostor syndrome has not been one of my personal challenges. Whatever my personal struggle bus might have been in life, let’s say impostor syndrome was not among the passengers. I did almost quit writing fiction at the end of 2010, but not out of impostor syndrome. I was just disgusted with traditional publishing and traditional science fiction and fantasy publishing in particular, an emotion that has not substantially changed in the last 14 years. My frustration wasn't one of impostor syndrome. I'd written 10 novels at that point. I knew I could do it, but that it was nearly impossible to break into traditional publishing, and that even if you did, you wouldn't make very much money. I had published two books at that time through small presses. I've mentioned before that the royalties from the second book I published were enough that I could buy a Triple Whopper from Burger King. While that was a very tasty burger, that was not a lot of money. So by the end of 2010, I decided that I was wasting my time and I needed to pursue more profitable enterprises. But right about that time, I discovered self-publishing and things took off from there.

But I can pinpoint the exact moment when I lost any trace of impostor syndrome when it comes to writing. It was in early 2012, about 12 years ago now, when I got a letter from the IRS informing me, to paraphrase a bit, that I needed to be paying much more of self-publishing writing income. That was my fault, to be fair. At the time, I was new to the idea of quarterly tax payments and didn't fully understand how they worked and I had messed one up. I sent in the payment with the associated penalty and that was that. The IRS, if you're not familiar with it, is the American federal tax collection agency. It famously has no sense of humor whatsoever and is also very fond of accuracy. So if the IRS was of the opinion that I was a good enough writer that I need to be paying more on my writing income, I sure wasn't going to argue with them.

That semi-amusing anecdote aside, let's return at last to our original point. I have to admit that impostor syndrome has never really been a problem for me. I don't present myself as something other than what I actually am. I freely admit when I don't know something, which happens a lot, and I only rarely speak or write without thoroughly thinking it through first. Thinking aloud is something I don't really do. If I encounter something I don't know how to do that I nonetheless have to do, my usual approach, for better or for worse, is to make a good faith approach to muddle through and hope for the best, which can have results ranging from very good to less than desirable, like that thing in 2012 with the quarterly tax payment I initially messed up.

I am not a psychiatrist or a therapist, but I suppose the only advice I would offer a writer with impostor syndrome is to never engage in self-denigration, whether aloud or as part of your internal monologue. You shouldn't puff yourself up falsely, but neither should you put yourself down inaccurately. Lying to yourself and others that you're worse at something that you really are is just the same as pretending to be good at something you're not. It's best to view all things as they are, without flattery or inaccurate denigration, even oneself. But it's also good to be kind to yourself. I’ve noticed people will sometimes say things about themselves that they would never in a million years say about someone else. And of course, the opposite is also true, but that's a different problem and a topic for a different podcast. So that is what I have to say about imposter syndrome in writers.

00:05:22 Main Topic: Revising and Republishing Completed Novels

Now on to our main topic, which came in when reader AN wrote in with an interesting question.

“A possible question to explore is whether it's a good or worthwhile idea to revise and republish completed novels. Does doing this have merit artistically? Financially, it seems ill-advised. To me, it makes sense from a “I want to perfect my magnum opus” kind of way, but financially, it probably does not for the effort involved. Is it possible to have without success by republishing and doing a heavy marketing push? I ask because an author I enjoy republished two novels with extensive edits, including hundreds of pages of new fiction. Some plots were altered. Some characters were completely rewritten and new scenes were even added. I found that I immensely enjoyed the revisions and additions, even though the first editions were already excellent. While I did buy the new editions, it was only because I happened to see a comment on the author’s blog about the rewrites and was curious. It was happenstance, really. I would like to hear your thoughts on this if you have the interest and time.”

Well, we are in luck because I do have interest in answering this question because it will make a good topic for the podcast. I should start off my answer by saying that this isn't something I would do. When it comes to my writing, my attitude is that of Pontius Pilate who, while not an admirable figure in any other way, had a good quote: “quod scripsi, scripsi,” In English, “what I have written, I have written.” That said, I have changed minor things (typo corrections, maybe changing a sentence or two if the readers consistently don't understand them, that kind of minor level change). I did change the titles of the Stealth and Spells series because I thought people were confusing them with the Sevenfold Sword books, but I haven't completely rewritten and republished a previously published novel in any substantial way.

For myself, at least, I think, it's always better to keep moving forward. If I look back at nearly anything I've written, I always think I could have done this or that better, but that line of thought can be a psychological trap for writers, leading them to endlessly repolish old work instead of forging ahead with something new. That said, what works for me will not work for everyone. I have seen writers rewrite and republish old books.

If that is something you want to do, I think you first have to ask yourself the five following questions. One: Is there sufficient demand? That is, will people be interested in reading a rewritten book or would they much rather have the next book in the series? There are only 24 hours in the day and that means there is only so much writing time. Would your time be better spent writing a new book instead of rewriting an old one? As reader AN said before, a passion project is one thing, but if it's not a passion project and you spend a lot of time rewriting and republishing the book and no one buys it, then that's time that could have been better spent elsewhere.

Question Number Two: will rewriting the book annoy readers? It's important to remember that a writer’s perception of his or her work often has no alignment whatsoever with what the readers actually think of the book. In my honest opinion, I think The Tower of Endless World series is probably my weakest books that I've written, but I have some readers who think they're their favorite things and the best thing I've ever written. I'm not going to argue with them because the reader's opinion is the reader's opinion. You could look at one of your books and think it's flawed and you have serious revision. By contrast, as I just said, it could be a reader's favorite of your books. Indeed, it could be one of the reader’s favorite books overall. If you rewrite the book, that could really annoy the readers who like the book, especially if the book in question is a favorite with many of your readers.

Question Three: is rewriting the book actually worth your time? We touched on this above, but there's only so much time to write in any given day. Would rewriting the previously published book be the best use of your writing time?

Which leads into Question Four: Is the book worth rewriting? Does the book actually need to be rewritten may be a better way of saying that. As we mentioned above, a writer’s judgment of his or her own work is often not in agreement with what the readers think of that book, and writers are notoriously poor judges of their own writing. I suspect that's a reflection of how random writing could be sometimes, like you can plan something for months and carefully execute it, and no one really notices. But then something you threw in at the last minute before the book was published becomes everyone's favorite scene in the book. That's just the nature of art. You can never be sure what will resonate with people. An example: I have a relative who is an amazing cook, but if you compliment her food, she gets angry because she thinks it's never good enough and that she only sees the flaws (which, to be honest, nearly almost always exist only in her mind and nowhere else). Writers often have something of the same relationship with their books, so the book might not be as bad as you think it is and rewriting it might be unnecessary.

And finally, Question 5: would you be psychologically better off writing the next book? Writers, like many creative individuals, are prone to certain psychological traps. We already discussed imposter syndrome and two of the other traps are endlessly repolishing old work and procrastination. You see some writers who get caught in the trap of endlessly rewriting and repolishing their first chapter or their first book. Would republishing an older book be an aspect of that?

Procrastination is something else to which writers are very prone. It's very easy to catch yourself doing writing adjacent work like updating your website or whatever instead of actually writing down new words. Writing new stuff is always a bit of an expenditure of energy, and the human tendency is to procrastinate when faced with expending energy. That's why at the gym you often see newcomers spending a lot of time fiddling with their playlists or trying to figure out the TVs instead of getting down to business with their workouts. It's also why otherwise successful writers fall into the trap of writing prequels, in my opinion. It's easier to expand upon the established story than striking out in a new direction. Republishing an old book might well be an aspect of procrastination.

So let's summarize. To sum up, completely rewriting and republishing an old book isn't something I would do myself. That said, it's not necessarily a bad idea and can in fact be something that is artistically and maybe even financially valuable to you as a writer so long as your answers to the five questions we just discussed are good ones.

So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com, often with transcripts (transcripts are available from Episodes 140-214). If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a review at your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.