Writers in the Storm

by John Peragine

So, you’ve written your novel, it’s selling, and the reviews are in. They are mostly positive, but a few consistent critiques may be keeping you up at night. You read back through your book, and you notice minor errors here and there, and that only increases your anxiety.

After some time, to stave off insomnia, you do something about it. You decide that it is time for the second edition of your book. Here are seven things to consider with a second edition.  

Second Printing vs Second Edition

There is a difference between a second edition and a second printing. If your book is being handled by a traditional publisher, they usually print a bunch of them simultaneously. The next time the book is printed in bulk, that is considered the second printing. Usually, there are no “significant” changes to the book with a second printing. With POD, second printings (and beyond) are not as relevant anymore.

A second edition has significant changes to the original book. These changes can be the cover or interior of the book. By significant, I mean there has to be more than just fixing a couple of typos. In the case of correcting some grammar, it is far easier to just quietly make those changes and resubmit a file.

Covers

Cover changes are sometimes a good idea. It can’t be overstated that a cover can make or break a book. Sometimes we think it is a great cover, but our sales and readers' feedback say differently. A cover is the first introduction to your book, and if it isn’t engaging, a reader’s eyes slip to the next book. It can be a difficult decision to make.

If a book is part of a series, and there is a brand look to it, it makes sense to create a new edition. Also, you might have a special artist create a special cover. This happens all the time in comics where there are multiple variants of a cover. When there is a new book cover, that would be considered a new edition.

Typos

Typos and grammar mistakes are something that readers will pick up and will mention in a review. It is considered amateur to have a book with typos, and it can be a hard pass for some readers. The goal for indie authors is to have a book that is indistinguishable from books from traditional publishers. Even with editing done before a book is released, there will be things that can slip by. If there are many of them, then it is time to come up with a new edition.

Titles

A title change is not unheard of. Here are some examples.

Guy de Maupassant’s The Tallow Ball (15k copies)  changed to A French Prostitute’s Sacrifice (54K copies)

Oscar Wilde’s Pen, Pencil and Poison (5Kcopies.) changed to The Story of a Notorious Criminal (15K copies.)

Titles of books can be changed when made into movies or sold in foreign markets. It is something to consider if sales are low. Perhaps float some titles to your audience to get feedback. Changing a book's title still makes it a second edition of the book if the interior is the same. The original name of the book is often added to the copyright page.

Content Update

Changes in the actual content of the book definitely create a new addition. A bit of thought should go into those changes, as anything significant could create a new book entirely. As writers, it never seems like a book is done, and we want to make tweaks on it even if it is published. A better strategy is to make sure the book is ready to be published and make those changes ahead of time. A good practice is to give time for people to read ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) of your book. This allows you to receive critical feedback and make necessary changes before the book is published.

New Book in Series

If you want to add a chapter or two of a new book in a series at the back of your book, that is a good time to do a second edition. Also, your contact information might change, although if that is the only change, then you might just want to quietly update that in your current edition.

Process of Creating New Edition

Creating the second edition of a book, technically, requires you to set up a whole new book. This means that you need a new ISBN and a new listing for the book, and those files need to be uploaded. Once the new edition is released, you can stop the prior edition's production and distribution. This also allows you to re-release your book to a new audience. If you have a special new cover and people like your book, they may want to buy the second edition of your book.

There are some other practical reasons to have a second edition. If your first edition had some unfavorable reviews by trolls and it's hurting your sales, creating a second edition gives you essentially a clean slate. If you had hundreds of positive reviews, unfortunately, it will be like you are starting over. You can have them linked if you prefer on Amazon, but it is a process that you will have to contact KDP about to get done. With KDP, it can be a flip of a coin whether the books connect or not.

The decision to create a new edition shouldn’t be taken lightly. It will cost money, and it can negatively affect your brand and the sale of your book. Ask other authors for their opinions and their experiences.

Do you have a second edition of your book? If so, what was your experience?

About John

John Peragine has published 14 books and ghostwritten more than 100 others. He is a contributor for HuffPost, Reuters, and The Today Show. He covered the John Edwards trial exclusively for Bloomberg News and The New York Times. He has written for Wine Enthusiast, Grapevine Magazine, Realtor.com, WineMaker magazine, and Writer's Digest.

John began writing professionally in 2007, after working 13 years in social work and as the piccolo player for the Western Piedmont Symphony for over 25 years. Peragine is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. You can learn more about his books at JohnPeragineBooks.com. 

His newest book, Max and the Spice Thieves, is available for purchase. Click Here!

by Ellen Buikema

I was privileged to work in a co-operative preschool for six years that allowed for teacher autonomy. (Bless them.) This was the stage of my career where I learned the “And then what happened?” method of storytelling. These kids were phenomenal writing teachers!

Let me explain...

My classroom consisted of several centers of activity that allowed for maximum creativity, keeping in mind that everyone learns in a different manner. At the Pre-K stage many were full-body learners who really threw themselves into their play, sometimes literally.

Typical centers in this type of classroom are: math, science, art, fine motor, gross motor, housekeeping (which in this school changed themes monthly and was a real eye-opener), reading, and writing.

Often the writing centers consisted of a table with a variety of paper types as well as writing implements. I changed this up a bit to include story writing to be acted in play form at the end of the students’ day.

At a separate desk lay a numbered piece of paper with lines drawn for the students to print their names to the best of their ability. Students were encouraged to ask for help from an adult or other student. A few had good fine motor skills by age five.

After several spots were taken, either my assistant or I sat with the students and wrote either like the wind, trying to keep up with their thoughts or sentence by painful sentence as the children decided what they wanted to say. This is where I began the “And then what happened?” system of drawing a story to its conclusion.

The students needed to identify the characters in their stories, give them names, and find classmates who were willing to act in their plays. If a classmate declined there was to be no pouting, just go on to another friend. The teachers were sometimes asked to act. I have played multiple roles over the years. The oddest of which was playing a dog in a vet’s office. I died in that role.

I still use the method of “And then what happened?” to this day. It proved invaluable during National Novel Writing Month.

 5 Recurring topics in children's writing

Over the years I've seen several common themes in the stories that children have dictated.

The hero

The author of the story is the main protagonist who tends to save either friends, pets, or both. Stories with animals are common, and pets were very important to the young children I’ve worked with. The antagonist in the stories composed by four and five-year-old children is most often a natural phenomenon like hurricanes, tornadoes, or volcanoes. The next likely antagonist is a dangerous animal, either living or extinct. Dinosaurs are awesome antagonists.

Television characters

Whatever cartoons are popular at the time are often used in dictated stories. The children take the same roles as the cartoon characters down to the exact personalities and actions—a good reason to monitor the TV.

At the time my students acted out stories with the characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I only paid peripheral attention to the program until I wrote out the stories. The names of all the turtles are fine, Italian artists. Figuring out how to make the turtle’s sewer in the scene was tricky. The authors eventually opted to use an invisible sewer.

Acting out fears

The main themes displayed for fear were bullying and loss.  A friend moving away was how loss was most frequently expressed. As moving is common and stressful, it makes sense that children would choose this theme to help work through what may be happening to them. In these stories the child moving offered to return and to have their friends come to visit.

Bullying was difficult to cast as no one wanted to be the “bad guy.” So, the bully was often an invisible foe that the characters could see. Interestingly, the teachers were never asked to be the bully.

Vacations

Vacation stories were rarely family vacations. Generally, vacations were taken with friends and favorite stuffed animals substituting as pets. Favorite settings were the beach, Disneyland, Disneyworld, and Legoland.

Not a lot of drama in these stories. Mostly action and short on dialogue.

A day in the life

Doctor and dentist office visits were common themes although these were not always human-on-human. Sometimes animal patients visited animal doctors and dentists and checkups were happy ones. The classroom had a play doctor’s bag and a real stethoscope. Temperature, blood pressure checking and heart monitoring were great fun and would happen spontaneously during the school day, not only during scenes.

Other scenes took place in airports, veterinarian’s office, restaurants, and home.

The only gender stereotyping was for parents. Boys chose to be dads and girls chose to be moms. At one time or another, everyone was a ninja turtle.

Everything you can think of that happens at home eventually finds its way into the classroom.

Check out this link for more information about Creative Drama and Young Children: The Dramatic Learning Connection.

Another form of communication I've tried is through drawing. When children have been unable or unwilling to express their feelings, I've asked them to draw a picture. Later, they would tell me more about it.

Once a child in my Resource Specialist Program (RSP) classroom was having an unusually difficult day. I asked him to stop his math lesson, which was going nowhere for him, and draw what he was feeling. After I saw that picture, I totally understood why he was sullen. The illustration showed a large head with a corona of fire spewing forth. Poor guy had a horrible headache.

This relates directly to writer-illustrators. A picture really can express the equivalent of a few paragraphs of prose. 

Think back to your childhood. What type of stories and plays did you create? Do you have other themes to add to the list? Please share them with us down in the comments!

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, Parenting: A Work in Progress, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon, a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are, The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA fantasy.

Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by free stock photos from www.picjumbo.com from Pixabay

By Kris Maze

Writing a novel can be daunting and writers can get stuck on that first draft. Why not liven up your writing by taking your characters on a Road Trip this summer? By now you may have enjoyed summer plans yourself. Don’t forget to take along your characters, too. If you are having trouble making your characters come alive, giving them a vacation just may do the trick. In this post, you will find 30 writing prompts to help you imagine the characters of your current Work in Progress (WIP) and how they would react.

You may wonder whether spending time on writing prompts is worth your limited Write Time and energy. Wouldn’t writing more on the novel be more productive? Perhaps. But digging deep into what your characters would do in situations outside your book setting can illuminate their actions in your novel.

How these prompts can add life to your current writing project:

1. Add depth to existing characters by learning how they react in a variety of unexpected situations.
2. Form interesting details or side stories the enhance your novel.
3. Flesh out the motivation and psychological profile of your characters as they react and share feelings in a variety of scenarios.
4. Create smaller pieces of writing that can be used in your Author Business. Think about how you can use what you create while road tripping with your characters.

Some suggestions:

• Have a character take over your newsletter and share what they did this summer.
• Add pictures and vignettes to social media posts.
• Create teasers for book promotion
• Make these into short stories to use as author giveaways.
• Add interesting talking points for doing author talks and promotion events.
• Use the side stories in blog posts or your author website.

Try a few of these writing prompts and see whether it makes a difference in your Work in Progress!

WIP Writing Prompts–Summer Edition

The Gas Station

1. Fuel Dilemma. Your characters are about to go through the deserts of Nevada and are nearly out of gas. Alas, they are in Oregon where they cannot pump their own fuel and the nearest gas station for 300 miles is closed. Write how each of your characters feels at that moment. what conversation do they have and what do they do next?
2. Endless Flavor. At a gas station, your characters find a fountain drink machine with ENDLESS FLAVORS and a sign encouraging them to experiment with mixing them together. What would your characters each make?
3. Maintenance Required. Their car breaks down in a remote town and the only mechanic around is a reliable, elderly woman. Write a conversation between your characters and the mechanic describing what happened to the car and how they will fix it.
4. Tire Jack. A tire explodes while driving down Route 66. How a person reacts to this unexpected event can reveal a ton about your WIP’s characters. Describe changing a tire in this scene and demonstrate what each character feels with actions only.
5. Pick your Shotgun Buddy. Your Main Character gets to choose a handful of people to take on this road trip. Who do they pick and describe why they make the cut?
6. Radio Roulette. Spin the analogue or digital dial and describe what music becomes stuck while your characters are driving in the car. Imagine they have to listen to this type of music (or perhaps just one annoying song?) for the entire trip. How do your characters act and what actions to they take as a result?
7. Potty Breaks! How does your driver in this scenario feel about stopping for the bathroom? Describe a scene about inconveniences and play on their conflict of interests.
8. Souvenirs. Are these mementos treasured nostalgic reminders of places they’ve been, or clutter-producing junk? Which unlikely place do your characters buy souvenirs? Who do they buy them for and what is their motivation? Is it a joke or sentimental gift? Serious or sarcastic?
9. Geo Cache. One of your characters likes treasure hunts and stumbles across a Geo Cache. They each leave a note and a gift that represents them.
10. Expired? Your characters browse the gas station for snacks and find an item of historical significance randomly on the shelf. What is the item and what do your characters do with it? What happens to them as a result?

The Great Outdoors

1. Camping Chores. Your characters are camping. Some are excited about being in nature, but some loathe the experience. Assign each of your characters a camping duty and describe the scene, using some dialogue and actions to show how they feel about each job. Use some of these common camping tasks or create your own.
   • Setting up a tent
   • Starting a campfire
   • Planning a hike
   • Packing the car,
2. Mosquitos! Your camp is overrun by tiny insects! Ants nibble away your characters’ food supplies, tics burrow into their flesh, and various winged insects constantly bite at them. How do your clever characters handle the bug situation without using insecticides or renting a hotel room?
3. Burn Ban. Your characters want to hold a bonfire, but cannot. They are allowed to float candles in a metal tub of water instead. How do each of your characters react to the candlelight version of this camping classic?
4. Camp Food. What does each character bring to eat? Does it fit the camping motif? How do they eat it (or not depending on whether they prepared appropriately)? How does each character like their experience?
5. Nature. Pick a natural structure for your group to visit. A waterfall, geyser, mountain peak or cave structure. Perhaps a flower-filled meadow is their cup of tea. Take us on a sensory walk as you describe what they see and hear. What scents and temperatures do they experience? How does their visit make them feel?
6. Backpack. What does each character take along for a day trip? Are they adequately prepared? Or do they bring items that don’t make sense? Pick things each character would logically have and include it in a scene that reveals their items.
7. Unexpected Visitor. It’s late in the night and something goes BUMP in the dark. Who, or what, is it and how do your characters react?
8. Camp Songs. Each character is asked to share a song. What song does each character pick? Why does it fit their personality and background? Show this in a scene.
9. Snoring. Someone in the camp is sawing logs at midnight and keeping everyone else awake. Which of your characters is it? How do the others handle the disturbance?
10. Trying Something New. Each character has to go outside their comfort zone during this trip. What activity does each character try? Are they successful? What do they learn or feel as a result?

The Beach

1. Sandy Toes. Do your characters love the feel of sand on their feet or despise the dirty stickiness of the entire experience? Describe how each feels, giving them a reason they have to spend the day at the beach, regardless of whether they love or hate it.
2. Wedding Bells. Two of your characters are suddenly getting hitched, and the beach is the best venue. Who’s tying the knot and what made the beach their go-to venue? Who attends and who officiates? Write a scene and include these details.
3. Sun or Shade. Which do your characters prefer and why? Make a scene and include the cabanas or beach towels on the wide-open sands.
4. Suits. Does your character like a 2-piece or prefer to stick to the literal suit and tie? Describe each character’s outfits on their sandy retreat.
5. Snacks and Refreshments. Part of any good beach day is not having to go far for a bit to eat. What do your characters pack in their cooler? What do they nosh on and what are their preferred beverages?
6. Water Bodies. Where do your characters prefer to go? A bubbling brook or deep mountain lake? A weedy, secluded pond or the wild, wavy ocean? Which body of water do each of your characters prefer and how does it reflect their personality?
7. Sunset or Sunrise? What does your character prefer? When faced with a choice, when does your group meet for an event, and why? Write a scene where they are all together at one.
8. Vendors. A random vendor passes your characters and offers them their goods. This vendor does not sell typical popsicles and bottles of pop. What do they sell and what are your characters willing to purchase?
9. First Aid. One of your characters gets hurt. What happened and to which character? Is the cause a 3^rd degree sunburn caused by an ill planned nap? A jellyfish sting or worse shark attack? Does someone twist an ankle during beach volleyball? Who is the first to respond and how do your characters react? Write a scene around this event.
10. Picnic. A benevolent stranger leaves a basket of goodies. It is filled with activities for each character to play. What is in the basket for each character and how do they respond?

That is enough fun and games for this edition of Character Vacations, dear writer friends. I hope you are relaxing and reveling in wordsmith adventures this summer. 

If you want to challenge yourself this September to dig deep into your writing process, check out my time management and writing productivity classes. This three-class series is half-off on my website (listed under Productivity Coaching) and we're going to have an amazing time.

Do you use writing prompts? When do you turn to them and which do you find the most helpful? What helps you get more vitality into your Works in Progress? We'd love to hear all about it down in the comments!

About Kris

Kris Maze has worked in education for 25 years and writes for various publications including Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners of Spanish and award-winning blog Writers in the Storm where she is also a host. You can find her brief horror stories and keep up with her author events at her website.

A recovering grammarian and hopeless wanderer, Kris enjoys reading, playing violin and piano, and spending time outdoors with her family. She also ponders the wisdom of Bob Ross.

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Interested in organizing your writing life?

Do you want help examining your priorities and scheduling your writing projects? The online-live 3-class series, Productivity Coaching with Kris, begins September 2021.

During this series, we will refine your writing priorities and create a strategy for achieving a more satisfying flow in your author life. Sign up any time in August to get 50% off this course! Find more information here or contact Kris Maze through her website.

Interested in quick reads?

The first 3 episodes for two of Kris' dystopian YA books are available now on Kindle Vella!

Aurora and Watertown: Aurora, a fishermen's daughter, struggles after causing an accident that harmed her brother. When her father leaves, Aurora's ostentatious rich aunt stays with her. But who is watching over whom? While running their fish shop, Aurora discovers clues to a hidden mythical substance that could change her fate, heal her dying brother, and restore the future of their wharf town. She must find it before the Shipping Merchant's heir, Oden, who follows her for unknown reasons.

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Athena and the Apocolypse: Achieving Broadcasting Greatness is a difficult feat, especially when your metropolis is about to be destroyed by an asteroid called The Horsemen. Follow Athena, AKA Downtown Girl, as she navigates the story of a lifetime, discovers a Secret Food Revolution, and evades entrapment by the mad scientist leading it. As she investigates, using all the cunning talents she can muster, she discovers the keys to her mysterious past, and perhaps open portals a better future.

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B093FFDP6F