By Cara Putman, @cara_putman
When you’ve been writing a while, you will reach a point where magic happens when publishers return your rights to you.
It’s a magical opportunity.
It can also be daunting.
Here are four questions to ask yourself when you’re deciding what to do (if anything) with your backlist.
- Do you want to become a hybrid author?
It can seem like a simple question. You’ve already written the book. It’s already been edited. Readers have already found it. So why not put it back up? There’s an array of skills you will need to acquire or outsource. The first question though remains: do you even want to self-publish your backlist? What is your why? If you don’t know your why, you can spend a lot of time and money spinning your wheels and growing frustrated. For me it was simple: I loved these books. I also had someone who came alongside me to get me started (Thank you, Lacy!) and that helped immensely.
- What skills do you already have?
Marketing: Are you comfortable creating marketing images in canva, photoshop, or other tools? Do you love at least one area of social media? Do you have a network of editors and more you can turn to when you need help with something (editing, proofing, creating covers, audiobooks, etc.)?
Formats: What formats do you want your book/s available in? Ebook? Print? Audio? Is there another format you’ve wanted to try? Each type of book has a different set of challenges. Uploading the print book in KDP is simple until I get to the cover…don’t ask me why ☺, but that is one aspect that always takes me longer. If you want to do audio, will you royalty split or pay upfront? Will you do Audible exclusively or also use Findaway Voices? Advertising: Are you just going to post the book and see who finds it? Or will you try advertising? Where? How much? When? Etc.
Editing: Even the best book needs one more look. Contemporaries may need to have technology updated. Historicals may contain elements you want to reconsider. Maybe your writing style has grown and changed.
Covers: Covers make or break books. I choose to pay to have covers created. Many of my friends have the ability and eye to create their own. Which bucket do you fall into? Do you have the budget to pay someone?
- What skills will you need to acquire?
See the list above. You can choose to do these skills yourself. Or you may outsource them. But you’re going to need to acquire them to successfully relaunch your book. Know what your budget is and what you can or are willing to invest. For me, I took one year and invested a chunk of money in audiobooks because I could tell from my traditionally published books that my books were doing well in audio. Then I had to choose how I was going to do it. I chose to pay the narrators up front. Many of my friends took a royalty split. You’ll have to decide what works for you. I switched out of Audible only because I wanted my audiobooks available in libraries. That may be different for you. Either way you need to wrestle with these questions and decide what’s right for you and your book.
- How does republishing your backlist build into your overall plan?
I was very intentional in rereleasing my backlist. I had two purposes:
- Fill traditional publishing holes. I had some gaps between books, and this allowed me to continue to roll out content for my current readers with books that were new to them.
- I also tested if there was a market for WWII novels I still want to write.
Be intentional about knowing your why and how republishing your books fits into that plan.
I’d love to know how you’ve used your backlist if you republished it.
If they expected silence, they hired the wrong woman.
Caroline Bragg’s life has never been better. She and Brandon Lancaster are taking their relationship to the next level, and she has a new dream job as legal counsel for Praecursoria—a research lab that is making waves with its cutting-edge genetic therapies. The company’s leukemia treatments even promise to save desperately sick kids—kids like eleven-year-old Bethany, a critically ill foster child at Brandon’s foster home.
When Caroline’s enthusiastic boss wants to enroll Bethany in experimental trials prematurely, Caroline objects, putting her at odds with her colleagues. They claim the only goal at Praecursoria is to save lives. But does someone have another agenda?
Brandon faces his own crisis. As laws governing foster homes shift, he’s on the brink of losing the group home he’s worked so hard to build. When Caroline learns he’s a Praecursoria investor, it becomes legally impossible to confide in him. Will the secrets she keeps become a wedge that separates them forever? And can she save Bethany from the very treatments designed to heal her?
This latest romantic legal thriller by bestseller Cara Putman shines a light on the shadowy world of scientific secrets and corporate vendettas—and the ethical dilemmas that plague the place where science and commerce meet.
“Intriguing characters. Romantic tension. Edge-of-your-seat suspense. And a fast-paced ending that will leave you exhausted (in a good way!).” —Robert Whitlow, award-winning author of Promised Land
Since the time she could read Nancy Drew, Cara has wanted to write mysteries. In 2005 she attended a book signing at her local Christian bookstore. The rest, as they say, was history. There she met a fellow Indiana writer Colleen Coble. With prompting from her husband, Cara shared her dream with Colleen. Since those infamous words, Cara’s been writing award-winning books. She is currently marketing book 36 and dreaming up future books, not hard when she sees what-ifs everywhere.
Cara Putman is an active member of ACFW and gives back to the writing community through her service on Executive Board. She has also been the Indiana ACFW chapter president and served as the Area Coordinator for Indiana.
Cara is also an attorney, full-time lecturer at a Big Ten university, and all-around crazy woman. Crazy about God, her husband and her kids that is. She graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Go Huskers!), George Mason Law School, and Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management. You can learn more about Cara at www.caraputman.com.
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