I thought I’d begin by sharing a quote I saw on Twitter today by Paul Coelho. I love this author. You can find his books everywhere and he posts quotes on his Facebook and Twitter pages. 🙂 I should’ve thought of him when I wrote the post about authors I’d like to meet. Here’s his quote:
Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back.
Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person
Nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. ~Paul Coelho
But now I go forward…
A couple weeks ago I wrote a post titled Making the Old New Again about a major revision I’m doing with Cowboy Boss and his Destiny and Tristan’s Destiny in my Double Dutch Ranch Series. I had a lot of questions unanswered by the end of the post. Now I have answers.
The questions to myself or anyone who had answers:
Will this new version be a 2nd edition?
- No, this will not be a 2nd edition.
Will I delete the original 1st editions and start all over? Will retailers allow me to do this?
- Yes and no. I will re-upload over the original version of Cowboy Boss and his Destiny. TRISTAN’S DESTINY, Bonus Book 1.5 will be deleted and no longer available as a single book.
- We are allowed to delete eBooks. We cannot delete paperbacks.
Will I re-upload this over the original book #1 then delete or unpublish the original book #1.5, which doesn’t show up in my series, anyway?
- Yes. Answered above. I will not lose the Cowboy Boss reviews this way.
This wasn’t included in my questions because I knew the answer, but I’ll clarify this now. What about my reviews for Tristan’s Destiny?
- I have lost those reviews since both books are now unpublished and not available. However, I haven’t deleted the books, so reviews are still there with the unpublished files in my KDP Bookshelf in case I ever wanted to republish. I did copy them to be safe.
I will use the reviews in other ways like in the Editorial Review section on my book page where we are allowed to post snippets of a review. For those of you who have left reviews for Tristan’s Destiny, thank you. They are much appreciated. They will not go unseen.
Will I have a new cover designed?
- Yes, I already have it! ❤ ❤ My designer is amazingly fast. It took
usher three drafts. It consisted of doing a lot more than sticking new people on the cover. I’ll forever love my original cover for Cowboy Boss, but since the story has shifted, this new cover is perfect.
Did I mention this book went to the editor today? 🙂
Well, now that I’ve taken care of my own questions and answers, I must admit… It took me two weeks to decide to unpublish. Right after, I nearly hyperventilated. I had to take deep breaths and laps around my apartment. My chest hurt. I thought I might have a heart attack. Then, suddenly, the tension of making the decision rolled off my shoulders.
Revising this book was a good thing. Of course, I won’t know how others feel about it until I re-publish. What will I do if readers hate it? This is a question we ask ourselves anyway. No more questions, please (I tell myself)!
A Positive?
I got to know my characters all over again. Well, I visit with them in every book because they continue to make their appearances if only subtly. In fact, I learned something new about a few of them. After all this time, I discovered Tristan had a dark cloud hanging over him I never caught before. This was something new to use in my rewrite. The biggest shock of all? Tristan’s ranch foreman threw in a huge surprise, then it was like Hell YEAH. BINGO! Problem solved for an upcoming book.
This business is a marathon not a sprint and life is continuously changing.
Next Step?
I need to update the front and back matter to all my books. I started last night and it wasn’t a quick copy and paste thing because I also had to rewrite a bit of the front matter, part of my notes to readers, and whatever else I found to update. In the meantime, I have another hero and heroine mad at me for making them wait so long right at the most inopportune time (for them). They should be all hot and bothered by the time I get back to them. ❤
Y’all have a productive and fun week. Thanks for reading.
#MondayMotivation
Sight, and being Swept off my Feet, and I have been, and have experienced, each of these. I continue this in my writing…live for it, in fact. ❤ Many are alone on Valentine’s day for many different reasons, so why not write about being alone on this day for lovers?
Congratulations to the two Grand Prize winners who won all the books, and congrats to Kim, the winner who won a copy of my book, Whispers of Forever. 
Enjoy a surprise excerpt from Dane’s book.
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel 
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