Friday, June 1, 2012

Why re-release an OOP book?

First of all, my novel, JENNIFER ANISTON IS MY BEST FRIEND, is now available on Kindle and soon will be on Nook.  Yay!  It's got a cool cover and everything.

It was originally published as LOVE, MEG back in 2007.  It went out of print (OOP in pub-speak) in late 2009 and the rights reverted back to me a few months later when I requested them from the publisher.

So why I am re-releasing it now? And in fact, why would anyone re-release a book that has gone out of print?

Well, for one thing, not many people have seen it.  Clearly!  Or else the book might not have gone out of print in the first place.  Every year, thousands of books are released by the Big Six publishers and thousands more by small and independent presses.  It's just a fact of publishing life that not every author will get a share of the marketing pie.  There are only so many spots on that Barnes & Noble table, after all. I don't believe MEG got the push it needed to get into readers' hands.

Secondly, more people have e-readers than ever before and they are always hungry for new material to read (I know I am!).  Because I am publishing this independently, I have the ability to price the book at a more-than-reasonable 99 cents.  How's that for a deal?  Seriously, I'm not trying to get over on anyone.  I know the book was previously released so I think a buck is a decent price. Anything to get more people reading it.

For a third reason, I never liked the title it came out with.  It was okay but it didn't really convey what the book was about. Way too many people commented that it sounded like a romance (and then they were disappointed it wasn't!) or that it was too generic and bland. I understand that. Which is why I wanted to go back to my original title, JENNIFER ANISTON IS MY BEST FRIEND, in much the same way I reverted to FAT GIRLS IN LA for the VEE novel. The titles are eye-catching and thought-provoking and they make you want to pick them up for a look-see.

And finally...yeah, I like this story.  I like FAT GIRLS too. I want other people to see them and get to know them. I felt bad for my books when they went OOP. They were like my children who got rejected from a good college. I kept thinking, "No, give them a chance! They're hard workers and funny and sweet. They may be smaller than the other kids but they're just as smart."

You never want to see your kids rejected. So now I have the opportunity to send them off to school in my own way.