I am working on revising a book
I published in 2014. It is taking far longer than I would have liked, and at
least every couple of days I ask myself if its worth it. It is common to issue
revised editions of books from traditionally published authors, at least for
non-fiction, which is the genre my book is in as well. But as a self-published
author, it may not really make a lot of commercial sense to spend time writing
something that I have already published, especially when there is often a lot
of pressure to publish new books consistently and often.
The book in question is based
on my Master’s thesis, and has already been revised once - when I was
converting it to a book. At the time the book was published initially, I was
new to being an author, and had a lot to learn. Although I am proud of the
research I did and my conclusions, the book itself needed work. As I read more
non-fiction, as well as books on craft, I realized that if I wanted to reach a
wider audience, I would need to revise the book and make it more accessible. In
particular, I found Scott Norton’s book on developmental editing invaluable.
Sometime last year I took a
closer look at the book and revised the structure to make it flow better, and
to combine ideas that were spread around the book in some instances, and break
up others that were clumped together. It was a difficult process because this
was so new to me and I was grappling with such new skills, but when the pieces
finally clicked into place, I was reminded why exactly I love writing - for the
feeling of solving a difficult jigsaw puzzle.
Unfortunately, its since taken
me months to get going on the revision - mostly because there were other
important projects in the way, and generally life. It was hard to justify the
time spent on an old book when new ones, some half-written, beckoned. Also
because, again as an independent author, spending time on commercial projects
or focusing on marketing and sales seems more pragmatic than reworking
something that may not lead to any justifiable commercial or concrete gains.
This sort of thinking is inevitable for a working creative who has multiple
demands on their time, but to be honest I hated thinking of my work in that
way. I think of myself as an artist, and surely spending the time to improve my
art would be worth my time? Or if I wanted to think in a more pragmatic
mind-set, surely learning how to improve one book would teach me how to write
the next one better, and that of course would be worth it.
Why am I writing all this down?
Why would this be of interest to anyone else? Well partly I hope that this blog
gives a real insight into the life of a working writer or creative
professional. Unfortunately, in order to come across with any sense of authority,
sometimes it is hard to admit to doubts, or mis-steps or creative failures
publicly. It is easier to claim that each project was perfect from the start,
that each phase was effortless and that one’s creative success was an
inevitable consequence of one’s creative genius. That is certainly not the case
for me, and I like to think that isn’t the case for many others as well.
In the world of software,
iteration is a common concept. You start with something, and you keep working
on it, adding, tinkering, till it gets much better. Sometimes, quite often, you
put it out as a product or a feature, and keep improving it and working on it.
As an indie author, I think that should be closer to our style of working - do
the best you can the first time, but keep working on improving your skills and
if you think something needs re-working, don’t be afraid to scrap what you had
and start over. I know many authors periodically refresh their covers and book
descriptions, but I think we shouldn’t be afraid to do more than that if
warranted.
Back to my book - I am now
making the revision of this book a priority. It took a while to get back into
the rhythm and thought process for the book, as its a technical topic and I had
spent so much time away from it that some of the mental circuits had gotten
rusty. But now finally the revision is humming along, albeit with a few
hiccups. I remembered how much I enjoyed researching and writing this book, and
sometimes the challenge is to stop myself from wanting to get lost again in that
research, instead of doing only what is absolutely needed to get it done
quickly, while still rewriting the material to make it a better book.
Solo
entrepreneurs and indie authors share in common a specific struggle - knowing
what to prioritize. Having a boss can be annoying, but the upside is that
someone decides for you what to work on, and what not to bother with. I don’t
have that problem (or benefit) and need to decide for myself what is and isn’t
worth my time, and given that time is always the one thing all of us struggle
with needing more of, its tough to know sometimes how to allocate it. The
important thing I have found, is that I don’t regret spending time on projects
that take my skill and craft forward, and help me to become a better writer.
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