OK, things are slightly cattywhompus, but I’m working on it! The second edition of the Healers trilogy is up in ebook form (and should be working in Kindle Unlimited). Print should follow next week, once I’ve had a chance to receive and review a proof copy of each.
Now, the unfinished part: Amazon has not yet connected the old version to the new version and is treating them like a completely separate set of books, which means the series listing and flow from one book to the next may be kind of broken (ex. if you finish book 2 in the old edition, it may not know to pop up book 3 in the new). I also hope, without a lot of confidence, that this doesn’t break KU for anyone who might be partway through.
Amazon claims this is the proper way to set this up, and that they’ll merge the two once some bot or underpaid contractor realizes they have the exact same title and author. I will give them some time to do that before I freak out. If it doesn’t happen within a couple of days, extremely politely worded emails will follow. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
As for what has changed in the new editions:
- new covers!
- nicer formatting, with different fonts on the headers:
- two typos corrected in Purpose (“breatheable” and “seashshells”, and you know these are going to haunt me because of course they will)
- both ebook and print will include content notes
- new “about” page and slightly edited notes/acknowledgements (basically to update anything about whether the next book is available)
There’s no change in the content. It’s barely enough to qualify for a new edition, but I didn’t want to run afoul of some arbitrary rule.
Fingers crossed that the system works. And if it doesn’t, I’ll poke it politely until it does. Honestly, after that I’ll probably write up an explanation of how it went, because I had trouble finding definitive info about how or whether to do this in the first place. Indie publishing! It’s like homeownership, in that you might have (an illusion of) complete control, but you’re also responsible when anything breaks! 😀
Follow-up the day after, for posterity: Following Amazon’s FAQ broke it, at least for the ebook. I did the goofy internet thing and asked on Reddit, and got some advice. It looks like the best practice is:
- Deactivate the paperback.
- Set up a new listing for the paperback, setting the edition number to 2.
- Update the ebook exactly as Amazon tells you not to do, using the old listing and the new cover/files/whatever.
- (Unconfirmed) Somehow, hopefully, the two will be connected as versions of the same book.
As of the evening of 11/17, the ebooks are updating, and I’m waiting on proofs of the print version (which, incidentally, were quite fast for me – this can vary). When those are live, we’ll see if Amazon will connect them. I’m not sure they will, but at least I haven’t lost 10 years of ratings on the ebook. Two separate listings would be annoying, but not the end of the world, I guess.
I still have to fix the series listing as well, because that swapped from the old listing to the new and now has to swap back.
But. I think we’re moving forward. I’ll see it through.
Edit, 11/18, hopefully final: Unscrewed, and none of it automatically.
I wrote up this sequence on Reddit, but let me reiterate here for posterity. Here’s how you add a new edition to a work of fiction on KDP without completely ruining your life. Thanks to u/Ok-Net-18 for getting me started.
- On the KDP dashboard, choose Unlink Books to separate the ebook from print
- Go to the now-unlinked print book and choose Archive.
- Update the ebook with new cover, interior, whatever. This should keep it at its old link/ASIN with its old ratings/reviews. [Note: The official word is that you should only do this if you’ve changed less than 10% of the content. Which is true in this case.]
- Start a new listing for the print version(s); insert 2 in the edition box. You’ll need a new ISBN (from Amazon if you’re exclusive, from the correct purveyor for your country if you’re wide).
- Get a proof, or whatever else you want to do to check it.
- Back on the dashboard, from the ebook, choose Link Existing Paperback (or Hardback or whatever)
- Find the print book you just set up.
- 🎉 Done 🎉
After ten years in this system, I never noticed the “link” and “unlink” options. Never had to! But there they are, clear as day.
Still waiting on the proof, so the print version is down. Once it’s up, I’ll have one more site-related update, and then things should settle down for a bit. Finally.