Forum: Author Hangout

Anyone have a 'Republished As ...' book in their library?

Vincent Berg 🚫

I'm once again considering republishing one of my older books under a new title, but ran aground when redoing the copyright page. The copyright statement itself is fairly clear, as you simply list both copyright dates (ex: "Copyright © 2012, 2018 Vincent Berg. All rights reserved"), but it makes sense to include a "Originally published as ..." statement.

If anyone has any ready examples of how the mainstream publishers handle these copyright page statements, I'd appreciate some suggestions. Unfortunately, when you search for "republished copyright" or "copyright statement", you get TONS of pages telling you that you can't copyright each specific book ever published!

Replies: Dominions Son REP

Dominions Son 🚫

@Vincent Berg

While the copyright notice is legally meaningless these days and there are no requirements on what it says to actually get a new copyright (and therefore a new expiration date) there needs to be significant revisions to the work. Simply re-titling it wouldn't qualify.

https://info.legalzoom.com/revision-book-need-copyrighted-22343.html

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫
Updated:

@Dominions Son

While the copyright notice is legally meaningless these days and there are no requirements on what it says to actually get a new copyright (and therefore a new expiration date) there needs to be significant revisions to the work. Simply re-titling it wouldn't qualify.

That's precisely what I'm doing. Revising older documents and updating them in anticipation of publishing a long-awaited sequel. Plus, for now at least, I'm planning to release these 'new titles' on an entirely new outlet (i.e. smashwords deleted all of my titles, so now, rather than simply republishing with the old title on SW, I'm taking the opportunity to replace the cludgy old title too (Clinging to Hope rather than Love and Family During the Great Death)). If I republish on a broader basis, I'll unpublish everything (like I'm planning to do with my original Catalyst series) in order to release a rewritten revision with an entirely new plot and interpretation.

I'd done something similar on lulu, and sold a grand total of 2 books, so there was little chance any of my regular readers would complain! :(

P.S. The rewrite of The Catalyst includes an entirely new main character, dealing with the same challenges that Alex did in the original series, so it's a new take on an older story, reflecting my newer writing styles.

REP 🚫

@Vincent Berg

I'm not saying that you shouldn't republish under a different title for that is your choice.

On several occasions, I bought a book that I had previously read because I didn't recognize the cover and recall the title and description. The publisher had reprinted the book using new cover art and in one case the description was new. Now the mistake was mine, but that didn't stop me from being upset.

If your readers see your name and a NEW title, they are likely to buy the book without reading the description. How are they going to feel when they recognize they bought an older story with a new name?

Ernest Bywater 🚫

I've done this a couple of times and in different ways for different reasons. Here's how I handled it:

1. Compilation - of several books

This is a compilation of the books below in the chronological order of the events in them. They follow the problems of a country fighting for it's independence, and the key parts in the lives of their warrior leaders. Some sections of duplicated background material have been deleted or amended without the loss of content to make for easier reading, but some hasn't due to how the original books were written.

A Fighting Heritage
Falcon Chick
Falcon Fledgling
The Day of Blood
The Falcon in Flight
The Shukra War
The U MAMA War
About Berant

These have also been previously published as the two anthologies:

The Falcon ISBN: 978-1-312-11804-1

The Berant - U MAMA Wars ISBN: 978-1-312-11853-9

Clan Amir of Berant
Copyright © 2007 - 2017 by Ernest Bywater as Ernest Edwards

2. 2 short stories put in the one book

This is a compilation of the previously released books:

The Zombie
Hell Hound

Copyright © 2008 by Ernest Bywater

3. Another compilation - note the last book

This is a compilation of the previously released books listed below with some other short stories added to them:

New Computing World
The CIA Exposed: The T.A.R.P. Cover up
Wrong Secrets (previously released as Roslyn Research Yields Templar Secrets)

New Computing World & other Short Stories
Copyright © 2007 by Ernest Bywater

4. Again a change in title with more added

This book is a revised combination of the following guides at recent changes to better incorporate html style sheets in the html format:

Writer Guide © by Ernest Bywater 2009
Make a Good E-pub © by Ernest Bywater 2015
Fiction Writer Style Guide © by Ernest Bywater 2016

..................

If it's just the same story with nothing extra I'd go with something like this:

Wrong Secrets (previously released as Roslyn Research Yields Templar Secrets)

...................

In each case I'd say something in the book blurb.

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫
Updated:

@Ernest Bywater

Thanks, Ernest. I have been doing something similar, but rather than analogies consisting of short stories, I'm going for Box Sets, which offers an entire series as a single download for a substantially reduced price (in exchange, I get the full price at one time, rather than waiting for readers to purchase them one at a time).

For now, I'm going with the following:

Clinging to Hope
(Originally published as Love and Family During the Great Death)

Copyright © 2012, 2018 Vincent Berg. All rights reserved.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

That looks perfectly OK, CW. It's what I've seen on some dead tree books too.

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

but rather than analogies consisting of short stories, I'm going for Box Sets

Did you mean anthologies? :)

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Dominions Son

Did you mean anthologies? :)

Yep. You can tell I haven't spent much time reading anthologies if I can't even recall the proper name. 'D

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@Vincent Berg

You can tell I haven't spent much time reading anthologies if I can't even recall the proper name. 'D

And here I thought it was just a typo. :)

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Forum: Author Hangout

Anyone have a 'Republished As ...' book in their library?

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