To Unpublish or not to Unpublish....

[Gail]

I wondered if there were any other authors who could give me some advice. I have published eight novels and six are doing very well (good enough for me!), but two books that I had written several years ago and published last year are not. Both received a couple of terrific reviews right off, then nothing and no sales. I notice readers on KU Select read a few pages or a chapter or two and quit. I have tried 'improving' them without spending time re-doing the entire books and that hasn't helped.

Since my other books are doing well, I hate to have a reader look at those two books and judge the others from those. I can easily unpublish them on Amazon, but GRs won't let you remove books once posted here.

Has anyone else decided to unpublish a book? Like I said, the few reviews I got (4 & 3) were great. I just don't know what would be best, leave them or unpublish them. Thanks so much for your thoughts. Gail

[Phillip]

I would keep them. It shows your growth as an author. Likely any new readers are attracted to your later works, so these first books won't be first impressions.

[Natalie]

Is there any reason that you don't want to spend time re-doing the entire book and re-publishing it? That might be your best option. Short of that, there are pros and cons to doing both:

Leaving them up would mean that you still have those good reviews to your name, it would show that you've written many books (although that's less necessary given you have 6 other books), it shows your improvement as a writer, and leaves open the possibility of new readers finding and enjoying the books.

Taking them down would mean that (as you mentioned) you don't need to worry about a reader getting a bad first impression of your writing from them, and you don't have a book that's not selling well attached to your name (at least not on Amazon; I suppose Goodreads leaving the books up takes away this perk). Those are all the perks I can personally think of.

All that being said, I would probably either re-work the books and re-launch them, or I would just leave them up. As long as they aren't getting bad reviews, they aren't harming anything. Most readers will gravitate to your newer works anyway, then work their way through the backlist if they like your writing.

[Gail]

Thank you Phillip and Natalie for your helpful replies. It was both your pros and cons that have me tossed, Natalie. I don't think it's standard practice to unpublish books, so I've been conflicted. I suppose someday, I could re-do the entire book but in my mind (while currently working on the next two), I would rather spend time on new books....probably for Phillip's point - I have grown as a writer, so why go backwards?

I suppose it would've been far more helpful if a few readers left bad reviews so I could understand exactly what they didn't like, but...it isn't their job to give us advice, only their opinions:) Thanks so much for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated!!! Have a great weekend!

[Todd]

My take is it would be one thing if you had in hand negative reader reports and/or you were aware of specific weaknesses or shortcomings in the books. That would seem to me to be cause to consider reworking and re-releasing them soon.

Instead you have a handful of positive reader reactions. And while the abortive KU reads might seem concerning, I would equate it more to people "just browsing" at the library stacks or a magazine stand since KU fosters that caliber of flexibility without imposing added costs on the browser.

It's safe to say plenty of authors with a growing backlist have earlier works that don't perhaps reflect the writer they've evolved to. Some readers find attraction for those works instead of being deterred by them. They genuinely enjoy sampling how a writer has grown over their career.

I'd vote for keeping your backlist intact. Let them pull whatever weight they can muster. Perhaps some circumstance down the road will offer up a logical opportunity to "freshen" the older books, in whatever fashion you see best or appropriate. That might give you a chance to revisit a rework of substance.

[Gail]

Thank you for your comments, Todd. I think I will give it more time to see if anything new comes of it, good or bad. I appreciate it!

[Gail]

I have 'unpublished' an entire series because the titles and cover images were aimed at the wrong genre. The books are science fiction but my titles apparently read 'romance' to potential readers. After I re-titled and re-published them, I had the same issue. Although Goodreads doesn't allow removing them totally (neither does Amazon) there is a shelf in the author's dashboard titled 'withdrawn or discontinued from publication' and you can move the books to it. It is a painstaking job. You do have to keep checking back to make sure Goodreads actually moved them, but it is possible.

[Gail]

Thank you, Gail...I'll keep that in mind! I didn't know about that on GRs.

[Catherine]

Gail, How about going wide with them and making them free? This way, they may attract readers to your other books.

[Gail]

Hi Catherine, that's a great idea but...I'm worried readers don't like them, which is why I was thinking of unpublishing. That could turn them off of my other books. Unless I let them know they were the first two books I wrote? Hmmmm. I'm going to ponder that idea. Thank you!

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

I have unpublished a few short stories. I did it because they never sold and when I had them free a few copies would go out, followed by a poor review. I'd say if you've gotten some good reviews on your books and a few sales, why not keep them up?

I'm not a fan of writers rewriting and republishing what they've already published, especially since you had good reviews on them. Look at KU as someone browsing your books in a bookstore. Just because someone puts a book back on the shelf is no reason to think it's not good enough for someone else.

[Gail]

Thanks, Dwayne. I don't have the energy to rewrite/republish the books, especially since I wrote them years ago. I'm overthinking it, I guess. They have a few really good reviews which helps me. I just didn't want to disappoint new readers. I appreciate your comments.

[Anna]

I've come a bit late to this, so sorry.

I don't know if someone else has already said this but it is possible to do what you have done, i.e. make alterations and reupload to Amazon (not sure about anywhere else) and this can be good. Then change the cover - and rewrite the blurb. I'd be loathe to unpublish, especially as you don't have bad reviews.

I've changed a cover and rewritten blurbs several times for all my books.

It looks like you might need to add a bit of action or interest to the early chapters. Maybe all this can be done bit by bit so that it doesn't become too onerous. Then when done, you can reupload. In the meantime, just let them lie fallow.

[Gail]

:) Thank you, Anna. I appreciate your input. I'll let them lie for now, but I'm going to revisit them and see what I can do.

[Anna]

We must tell these books whose in charge! You'll attend to them when you feel like it!! And waiting is good for them.

[Robert]

My approach would be if I was proud of my work, I'd keep them. I've unpublished a few of my early books because they ceased to reflect my skills and intent. I want my readers to get my best stuff.

[Andrea]

I've only written and had one book published so far, and I've had some good reviews, and some not so good. I have literally had every star rating - right from one star to five. I don't mind this, as it stops anyone from thinking I'm paying people to give me brilliant reviews.
Some people have enjoyed my book more than others. As an author, you're never going to please everybody.

I am in the middle of writing another book, so it will be interesting to see what people make of it when it comes out.

Last of all, congratulations on getting so many books published. I need to get a move on with mine ha ha

[Malcolm]

I have to agree with Andrea here. A few bad reviews does not ruin you, but makes you more authentic. I am in the camp of not unpublishing but it's up to the individual. I've done it before and confused buyers on which to buy because older versions kept showing up. I finally got them removed, except for one that I published with a company earlier. I am on my 5th book.

[Gail]

Thank you, Andrea, I wrote a few books long before I gathered the nerve to start publishing them last year. A few others are new. It does help to have more than one book available to readers, I've found, but don't rush it. Quality is always more important than quantity.

Since these two books received a few good reviews from readers, not friends, I'm going to keep them up. But I will definitely heed a bad review and take another look at them. Thanks all!

[Andrea]

I did recently come across a review of my book where the reader said that even their seven year old couldn't finish it. Reviews like that can be hurtful, but it would be arrogant of me to think that all readers would enjoy my work.

I will definitely take your advice about not rushing to get any of my books written and published.

[Catherine]

Gail, It was the fact that you said the reviews you had for these books were good that made me think you shouldn't unpublish them. I note that you write historical romance which is my main genre too and I think that there are certain historical periods that have greater appeal to readers than others. So if your less popular books don't fall into these periods, that could be why they don't attract as much interest from readers as your other books do. And that's why I thought making them free might attract readers who wouldn't consider reading them if they were priced.

[Gail]

Another author/friend mentioned the genre may be the problem, Catherine. One of the covers isn't so great, either, so that's probably an issue. After you mentioned offering free copies, I've been thinking about offering them for free on Voracious Readers Only in exchange for reviews, which I used when I first started publishing. That might help me to find a few interested readers who could help me figure out exactly what is wrong with them. Thank you very much.

[Valerie]

Once I found out self-publishing on Amazon was a thing, I didn't just publish my latest writings, but also slight reworkings of some older stories I'd had hanging around on my computer for years. They're not quite as good as some of my later works (at least in my opinion) but they're good enough and I think they deserve to be out there in the world. They don't get read much, but at least they're there. I don't think I would ever remove them. In your shoes, with reviews on them, I certainly wouldn't, but that's just my opinion.

I'm the same with my fanfiction, actually, which of course has no monetary worth at all. I leave the older works there for people to read, even though they're not anywhere near as good as my newer pieces, because that was the best I could do at the time, and I like that the progression of my writing shows in that way.

Just my two-penn'orth, since you asked :)

[G.R.]

I agree with what others have said here. It would be a mistake to unpublish unless you were unhappy with the quality of the final product. A lot of your personal time and effort goes into crafting a book. Just because it isn't selling as much as your earlier works doesn't mean there is something inherently wrong with it! You can't expect every title to sell the same because readers are attracted to different things. Even best-selling authors have published books that don't do as well as the first few titles that earned them their acclaim in the first place.

Don't give up on your work. Selling some is better than selling none. As someone else said, you can try making smaller changes, like rewriting the blurb or redesigning the cover. You can try advertising on different book sites than you have in the past to see if that shakes up some new sales.

Good luck.

[JAKe]

Andrea,
There can be a multitude of reasons a 7 y o could not finish your book and they don't have to be due to dislike. You must realize that. I assume the one placing the review also didn't finish it. Reasons, as I'm sure you know, can be sentence structure, hard to understand idioms or similes, poor punctuation. The list could go on. There is so much that goes into a story that helps make it flow, making it a joy to read.

[J.N.]

It probably boils down to time. Do you want to spend the time writing the next book, or spend it reworking a prior book?