Here’s a subject I’ve been talking about a lot of with authors lately.
When do you decide that your series has enough promise to be totally relaunched?
New covers, new titles, maybe some new edits.
And when is it time to just say, “I’m sorry. This isn’t going to work.”
It’s almost like a breakup.
This isn’t going to work out between me and you, series. I need to move on to something that’s more marketable.
So how do you decide that?
Take a look at past performance.
You want to ask yourself, “Did I have any profit when I was running, when I was running ads to this?”
You need to look at how has that sub-genre performed in the past.
If you’re in something very, very obscure that’s never been popular, it might not be worth throwing hundreds or thousands of dollars into new covers, new book descriptions, and everything else your relaunch requires.
So look at how the sub-genre has performed.
And then you need to decide, “Look. Am I willing to rewrite the first book that I ever wrote that is the first book in this series or not?”
Because if you’re so much better at storytelling by book five or six of a series, then maybe it’s worth starting fresh with a brand new book one.
Because then, you are going to be strong right from your reader’s first entry point.
And then they’re more likely to pick up the later books in the series.
Take a look at those factors:
Has the book sold decently?
Has the genre sold well?
Is it too popular? Is it not popular enough?
And am I willing to go and rewrite book one, or should I start fresh with a new book?
That should tell you whether or not to break up with your series.