Annoying Dilemma
I’ve got a problem with Jake’s Last Mission, and I don’t know what to do about it.
You see, between writing it and giving it it’s final editing pass for publication, I discovered I write much better in first person. I toyed with the idea of converting it to first person, but that would’ve meant delaying its release, which would’ve meant I couldn’t have taken advantage of the two free print copies I got from CreateSpace for winning NaNoWriMo. Yes, this was a dumbass reason, considering a copy of the book only costs me $2.15 plus shipping, but I didn’t realize that at the time.
Oh well, it’s out and has gotten reviews and such, so whatever, get on with the next book, right?
That was the philosophy I was taking. Alas, I’ve since gotten two ideas for prequels. Both of them work much better in first person. In third they both are way, way too tell-y. I can’t make the emotions show without telling them from Jake’s POV, not just looking over his shoulder, but looking out of his eyes.
When I faced this same dilemma with “Once A Hero, Always A Hero,” it was easy. My only reviewer was my mother. I could account for all but about three sales personally. So I rewrote it with a clear conscience because it’s not like anybody could be mislead by reviews, you know? But with this one, I did the review group thing, a person or two found it on their own and reviewed it, so regardless of how much I revise it, people are still going to be judging it based on reviews of an earlier version, and that just doesn’t seem like it’s going to give it a fair chance.
So I don’t know what to do:
Do I leave it as it is and go ahead and write the others in first person and just let people chalk it up to Early Installment Weirdness? (Warning: TVTropes link. I am not responsible for lost productivity caused by clicking it.)
Do I leave it as is and write the others in third despite them suffering for it?
Do I take it down and release a completely rewritten version, under a different ISBN and maybe title, with a note in the front that it’s a heavily reworked version?
Do I rewrite it and just put in my description, as I’ve seen other indie authors do, “Reviews before DATE refer to an older version of the book”, despite me being annoyed by that, because it’s not like that changes the fucking average or anything?
I just don’t know. Advice?
2 Comments
Leave it alone & let it be early version weirdness
Or
Pull & re-release
In that order of preference. other listed options are too much dumbness
Leave it as written. It was a good story. Write the others from 1st pov. I’m looking forward to them. I have the same problems with things I’ve written I find I switch pov’s a lot.