What to do about backlist titles

When you’ve been published for a while (I’m 20 years in), you inevitably get books returning to you as ‘out of print’ or they get wafted into the backwater channels of ebooks and are barely visible.

First thing to say is, of course, we always have to make way for the next big thing, just as actors make way for the up-and-comers. Publishers love the NBT. New writers come along, new fashions, speaking to new generations, but then these authors too find they are on the same tide to those backwaters. Welcome, if you are just joining the majority of us…

However, as with actors who might find a new life as a character actor or a ‘top of their craft’ name whose age doesn’t matter, there might be more to you than a brief time when publishers were super-excited about you. A reader who discovers you might well want to read through your catalogue. Or perhaps your book, which didn’t quite hit before, might have its moment now, the equivalent of Ke Huy Quan popping up as a kid in Indian Jones then winning an Oscar in 2023.

Remember, every reader is meeting you for the first time. What was exciting about you in, say, 2016, might well hit the spot with someone new in 2026 - 2036 - 2056…

So what to do?

If you are still with the same publisher, you will recognise their interest will primarily be with whatever they have on their list this year. Hopefully, a new book by you will be on it. But if you want to persuade them to promote your backlist, start a conversation about a new jacket. This is easier for digital books. Unless you are already very established and successful, it is rare for an author to earn a reprint and campaign to send it back into the shops. I’ve successfully done this once.

More attainable is a new look. Rejacketing can refresh a title and make it look part of the current market. I’ve just gone through this with my editor, the lovely Helen Williams, at HarperCollins (One More Chapter) for my Joss Stirling Jess Bridges series. The jackets for the physical books have stayed the same (they’re great but better on a book than a screen). OMC have changed the thumbnails for the ebooks to fit current genre reading trends.

Helen has also given the series a new title (we used the character’s name before) to make what is going on inside clearer. The Oxford PI.

I see it like giving the book a makeover to make people reassess it when they are swiping through for their next read.

They are all available at the moment for 99p so do give the a go if they sound like your cup of tea!

If your book has gone through the publishing cycle and is now ‘out of print’, this is the moment you can claim back the rights and do your own print-on-demand and ebook. Remember to keep hold of the last version of the book in PDF or Word doc - this always is a wrinkle, especially if you’ve moved computers. I’m getting some books back now that were out before cloud computing, when we still did paper proofs, so I’m having to hunt down the last files I have on them.

There are many ways to self-publish but the one I’ve settled on is to use Vellum to produce the PDF and ebook. I find it very easy to use and responsive. In some cases I’ve asked the original artist if I can use their cover (if they had the rights to it) or I design my own. For this I use Canva. I actually really enjoy this so it is part of the fun of the life prolonging treatment. I often use the original cover as an inspiration but sometimes I give it a complete update to what I might’ve wanted.

Sales of backlist titles are going to be marginal but at least with the self-publishing route you get the majority of it - and that will work out more than the percentage you would’ve received from the original contract.

Don’t forget to agree with your agent (if you have one) that you can do this. My agent has always been happy for me to exploit an ‘exhausted’ title in this way, understanding that their job (and payday) is to get the next deal for me for the new book. I use Amazon KDP as my main outlet for self-published backlist. It is a decidedly mixed blessing to have such a dominant player in the market but at least it does mean I’m more in control as to what I can do with my backlist in a way that didn’t exist before.

I’d love to know what others are doing to get their backlist out of the backwater. Do share your experience.

As Lent begins, don’t forget you can spend it with the Inklings (Tolkien and Lewis), in my new book, Wardrobes and Rings, co-written with Simon Horobin and Malcolm Guite.