Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Updates? Changes? Can I Stop Now???




I just heard from my editor that my one novel still in print, Saving Jake, is being turned into an e-book. My editor sent me an e-mail asking me to let her know about any changes I wanted to make for the new format. The question now is, should I?

Saving Jake was written over a 14-year stretch, and debuted nearly 10 years ago. During that time-span, technology has taken about 30 giant steps forward, and the book is rapidly becoming a period piece. This was before the explosion of kids owning Ipads, Ipods, and cell phones. So do I replace all references to CD's and CD players? Should my main character be writing all his papers on his own notebook instead of the family computer in the den? And at one point, our hero calls his ex-girlfriend on a land-line, hoping to reach the answering machine so he can communicate with her without actually talking to her. Should I instead have him time his call to her cell phone in hopes that he gets her voice mail?

If I make the changes, the book will be current, which is well and good. But if I make the changes will they show up in the print edition? I guess that's a question for my editor. I know nothing about any of this: tyrannosaurus tech, that's me. And then what about all the people who just bought the original print version of the book? I just sold a bunch of them at a school visit last week. Are they now stuck with Saving Jake, the antique edition? Perhaps that doesn't matter.

This all started with me wanting to correct a few typos that managed to slip past all of us before the book was released. Now I have wandered into an area that is posted with a sign that says "Danger! Control-Freak Minefield Ahead!" for someone like me. I know I need to make decisions about all of this. The story holds up fine, but the devil is in the details, as they say.

Change this? Tweak that?

You know, maybe I'll just go lie down...

3 comments:

  1. My advice? Change the typos and let the rest go. Sometimes when you pull a thread, you unravel too much sweater. I like Saving Jake just the way it is.

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  2. Thanks, Peg. That way I can work on more current projects, eh???

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  3. We read a lot ofbooks with the "old fashined" stuff in it so I agree that you should keep the original, with the typos corrected.

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