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Write Faster, Write Smarter #6
Relaunch Your Novel: Breathe Life Into Your Backlist
Breathe life into your backlist Have you launched a novel, or many novels, only to have them land with a whimper? Have you had a great selling book or series slowly fade away to obscurity? What if you could relaunch those books, turning your backlist into a great source of income? You can. This book will teach
134 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2017
123 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
About the author
Chris Fox
87 books672 followersBy day I am an iPhone developer architecting the app used to scope Stephen Colbert’s ear. By night I am Batman. Ok maybe not. One can dream though, right?
I’ve been writing since I was six years old and started inflicting my work on others at age 18. By age 24 people stopped running away when I approached them with a new story and shortly thereafter I published my first one in the Rifter.
Wait you’re still reading?
Ok, the facts I’m supposed to list in a bio. As of this writing I’m 38 years old and live just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the beautiful town of Mill Valley. If you’re unsure how to find it just follow the smell of self-entitlement. Once you see the teens driving Teslas you’ll know you’re in the right place.
I live in a tiny studio that I can cross in (literally) five steps and don’t own an oven. But you know what? It’s worth it. I love developing iPhone apps and if you want to work in San Francisco you accept that rent for a tiny place costs more than most people’s mortgage.
If you and about 2 million other people start buying my books I promise to move out of Marin to a house in the redwoods up in Guerneville. No pressure. Wait that’s a lie. Pressure.
I’ve been writing since I was six years old and started inflicting my work on others at age 18. By age 24 people stopped running away when I approached them with a new story and shortly thereafter I published my first one in the Rifter.
Wait you’re still reading?
Ok, the facts I’m supposed to list in a bio. As of this writing I’m 38 years old and live just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the beautiful town of Mill Valley. If you’re unsure how to find it just follow the smell of self-entitlement. Once you see the teens driving Teslas you’ll know you’re in the right place.
I live in a tiny studio that I can cross in (literally) five steps and don’t own an oven. But you know what? It’s worth it. I love developing iPhone apps and if you want to work in San Francisco you accept that rent for a tiny place costs more than most people’s mortgage.
If you and about 2 million other people start buying my books I promise to move out of Marin to a house in the redwoods up in Guerneville. No pressure. Wait that’s a lie. Pressure.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
June 19, 2019
A great reminder of what you need to do when relaunching a book
October 17, 2017
Step by step for success
Easy, straightforward instruction to find more readers, more targeted audience, increase income, and build your author brand. I noted several things that I'm going to try.
Easy, straightforward instruction to find more readers, more targeted audience, increase income, and build your author brand. I noted several things that I'm going to try.
July 6, 2017
Like all of Chris Fox's non-fiction books, it was a worthwhile read. I need to take the time to review the strategies for my backlist and this book is going to help me a great deal. As I evolve as a writer, it is good to look back at what I've written and take the time to re-calibrate so I can better share my work with the world. Chris Fox gives writers/authors the permission and the workable guidelines to do just that. Loved the book, Relaunch Your Novel: Breathe Life Into Your Backlist (Write Faster, Write Smarter Book 6). It will serve as a great resource for me in the months ahead. Thank you, Chris!
March 15, 2018
As always, his books are fast and informative. There was less meat here, but more 'systematic approach.' As he states, this is more of a "how to manage your backlist" book, but I've marked down a couple of notes of where to go back once I'm at that point. Good info.
April 3, 2019
Direct and concise information
Chris Fox doesn't waste words or fluff up the information to make the book longer. It is a how-to manual that gets to the point with valuable advise. I like a book that delivers on the promised agenda.
Chris Fox doesn't waste words or fluff up the information to make the book longer. It is a how-to manual that gets to the point with valuable advise. I like a book that delivers on the promised agenda.
December 31, 2019
As always, Chris Fox gives a concise, yet detailed analysis of his subject while focusing on what will actually help rather than promising a magical cure-all that won't really work.
Tons of great ideas and excellent strategies here. I can't wait to start implementing them.
Tons of great ideas and excellent strategies here. I can't wait to start implementing them.
August 30, 2017
Great advice on different tactics to reboot sales of previously published books.
October 24, 2017
Short, precise and tremendously helpful.
January 4, 2018
common sense
in my opinion this was very much chock full of common sense, I was hoping for new ideas. such is life.
in my opinion this was very much chock full of common sense, I was hoping for new ideas. such is life.
August 14, 2025
Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions. I have never come across some who assumes so much and expects you to just follow them and do as they do as if you can. I'll get the good out of the way since there isn't much here. He does have some good tips on how to re-launch a book but only about two of them. I took the steps to heart and re-launched one of my books(let's see how it goes. If it tanks then I'm coming back and giving this box 1 star).
However, any chance I had of giving this book more than 2 stars went out the window when I came across this gem of a line: "I asked them to pay me what they thought my time was worth. They paid me a lot. Like way more than I ever thought I would get for an hour of my time. I started telling people that number, and much to my surprise many were willing to pay it."
Can you say egotistical toolbag? The fact that he just thinks it's okay to say hey here's what I think I'm worth and then act surprised when he gets a lot of money to do what it is he does and then he tells more people what he expects to make from them...ugh! He also says you can reach out to him but you'll likely have to fork over the same amount of money the people he mentions did...uh if I had that money then my books would be selling and I wouldn't be reading yours and I wouldn't be here bashing your shitty assumption book.
1 star
However, any chance I had of giving this book more than 2 stars went out the window when I came across this gem of a line: "I asked them to pay me what they thought my time was worth. They paid me a lot. Like way more than I ever thought I would get for an hour of my time. I started telling people that number, and much to my surprise many were willing to pay it."
Can you say egotistical toolbag? The fact that he just thinks it's okay to say hey here's what I think I'm worth and then act surprised when he gets a lot of money to do what it is he does and then he tells more people what he expects to make from them...ugh! He also says you can reach out to him but you'll likely have to fork over the same amount of money the people he mentions did...uh if I had that money then my books would be selling and I wouldn't be reading yours and I wouldn't be here bashing your shitty assumption book.
1 star
Read
July 25, 2023Chris Fox is one of the few voices in the independent publishing world that stands above the rest.
I had released my first book in my series a few years ago. Stuff happened and I didn't continue until now, although there was that nagging doubts about the shortcomings of said book.
This book was fantastic in helping me assess the problems, learn to live with certain things and take the right steps to make sure that I'm positioning myself better in this crowded market.
I had released my first book in my series a few years ago. Stuff happened and I didn't continue until now, although there was that nagging doubts about the shortcomings of said book.
This book was fantastic in helping me assess the problems, learn to live with certain things and take the right steps to make sure that I'm positioning myself better in this crowded market.
March 8, 2020
Excellent read
Very informative. Took pages of notes. Now to go and action them :). Feeling excited and grateful for the solid advice.
Very informative. Took pages of notes. Now to go and action them :). Feeling excited and grateful for the solid advice.
February 12, 2025
There's a lot of sound advice here that will give you enough to make good decisions. OTOH, some of it can be dispiriting and even depressing.
The good part? The writing is clear, examples are shown, and steps are provided to decide IF and HOW you should relaunch a book (mostly this is series-oriented). It has made me decide not to do much more with the College Fae series as it doesn't fit into what I plan on writing in the future.
I really enjoyed the case examples, even though most of them were about his own books and SF. I would like to have seen more diversity in the genres he was discussing.
To make this book a five star, I would also have preferred a few action checklists and mentions of advertising outlets other than Bookbub, Amazon, Facebook, Freebooksy, and a vampire newsletter. The back could have easily had a list of popular newsletters with links.
His idea to find book covers from deviant art is also outdated. Plenty of book cover artists are on FB who are offering pre-made covers at a lower cost. Nothing is discussed about the pitfalls of AI (probably a technology that wasn't on the horizon when he wrote this book).
Laughable was the idea you can "tinker around with Photoshop." ROFLMAO. I use Photoshop and, trust me, it is not for beginners. A better suggestion would have been Canva.
The depressing? The same write-to-market philosophy you see every get-rich-quick writer-promoter goes on and on about. The W2M that encourages mediocrity, fast writing to tropes, a genre outline of what readers want, and very generic covers. Is it a way to make money? Sure is, but is it sustainable especially with AI about to write your mediocre books in the thousands? Time will tell.
For an author who likes to write original works (like I do), this idea is discouraging and yes, depressing. The trick is to find a happy medium and most of these W2M books do not provide that (and neither does this one). It's either their plan or forget ever being seen.
The bad? Not so bad, but a little of the advice is dated. Amazon no longer allows category and keyword stuffing. That is very limited now. Also, Amazon now punishes any collections/omnibuses priced over $9.99. How much the author receives from a book over that price drops dramatically and Amazon won't organically promote it.
Nothing is discussed about other bookseller markets which I assume is covered in his Going Wide book so why he didn't put any info here.
Something I would argue with him about is book cover design. He wants all your books to have the same fonts for title and author in order for the reader to recognize your brand. LOL. Unless you are dropping the type of money McDonalds and Coca-Cola has on your advertising no casual reader is going to say "wow! That reminds me of author's so-and-so brand!"
The caveat here is that a series should absolutely have the same fonts used in title and author name, and the covers should match genre and style so they look like they belong together. BUT, having all your series look the same? Hm. As a reader, when I see ALL books look the same (but different series), I give it a hard pass. It screams boring.
But that is what the write for market crowd goes for -nothing memorable. Bubble-gum books that can be read and thrown away quickly. Appease readers who want to junk read by playing to their favorite tropes. Don't rock the boat. Do the same as the other popular authors.
Like I said, if you think about it too much you'll become very depressed as a writer who wants to develop your own voice.
Overall, a sound book but you might be able to find more relevant info on his YouTube channel which is heavily promotes throughout the book.
The good part? The writing is clear, examples are shown, and steps are provided to decide IF and HOW you should relaunch a book (mostly this is series-oriented). It has made me decide not to do much more with the College Fae series as it doesn't fit into what I plan on writing in the future.
I really enjoyed the case examples, even though most of them were about his own books and SF. I would like to have seen more diversity in the genres he was discussing.
To make this book a five star, I would also have preferred a few action checklists and mentions of advertising outlets other than Bookbub, Amazon, Facebook, Freebooksy, and a vampire newsletter. The back could have easily had a list of popular newsletters with links.
His idea to find book covers from deviant art is also outdated. Plenty of book cover artists are on FB who are offering pre-made covers at a lower cost. Nothing is discussed about the pitfalls of AI (probably a technology that wasn't on the horizon when he wrote this book).
Laughable was the idea you can "tinker around with Photoshop." ROFLMAO. I use Photoshop and, trust me, it is not for beginners. A better suggestion would have been Canva.
The depressing? The same write-to-market philosophy you see every get-rich-quick writer-promoter goes on and on about. The W2M that encourages mediocrity, fast writing to tropes, a genre outline of what readers want, and very generic covers. Is it a way to make money? Sure is, but is it sustainable especially with AI about to write your mediocre books in the thousands? Time will tell.
For an author who likes to write original works (like I do), this idea is discouraging and yes, depressing. The trick is to find a happy medium and most of these W2M books do not provide that (and neither does this one). It's either their plan or forget ever being seen.
The bad? Not so bad, but a little of the advice is dated. Amazon no longer allows category and keyword stuffing. That is very limited now. Also, Amazon now punishes any collections/omnibuses priced over $9.99. How much the author receives from a book over that price drops dramatically and Amazon won't organically promote it.
Nothing is discussed about other bookseller markets which I assume is covered in his Going Wide book so why he didn't put any info here.
Something I would argue with him about is book cover design. He wants all your books to have the same fonts for title and author in order for the reader to recognize your brand. LOL. Unless you are dropping the type of money McDonalds and Coca-Cola has on your advertising no casual reader is going to say "wow! That reminds me of author's so-and-so brand!"
The caveat here is that a series should absolutely have the same fonts used in title and author name, and the covers should match genre and style so they look like they belong together. BUT, having all your series look the same? Hm. As a reader, when I see ALL books look the same (but different series), I give it a hard pass. It screams boring.
But that is what the write for market crowd goes for -nothing memorable. Bubble-gum books that can be read and thrown away quickly. Appease readers who want to junk read by playing to their favorite tropes. Don't rock the boat. Do the same as the other popular authors.
Like I said, if you think about it too much you'll become very depressed as a writer who wants to develop your own voice.
Overall, a sound book but you might be able to find more relevant info on his YouTube channel which is heavily promotes throughout the book.
September 13, 2017
This was the most important book of the series to me because I am planning on doing this soon. I have the rights back for both Puck's Choice and Jenna's Story and am working on editing them now so that they can be released next year along with the last of the stories in the series. That said, I was interested to learn was Fox had to say about re-releasing books.
Granted, he's telling this all from the perspective of someone who is just relaunching a self-published book, but the theories he mentioned will work for anyone. Traditional-to-traditional publishing, traditional-to-self-publishing, self-publishing-to-self-publishing, maybe even (in some ways) self-publishing-to-traditional publishing. No matter what way you look at it, his methods would work in some way or another, and he lays out various ways one can re-launch their novel depending on what seemed necessary.
Granted, he's telling this all from the perspective of someone who is just relaunching a self-published book, but the theories he mentioned will work for anyone. Traditional-to-traditional publishing, traditional-to-self-publishing, self-publishing-to-self-publishing, maybe even (in some ways) self-publishing-to-traditional publishing. No matter what way you look at it, his methods would work in some way or another, and he lays out various ways one can re-launch their novel depending on what seemed necessary.
July 31, 2017
Practical, no-nonsense advice from an author with experience. Chris Fox once again delivers a book that is short, to-the-point, and full of practical tips about how to analyze your backlist and tweak its performance. This is more than just the "write another book" marketing advice that you hear from a lot of authors. Chris uses his own real-life successes and failures to guide you through the pitfalls of launching and re-launching your book. I've read this entire series so far and will continue to read anything else he publishes on marketing because his strategies and advice are rightfully at the forefront of the idie author community.
September 8, 2017
I'm a big fan of Chris Fox and have all his other writing books. I've got so much great information from each of them and expected this one to be just as great. He's a no brainer and I one click his books without thinking about it. Having said that - I feel like something is missing from this book but I'm not really sure what it is. Maybe this book is more about telling you what to do to relaunch but there aren't as many 'how to' steps as the other books? Whatever it is, the information here is sound but I've preferred his other books a lot more. If this is the first book of his that you've read make sure you explore the others or you'll be missing out :)
April 19, 2018
For any author at at stage of their career.
I'm a huge fan of Chris Fox. Not only does he inspire me but he also gives valuable tips and advice.
With two collections of short horror stories out, I did have some difficulty in relating to this book as Chris tends to focus on full length novels and uses series and theologies as his examples.
I would've liked to see him use a few more examples from different genres, not just sci fi which his own genre.
Despite that small criticism, I did come away from reading this with a better understanding of relaunching a backlist and how to keep previously published works bubbling over viz sales.
I'm a huge fan of Chris Fox. Not only does he inspire me but he also gives valuable tips and advice.
With two collections of short horror stories out, I did have some difficulty in relating to this book as Chris tends to focus on full length novels and uses series and theologies as his examples.
I would've liked to see him use a few more examples from different genres, not just sci fi which his own genre.
Despite that small criticism, I did come away from reading this with a better understanding of relaunching a backlist and how to keep previously published works bubbling over viz sales.
July 9, 2017
For me, the most powerful part of this book was creating a map of how readers move through my backlist. I thought I could tell you the answer to that question already. But perusing alsoboughts and yasiv.com (be sure to change over from "Books" to "Kindle Books" for best data) helped me see that certain of my books, even if they sell fine, aren't building my brand. Readers tend to move on to other authors after those books rather than diving deeper into my backlist, suggesting they're not the best options for promotion.
August 18, 2017
This book is exactly what authors need help with. The key to longevity in your author career is getting your backlist to produce a robust income. In this book, Chris will help you understand how to relaunch your backlist books with everything from a minor facelift to a major overhaul. He'll also show you how to map your books in a product family map to help you prioritize which books will best benefit from a makeover. Definitely must reading again from a wise guy--one of my favorite nonfiction authors.
October 10, 2017
Excellent Overview of Publishing
Chris keeps it real and isn't afraid to share some of his mishaps and setbacks on the way to publishing success.
Even if you are a newbie self publisher, this book is an excellent quick read to sharpen you up and prepare for your first book launches.
I was actually quite surprised Chris offers his email address for consulting. Anyone who has read any of his books will be more than willing to take him up on that. I know I will.
5 well-earned stars
Chris keeps it real and isn't afraid to share some of his mishaps and setbacks on the way to publishing success.
Even if you are a newbie self publisher, this book is an excellent quick read to sharpen you up and prepare for your first book launches.
I was actually quite surprised Chris offers his email address for consulting. Anyone who has read any of his books will be more than willing to take him up on that. I know I will.
5 well-earned stars
January 4, 2019
This book was fairly well written - lots of information for authors with a side of humor thrown in every few pages.
A few things to note:
1) It's short. 136 pages per Amazon
2) Much of it is common sense. So if you're well read on the subject of marketing and indie writers, you could probably pass on this one.
3) This is for books that did not launch well initially (due to bad editing, terrible covers, lackluster blurbs, no marketing, etc). I thought it would be a book to help relaunch a book that had been successful but deserved a second life. Alas, it didn't help much with that.
A few things to note:
1) It's short. 136 pages per Amazon
2) Much of it is common sense. So if you're well read on the subject of marketing and indie writers, you could probably pass on this one.
3) This is for books that did not launch well initially (due to bad editing, terrible covers, lackluster blurbs, no marketing, etc). I thought it would be a book to help relaunch a book that had been successful but deserved a second life. Alas, it didn't help much with that.
February 4, 2022
Worth 10 times its cost
Chris has an awesome way of making you believe the author life is possible, if you work smartly to achieve this goal.
In Relaunch Your Novel he generously teaches all the different ways you can relaunch your book effectively, what to do and not to do when looking back at your books and say, Yeah, I can do better than that.
If you’re thinking of bringing new life to your old catalogue look no further. Chris will teach you how to get to the next level with a sound strategy. You will never look at your backlist the same way.
Chris has an awesome way of making you believe the author life is possible, if you work smartly to achieve this goal.
In Relaunch Your Novel he generously teaches all the different ways you can relaunch your book effectively, what to do and not to do when looking back at your books and say, Yeah, I can do better than that.
If you’re thinking of bringing new life to your old catalogue look no further. Chris will teach you how to get to the next level with a sound strategy. You will never look at your backlist the same way.
June 30, 2017
I'm a huge fan of Chris Fox's non-fiction work, but this one didn't feel very comprehensive to me and didn't offer a lot of resources for relaunching your novel/series. The tips were pretty par for the course, and I feel most people could figure them out themselves. The real value in this would have been perhaps pointing readers in a direction where they could sort out what they needed to do, such as recommending editors, designers, and so forth.
Overall, I am disappointed in this one.
Overall, I am disappointed in this one.
August 6, 2017
Practical and Motivational
This book is just as good as all the others in the series. I love the ideas, and the step-by-step is so useful to someone like me who enjoys roadmaps for large tasks. This is not an easy button, but by using this book, I have already begun to map out my relaunch. Chris is good at the pep talk, and this book is well worth the money. You will be highlighting a lot of it!
This book is just as good as all the others in the series. I love the ideas, and the step-by-step is so useful to someone like me who enjoys roadmaps for large tasks. This is not an easy button, but by using this book, I have already begun to map out my relaunch. Chris is good at the pep talk, and this book is well worth the money. You will be highlighting a lot of it!
April 14, 2020
A concise summary of the key aspects of book marketing that you can immediately apply to your own indie-published backlist. Well worth reading, then working through all the exercises and questions in detail for your genre and books. A great resource that I'm sure I will refer to again and again as I write more books, because the market is always changing and you may well need to rethink your strategies and content.
May 22, 2018
Super helpful read
It took me so long to get to this book because I knew I’d want to take action as soon as a read it, and it’s true. I’m so ready to revamp and relaunch my backlist. Chris shows you several ways to do just that and revitalize your sales for previous series. Highly recommend.
It took me so long to get to this book because I knew I’d want to take action as soon as a read it, and it’s true. I’m so ready to revamp and relaunch my backlist. Chris shows you several ways to do just that and revitalize your sales for previous series. Highly recommend.
August 9, 2018
Even though I'm not at the point where this book is particularly useful for my situation (I don't have any titles to relaunch), I've read the other books in this series and wanted to complete the set. It's full of great suggestions about how to evaluate and re-position old titles in order to keep interest up. If you've got a large backlist in need of a makeover, this is the book for you.
August 27, 2019
This is another excellent book on book marketing, which teaches you how to relaunch your novel. There is a ton of practical advice in here and it's certainly making me that of how I can relaunch some of my nonfiction, as well as the fiction I'm starting to write. This is a book you'll want on your journey to become a successful indie author.
April 24, 2020
Honest strategies for revision
Another book that gives us the brutal reality in a very friendly, personable, easy to read voice. One of the hardest things for us as authors to do is face the ugly truths about our babies (our books). This book makes it easier to be objective and gives us a plan of action to do something about it.
Another book that gives us the brutal reality in a very friendly, personable, easy to read voice. One of the hardest things for us as authors to do is face the ugly truths about our babies (our books). This book makes it easier to be objective and gives us a plan of action to do something about it.
October 3, 2020
Out of all of his books I have read, this one was the most timely. It is comforting to know that I am heading in the right direction, and it is nice to read the words of folks who have been in the same place as me at one point or another.
Be prepared to do the work... and like with all of his books, you will want the paperback for reference.
Be prepared to do the work... and like with all of his books, you will want the paperback for reference.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews