If They Can Do It - Lynne Garner

Back in the mists of time before the banking system wrought havoc on our economy I used to work as a freelance writer for a packager. If you don’t work in the publishing world you may not know what a packager is. Basically they find freelancers like myself, hire us on a flat fee basis to create a book. This book is then sold to a publisher or even publishers (if they sell the foreign rights) who then sell it under their own branding. It’s a great concept and at one time kept me very busy.

The first book I worked on for a packager was a craft title. The concept for the title had been sold to a large publisher before I was even commissioned to work on the project. Typically, just days before the agreed deadline the publisher (in their wisdom) wanted an additional 12 pages. I began to panic. I simply didn’t have the time to produce that amount of additional content. My editor told me not to worry because she had content from a similar title she could use to fill these additional pages.

It was then I discovered this is not an unusual practice and there are a great many books that contain content that has already been published. For the packager it makes sense. By reusing content that they have already paid for in a slightly different format  means they optimise the income it generates. So with this in mind I decided if they could do it then so could I.

So over the last month three of my four short story collections have been merged to create a new title. The new book is a bumper collection of short stories (24 in total) and will be available in a printed format and as an ebook under the new title ‘Meet The Tricksters.’ I’m hoping that by following the format of reusing and repackaging my stories in this way will achieve the increased income enjoyed by the packagers I once worked for.

The ebook version is in review as you read this and the printed version should be selling within the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it works out. If this is something you've already tried and you don't mind sharing I’d love to know how it worked for you.

Lynne 

P.S. My online courses via Women On Writing:
How to write A children's book and get published
5 picture books in 5 weeks
How to write a hobby-based how to book