Recently, one of our readers asked a great question: “At what point do you stop marketing a book?” Just like this reader, most authors have older content and books that are taking up virtual shelf space on Amazon. Many authors face similar problems: sagging book sales and the feeling that they’ve exhausted all their options. The good news? It’s never too late to revive an old book! There are now many options to revive, renew, and even re-release a book with minimal effort. This issue is relevant to all authors, so we thought we’d address it on the blog!

Here are four simple options for reviving book marketing – and sales!

1. Release it in eBook:This should be your first – and easiest – step. If a traditional house published your book, check if they have the rights to your digital content. Many old contracts don’t have this provision so be sure and check. What next? Most savvy eBook folks can work with a PDF of the book, and course, a Word doc works well, too. Just convert it to a digital format and you’re done! It’s pretty easy. If you do this, consider adding some new reviews as well.

2. eBook Bundles:Is your book long? If so, why not split it up and re-release it as a series and a bundle? Many readers prefer shorter books, and bundling is a great way to start owning the virtual shelf. A longer book can be separated (make sure you chop it at a natural break point and shoot for approximately 100 pages per book) and then sold on Amazon as multiple shorter books. Don’t forget to include a page in the back of each book that leads the reader to the next book in the series. Another bundling benefit? It will revive your publication date and bring it current, opening up new promotion and review opportunities!

3. Update the cover: We’ve found that updating the cover often leads to spikes in sales.  Having newly refreshed content helps increase visibility because it looks new (this is especially true in fiction, but is applicable to nonfiction as well). Readers are always searching on Amazon for a new book to read so it’s a great way to grab their attention.

4. Short is the new long: As authors, we’re told to “own the shelf,” or publish constantly, and pushing out new content to Amazon in the form of an eBook can help propel your other, older books, onto a reader’s radar screen. If you have white papers, blog content, pieces of your book that you didn’t include or cut because of length, consider packaging these and releasing them on Amazon, An example of this is an author we’re working with who wrote the third in a series of books. The third book had a lot of content removed to keep it at a particular length. She’s going to take the content that’s been removed and release it in a “Director’s Cut” version, putting the separate segments on Amazon.  If you do that, make sure that all of the books include a page or hyperlink to lead readers to all your other books.

Don’t give up! As long as the content remains relevant, you can do a lot revive it and give it a second chance. Once you do revive it, don’t forget to pitch it or, in some cases, re-pitch it, to reviewers.  Authors often ask me “Should I pitch reviewers again?” The answer is yes, you should. You’ve revived your old book and now you have a clean slate. Make the most of it!