When you’re first-time authors, it’s expected that the first book you publish has to be as perfect as possible.

Not only that you need to be sure the book is free from glaring typos, grammar mistakes, and obvious plot loopholes.

But you also need to be sure your book has a professionally designed cover that reflects the genre you write.

You also need to be sure that your book description needs to be enticing enough since it’s the thing that will move the needle.

Having a professionally designed book cover will only pique an interest in your book.

But it’s your book description that converts those interested people into sales.

With this in mind, you do what you can to hone your book description so then it will do most of the heavy lifting for you.

Funnily enough, you realize that you may have to make changes to your book months, if not, years after the book goes live.

And here you are, thinking that you were already meticulous enough during the publishing process.

But then again, something stops you from making those changes.

You feel it’s already too late to make those changes since the book is now live and people already bought the book.

Who told you that you can’t make those changes?

There are many things from the publishing industry we need to adopt as an indie author.

But strangely enough, it’s this notion that we can’t make changes to the book once it’s already live happens to be one of them.

If there’s one thing that is toxic about the publishing industry, it will be this strange rule.

Okay, I get making changes to the book is something that the publishing industry deems as something troublesome.

Imagine when the whole publishing process comes to a grinding halt only because you want to make major changes to the plot.

And that happens after you already approved the final manuscript.

Now you’re causing problems not just on the printing and distribution side of things. But you’re also causing trouble to the marketing team now that you’re disrupting the marketing campaign for the book.

Good for you that they’re willing to accommodate that since you’re a mega best-selling author.

But for first-time authors? Know your place, buddy.

Yes, there are some things from the traditional publishing industry that are worth considering as the best practice.

But this one is NOT one of them.

Ditch this strange rule if you must since your author’s career livelihood will depend on whether you can make those changes or not.

Nothing is set in stone, even for first-time authors

Here’s the cool part about being an indie author – you can make changes to the book at any time you want, even after the publication.

Want to make changes to the book after you only manage to spot those pesky typos and grammatical errors in your author copy?

Well, please do since it looks unprofessional when your book has so many obvious typos and grammar mistakes.

Thinking about changing the book cover now that you have a better grasp of your book’s concept and genre?

Yes, please.

You can make all those changes after you publish your book.

But if you’re thinking about publishing a new edition of the book, that’s a different ball of game altogether.

What you should know about publishing a new edition of your book

While it’s a common practice for nonfiction and textbooks to publish a new edition, it’s not unheard of to see fiction getting a new edition.

What was the reason behind the new edition for fiction is anyone’s guess.

But if you’re thinking about publishing a new edition for your fiction, then you should create a separate listing for the new edition instead of updating the existing page with a new file.

Well, it’s not that Amazon and other retailers will penalize you for uploading the brand-new edition to the existing book page.

If anything, I find it’s a proper thing to do when the new edition is obviously different from the previous edition, content-wise.

Yes, I understand it’s a hassle to get another ISBN when you publish a new edition.

But sad to say, that seems to be the rule.

Or maybe I thought it was the rule, just like how wrong it is to change your book after it is already out in the public.

You have the freedom to do all that

For some of us, the thought of being able to make changes to the book after the publication can be hard to fathom.

Well, it can’t be helped when you’ve been conditioned to believe that you can’t make any changes to the book once you already hit the publish button.

But here’s the thing about publishing – you will always come across new information related to the publishing industry.

It can be new trends, marketing tools, and even resources.

So, it’s a shame that you don’t get to make those changes to your book only because you’re holding on to this belief that it’s wrong to do that.

Now, what you should do when you come across this information that requires you to make changes to your book?

Just go ahead and do that especially after you have enough data to justify those changes.

Think the book cover you have isn’t good enough and you finally found someone who can convey the book’s true essence through the book cover?

Well, go ahead and get it done if having a new book cover will help you pull more new readers.

Do you find your book description sounds meh and now you finally have the improvised version of that same book description?

Go ahead and do that if it can help with taking your book sales to the next level.

Whatever changes you want to make, you don’t need anyone’s permission to do just that.

You will still need to present your best self

As much as I don’t see anything wrong with making changes to your book after publication, it’s still important to do what you can to ensure that your book has the best quality.

Yes, all the usual publishing jazz still applies even if you can make changes to the book later on.

If there’s one thing that can reflect your professionalism, it’s how you ensure your book’s quality is top-notch before you hit the publish button.

Have them nailed to perfection then you don’t need to resort to having to make changes to your book all the time.

Want to make changes to the book years after its publication?

Feel free to do that if it’s necessary, of course.