#370: How to Publish a New Edition of Your Book with Shae Bynes

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz. This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome everyone to to the Kingdom Writers Podcast. My name is Shelly Hits and this is a special podcast. I don't often have guests, but today I have my great friend Shay Vines here with me. Welcome, Shay.

Hello, Shelly. It's good to be here. Thanks for having me. I feel so blessed when you have so few guests that I get to be here today.

I know. And you're even a repeat guest, so I know extra special, but if you come to any of our conferences or if you've listened to this podcast, you probably already know who Shea Vines is. But she is just an amazing person and, you know, really has been the catalyst behind Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur and that movement since 2012. And so today we are going to talk about her best selling book, her very popular book, Grace Over Grind. How grace will take your business where grinding can't highly recommend it. Always say, you know, if you haven't read it yet, please do. But she's going to talk about just how she went about the process of publishing a new edition of this book and why. And you know, Shay just is an open book. She just is so willing to share. So I'm really excited to dive into this topic with you, Shay.

Let's do it.

Yes. So first, before we get into some of this, the knit, the, you know, nuts and bolts of republishing and, and publishing a new edition and all the things talk to us about, like why did you initially write Grace Over Grind and when did it first come out?

Okay, so Grace Over Grind was released January of 2018. And the reason why I wrote it is because it was, it, it had become the theme of my life and the way that I worked. And it became such a prevalent part of being a Kingdom driven entrepreneur. Knew that it was a message that needed to be released. But I will say that the, the, the, I would say the catalytic event that led to living grace over grind would be this encounter I had at church where the pastor, our pastor was giving a message based off of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28 through 30, which is commonly known as, you know, Jesus saying, come to me, all of those who are weary, you'll find rest for your souls. And he talks about how his yoke is easy and his burden is light. But our pastor said it in the message, and it said, are you tired, worn out, burnt out on religion? Come to me, get away with me. You'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me, work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you will learn to live freely and lightly. So, Shelly, everything came from that. Because the moment I heard that, my whole spirit was like, yes, yes, and amen. I don't even know what that looks like, but I want to know. And so after living that out for a while and it being such a fundamental part of my life and way of being and working, I want to make sure I release that to the world. And so after living that out for a little bit, released Grace Over Grind, the first edition.

Yeah. And you're not new to publishing. You know, when you release this book, it was actually your 10th book, which double digits.

Yes, that's right, that's right.

But it was like your 10th book became your best selling book. So, you know, I know a lot of writers listening, you know, they might even just be still working on their first book. They may have published a few books and they might be even just a little discouraged at, you know, the sales or whatever. But here you are, your 10th book, and this book just takes off. So why do you think that was and what did you learn in the process?

I think that Grace Over Grind took off so much for a couple reasons. One of them is it's a really great title. Like, people resonate with the idea. Like they don't even have to read the book before they're like, oh, wait, Grace Over Grind. That sounds intriguing. That sounds like the way that I want to be, you know. And so I think that the title of this one, in comparison to any of my other books, was just something that really grabs people. So I think that's part of it. And then the other part of it is what I would call divine timing.

Right.

Because it really was one of those things where it was just like. That was just. It was the favor of God. The reason why that book took off as well, because even though it did sell well, it accelerated because of a number of God orchestrated moments that had nothing to do with my ability to market. It was God putting it in the right places at the right time and getting in front of people that I couldn't have done with the resources that I had. So it's kind of, like, the combination of those two together, I think really led to it being the breakout book of all of my books.

Yeah. And, you know, I just love that it continues to sell well and it is an evergreen topic. It's not. Not ever gonna go out of style. Right?

That's right. That's right. I mean, I wish it would in some ways. Right.

I know. But.

Yes, in this world, you know, on this side of heaven, when we live in the flesh, there are always going to be people that need to hear that. That's right, that book. But also I think it's a great book to reread, you know, and I've. I've talked about that before, and I've heard some of your other audience members say that as well, that they reread it like once a year or something like that. But it has just really been shifting people's thoughts towards work and all of these things. It's been selling so well. So why did you even decide to release a new edition? This is a fifth anniversary edition. Like, why. Why change something if it's not broke? Right, Right.

Like, it ain't broke. Why are you fixing it? Right.

Yeah.

So that's a really good question for a couple of reasons, and probably I would say a few reasons. One of them is because after I released the book, even though it was my bestselling book, that also meant that I got a lot of feedback from readers that said, I love this book, but they also had questions. So as they were actually implementing the things that they were learning from the book, they would run into, I would find a pattern of things that people were running into. And so, so much so that I then created this course because I wanted to answer the questions that people had. But I was only doing that because I wanted to be able to have a way to say, I want to help you with those things. But I knew eventually I'm going to do an addition, an expanded edition of this book. Because the things that people are asking me, because it's happening so prevalent. It's so prevalent, and I see patterns. I have a feeling that I'm going to want to put this in book form. You know, I didn't create the book because this is a book to be a sales lead to some, you know, coaching program. I. I created this book because there's a message that I want to get in people to shift things. And so I want to put as much as I can without overdoing it in there. So that was one of the reasons. So that was one reason A second reason is because I had lived it out and there was levels to this thing, right. I could have said, well, why don't I create a new book? Which I considered for a second. But going back to that, if it ain't broke, why fix it? Why would I create another book that's not Grace Over Grind to talk about the next level of Grace over grind? No, it's the next level of Grace Over Grind. So I'm going to keep the same title that's been, you know, that really resonates with people and just add that content into the book. And then the third reason, Shelley, is because, you know, Grace, the number five. Five years, you know, it was just like, hey, this is coming up. I could have done it later. I could have waited. But I'm like, this is about to be the fifth year that the book's been out, so why don't I celebrate it and in this way? So that's the third reason, really. But it is part of the reason for the timing in which I am releasing the expanded edition.

Yeah. And I love that, like, when, you know, one of the reasons to publish a new edition of your book is, Is because you're adding more content, right? You're adding and expanding. And I love that, like, you're listening. So you're listening to your audience, you're taking in those questions, and you want to make this even, go deeper. And I know a lot of people will go on to watch a course, but some people might not, you know.

And if a lot of people didn't.

Yeah, yeah. So if it's in the book, there's a better chance they're going to catch it, right? They're going to receive it.

Yes, that's right. I wasn't interested. I mean, literally, it's the only reason why I created the course. I'm like, oh, I want to create this course. I'm looking for another revenue stream. It's like, no, I want to answer these questions for people so that they don't get stuck. This is, you know, another unstuck point for them, you know.

Right.

So I'm taking the course on. The course doesn't even exist anymore because I put it in the book.

Yeah. And that's great. I love that, like, you, you provided that solution in the. In between, but now this new addition is the solution. And so, you know, when we talk why you decided to release and. And publish a new edition, talk a little bit about how you did it. Like, what does that look like if someone else is maybe considering Publishing a new edition of their book. Like, what kind of steps did you have to go through?

Yeah, so the first was I was going back. I went to go reread it, you know, myself, and then I was looking at all the various areas that I was, you know, that I created the course around, you know, the particular themes. Right. I was looking at kind of, okay, well, where are some of the gaps? Where are some new themes that I see? And I started to just kind of write that out and outline that a bit. But what I then did, and this was new. I'd never done this part before, is I actually hired a developmental editor for the first time I've had copyright, you know, copy editors, proofreaders and whatever, But I actually got a developmental editor. And I had said to her, listen, I want. I really want this one to be the last one that I do, right? And I was like, I want this for grace of a grind. Like, I want this to be super solid. You read it, tell me what themes you see. Like, you know, show me, you know, tell me what you see in this manuscript. You know, and having someone like that who has that eye for it. When she went through, she made the book, it was all my content. But the way she. Or even reorganized and added certain elements, she helped me think through how to deliver this content in a way that's even more impactful. I'll give you an example. So before I had, you know, these, I had. I think there was maybe five chapters in the first book, and I could see that, you know, there was additional chapters that I wanted to have. But she. When she went through and looked at all my course content and looked at my outline of thoughts and read the manuscript herself, she said, oh, I see there's something really interesting that as you're. As I'm reading through your chapters and I'm seeing these are the burdens of the grind mindset, and this is the freedom found and what you're releasing. So at the top of each chapter, it was like burdens of the grind mindset, the gifts of a grace mindset. And I was just like, it was a simple thing, but a very powerful addition. And then she'd, like, read and say, oh, if you had a story that could illustrate that, that would make that even more powerful, you know. So having a developmental editor this time, I mean, like, even two of her suggestions made it worth it financially for the investment. But she had a handful of suggestions that really make this book one that, I mean, I already liked their first one a lot. But this One I'm just like, man, like, this is, this is exactly what I want to get out in the world.

Yeah. And, you know, I think, you know, you've also sold a lot of books and so, you know, you can kind of almost think of it as reinvesting some of what you've made in the book into making it even better. And, you know, there's several steps that you, you know, may need to go through. Like, are you actually unpublishing your previous version? Are you leaving that up still for people to buy? Like, how are you handling that?

That. Okay, so that's a really interesting question. Yeah, my. So there's some of the little technical details that I actually need to work out with Amazon to have an understanding around some things. Because here's the thing, I want to still have it. I want people to see all of those, you know, reviews, because I have hundreds of reviews on the book and I'd love to have that page. And it still does, well search criteria and all of those things. And I can update the description of that to say there's a new release without having to sell the old one. Right. So my intention is to not sell the old one, but maintain the page there that then it has becomes a reference point for the new one. Because I did have to get a new ISBN, you know, if you have a new, more content, it's not like I can use the same ISBN and just upload it, you know, and say, hey, I'm just replacing a file. It doesn't work like that. It's a whole new book, you know, even if most of the content similar. And so I don't want to lose the, the, the social, the social proof and the feedback from readers in the past, you know, and so I'd love to. That's what I'm going to be looking to do. And prayerfully all those details will work out.

Yeah. And we have a lesson in Christian Book Academy all about how to publish a new edition. And there are just a few little things to consider. And one of them is if you didn't have an ISBN attached to your Kindle version of your book, which you don't need to have an ISBN, then you can update everything with the Kindle version, unpublish the print version, publish the, the new edition and then connect the two. Right. Update everything with the Kindle version, connect the two, you keep all of your reviews, your social proof, you know, all of that, but you're doing it through the Kindle version because obviously the print version has to Be unpublished because it's a new. It's. It's a new ISBN and all of the things. So there are ways to.

Shelly, listen, you just bless my life right there. Thank you for sharing that with me and with everyone, because I had that on my list of things I need to figure out in the next couple of weeks, so. Yes, yes.

Yeah. And those are the things, like we get questions on these and those are the things that, you know, like, you had, you know, added to your book because people are asking you. We add to the academy, you know, lessons and things because people ask. And this is something that people definitely ask often enough. And I'm just so excited to see this new book come out and what God's going to do. And you know, most of the time, like, when you add more than 20% new content to that book, it does need to be a second edition or a new edition with a new ISBN. If you just tweak a few things, you can just re. Upload the same, you know, to the same book, all of those things. But you're not only planning on having published this new edition, but you're going to like, have this whole, like, relaunch, right? You're launching this book. You're, you're building buzz and making it a big event around the release of this new edition, which is brilliant. I mean, everyone should do that. If you, you know, if you have any reason to, to, you know, talk about your book again, it's great. But talk a little bit about your relaunch.

Yeah. So when I was, you know, you had mentioned how I had, I had. That was my 10th book of all these books that I had prior to the first Grace Over Grind, and I've had a few since then. You know, some of the books I launched, you know, book team and all of those things. Other ones I just released, you know, we have a community of readers or just, I would just release them. I sat with the Lord before all of these books to figure out, you know, because it's a lot of work to do a launch. So if the Lord's like, hey, you got these other things to do, I'll just release it. But when I was sitting with the Lord around this, there was two things that I really sensed strongly. One was that this is a celebration, you know, So I knew I wanted to have that component which was, you know, in the launch. But the other thing was, is that as I was sitting with the Lord around strategy for this particular launch, the Holy Spirit really challenged me in a way because he had me look at my book sales of that one book for the previous five years. And so I looked at it, it was just, just us only was about 10,000. Okay. And so I'm looking at, I'm like, okay, that was about 10,000 books. Where it says, well, what would it look like to do in one year? What took five years? So I'm like, oh, well, that refrains my focus because it's like, oh, well, then I'm going to show up for this book and focus my attention and my activities around this book. Book as if I'm focused on doing in one year what took five years. Because those five years I didn't actively really promote my book. I was building, I was building a movement, a business and just happened to be selling books in the process of that. But with this, it's going to be really intentional going out with the message, you know, doing, doing the whole thing, you know, from a launch perspective. And I'm not looking at it as a launch it. And then stop talking about it. I'm looking at this as a long term launch. Like this is like a six month launch, not a momentary loss where I'm launch where I'm just looking to get to a bestseller list in a week. I'm not, I don't care about any of that stuff. What I care about is the longevity of continuously getting this message out month after month after month. Because that's what the Lord was showing me around this. So that's how I'm focusing my attention. Yeah.

And I think, you know, it's so good to ask God, right? To, to come to him. Like, is, is this, you know, does this need to be a big thing? You know, because sometimes it doesn't. Like, sometimes when we release a book, we send out a few emails, we do a few posts, we do a podcast or something and that's it.

And I did that with several books.

Yeah. And then there's other books that just, you know, God's like, nope, this isn't going to be more. And my broken crayonstall color book was that way. And I think that, you know, that's, that's so wise because I think sometimes writers feel the pressure to have a big launch for every book, Right? Yes.

And it's totally unnecessary.

Yeah.

Totally unnecessary. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. But this one is going to be a celebration. I had a book launch team just shy of 100 people. And you know, we're just, we're just going to do it. We're going to celebrate and we're Going to get this book out. I'm going to be talking about this message for, for months and I'm excited about doing so.

Yeah, that's awesome. And I just, I love that, you know, you're just, you're going all in and yet, you know, you want to, like you said, keep talking about it. So what does that look like for you? Like, what is, what are some of the activities that you'll be doing?

Yeah, so I, I am a speaker, so I will continue to speak, you know, stay on stages and virtually I will continue to speak on this message, but I'm going to spend a lot more time speaking in interviews on this message. So in the past, I didn't do as a podcast host myself. I was mostly on the side of the microphone interviewing people. Not. Didn't really have the time to be going out and being on the guest side of a lot of interviews. But now the equation is shifting and so I'm going to be on the guest side of a lot of interviews. So, you know, doing Facebook lives with people who are on the launch team who, you know, are really excited about the message and want to share it with their, with their sphere of influence and those types of things. So I'm going to be really intentional about having conversations with people, video, audio, on this topic, continuing to speak as well, and anything else that the Lord puts on my heart. But those, those are the main things for sure.

Yeah. And we talk about that as being, you know, collaborations, like getting the opportunity to speak on someone else's quote, unquote stage, whether it's their podcast, like you're doing here on our podcast, or like you said, somebody on their Facebook profile or their group or, you know, other opportunities. It's just going to open up the opportunity to more people than if you're just, you know, saying it over and over again to your same audience. And so I love that.

Right? Yeah, that's exactly right. And so that's a different set of activities than I did even when the first, when the first one released or really, I really, I haven't done this, honestly, with any of my books, not the way I'm going to do it with this book. It's. But it's the time again. It's the, it's the time in the season for it. And I, and I, and I sat with the Lord on it and got his mind and heart on it before engaging in a whole big old launch strategy.

Yeah. Now, you know, by the time that this, this podcast goes live, you will have already released this book to the world. And you know, the fifth anniversary edition will be available. How do people find out about it if they want to get a copy of this new and expanded edition?

Absolutely. So they can go to Amazon and grab it. It's available paperback, Kindle and audiobook. And I did read it. So if you like my voice, that's the voice you will hear when you do the audiobook. Or you can just go over to graceover grind.com and of course that'll link over to everything that you need to know.

Yeah, and I do highly recommend grabbing a copy of the book, even if you have the previous version. Like she said, this is expanded. There's a lot of new content and new things that could bring a breakthrough for you or, you know, help you unlock things that maybe haven't happened yet. And so definitely go grab that. And then, you know, you can always give get copies for gifts too. If you know business owners and entrepreneurs that are struggling or even if they're not struggling, you know, it's a great gift to give. So go over to graceover grind.com or check it out on Amazon. And thank you so much, Shay, for being here and for sharing all of your wisdom and your own story as you relaunch and publish this new edition.

Thanks so much, Shelly.

Yeah. So thank you all for being here and I hope that you learned some things, you got inspired and we will talk to you in the next episode. Bye. Bye. Would you like more? If you are enjoying this podcast, but want more, I have something exciting to share with you. We have released what's called a private podcast. So a private podcast you will not find by searching in Apple, you can. You have to know specifically how to subscribe to it. It's more private and exclusive and it just can be more relaxed behind the scenes. And my new private podcast is called Hits Blitz and it's wisdom for writers that you're going to learn from my 18 plus years of experience in publishing and online marketing so that you can move forward in God's call to write. I am best known for injecting energy and enthusiasm into everything I do and inspiring those around me to take action. So I encourage you to listen in to this exclusive private podcast. It is free, 100% free. You don't have to pay for it and be prepared to be inspired by my next hit split. So you can sign up@trainingauthors.com hits blitz and if you have any other writing friends that you think could benefit from it, definitely share it with them. They can go to the Same link training authors.com forward/hits blitz to get access Again. This is a private podcast so you cannot get access to it any other way. It's completely free. All you have to do is sign up and then you'll get all the information on how to add it to your podcast player of choice. So I can't wait for you to join me over there. I share a lot of things behind the scenes and more content just in a real time basis. So it's more like chatting with a friend or following someone on stories on social media. Except you don't have to get caught up in any of the algorithms. You'll just have this in your podcast player and be able to listen in wherever you're at, whatever you're doing. Some of the listeners told me this week that they were listening while waiting in the Target parking lot, while brushing their teeth. You can fit this into the pockets of time that you have, so I hope you'll join me. Come over to trainingauthors.com hitsblitz.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a special specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity. And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.