Should I Save the Mermaids?

I read three of my own books this year. Published ones. Older ones. And it was fun.
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Like all authors, I’ve read and re-read my own novels countless times before publication. The drafts while writing. The editing rounds. The proofreading rounds. However, after the books come out, I don’t need to read them all the way through again. I know where the “good parts” are or where to find quotes or excerpts for posts or articles. I don’t have a reason to read my own work. I’ve moved on to writing new stuff.

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Back in February, my young adult fantasy novel Cry of the Sea turned 10 years old. Wild. It’s hard to believe that it was published that long ago. This is not only the first book of a trilogy, but it was the first novel of mine to be published under the name D. G. Driver. All my published work prior to that was as Donna Getzinger. I was reinventing myself, writing YA fantasy and moving away from the nonfiction and historical fiction work I had been doing previously. Since Cry came out, I’ve published 16 books (some traditionally, some independently) and have had short stories featured in six anthologies. My two latest books Dragon Surf (YA) and Anything but Graceful (romance) came out last year.
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To celebrate this anniversary, I decided to read Cry of the Sea from cover to cover for the first time since 2014. I occasionally posted about my progress on my TikTok account and tried to be as objective as I could as I reviewed what I was reading. When I finished it, I thought, “What the heck?” and went on to read the other two books in the trilogy: Whisper of the Woods and Echo of the Cliffs. 

​Aside from doing this purely from nostalgia, I had a purpose for reading these three books. They’re all currently still in print with Fire and Ice YA Books. The thing that’s nice about small presses that use print on demand technology is that the books don’t have to go out of print unless the publisher or author want them to. Each book was contracted for three years. The last one came out in 2017, so neither F&I or myself are required to keep the books alive. I’ve been toying with three options. 

1. Just let them be. It takes the least effort to let them exist with F&I and just do occasional promos for them like I have been all along. I sell a copy once in a while when I make a little effort. I’d keep sharing the royalties for the privilege of not having to do work to change anything about them.
2. Take the rights back and republish them independently. I’d need to give each book a solid edit, as I did find a number of errors or things I would write differently now. Get new covers designed. (Well, I play with that all the time. These are my latest ideas.) Format them. All things that require a monetary investment. Then I’d have to see if I can breathe new life into them with marketing and keep all the royalties. But will anyone buy them? Is there still a market for them? Or is this a waste of time?

    3. Pull the rights and let them disappear into the ether and never have to work at marketing these stories ever again. 

​The laziest side of me, and the part that has basically walked away from my writing career this past year says to do nothing. It isn’t worth the effort. If I’m going to work on a writing project, it should be something new, not something old.

​BUT having just re-read the books, I remembered how much I like the stories and the characters within them. I love Juniper. She’s so bold and brassy and brave. Carter is so loveable and kind. June’s activist parents are difficult, but they come around to supporting her wholeheartedly as this series moves along. Even her bestie, Haley, goes from being a whiny teen to a strong-willed gal with a backbone by the end. There are mermaids, an enchanted tree, a selkie, people being magically transformed into orcas or waterfalls, a monstrous man made of stone, and bratty teen girls who have no idea how little Juniper cares about their opinions. Juniper encounters all of it and somehow manages to help environmental causes along the way.

​Each book is a little different. Cry of the Sea is the least fantasy of the three. I see it more as a mystery with some science fiction elements. I’ve always said it’s more X-Files and less Little Mermaid. Juniper and her father discover three mermaids washed ashore when they go to document damage on a beach after an oil spill. They try to revive the mermaids by taking them to a facility for marine animal research. Only one survives. Unlike other mermaid novels, this mermaid doesn’t talk and she doesn’t grow legs. She doesn’t look like a fairytale creature. She can communicate to Juniper through gestures, feelings and some slightly tuned in telepathy. Eventually, word gets out about the mermaid, and then she goes missing. Juniper, with the help of the love interest of the story, Carter, and several others go on a mission to find her. And boy, do they! The corrupt oil company has known about the mermaids all along, and their plans for the creatures are diabolical!

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​In Whisper of the Woods, Juniper’s parents are staging a protest against the deforestation of old growth trees on reservation land run by June’s uncle. June has no interest in this cause until one of the trees seems to call to her and entice her up into its branches. Soon, she’s 150 feet in the air on a branch, and the tree has no intention of letting her go. This book has a lot more fantasy to it than the first. Also, for a book where most of the action takes place on and around one massive tree, it’s got a lot of danger and thrills. I forgot how much happens in this story. This is also the part of the trilogy when the mythology is introduced that will tie all three books together. After all, what do enchanted trees and mermaids have to do with each other? You’d be surprised.

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​Finally, the busiest and most action-packed of the books is the final story Echo of the Cliffs. The parents are now fighting construction run-off pollution in the ocean. June and Carter tag along to help collect samples. A killer whale knocks their boat over – seemingly on purpose – and Carter disappears. Everyone is certain Carter has drowned, but Juniper believes with her whole heart that he’s been carried away by mermaids. She is determined to find him and figure out if his disappearance is tied to visions she’s having and the mythology she’s become part of.

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Trying to be as objective about my writing as possible, I can say that of the three books, Cry of the Sea is the clunkiest. Each book was edited and proofread through the publishing company. Still, I found a number of things that I’d want to fix or rewrite. It’s very 2014, too. I don’t know if the stories would benefit from being updated ten years, but if not, I think making sure it’s clear what year the books take place needs to be more obvious to explain some things. In Whisper of the Woods, there are a weird couple pages in the final third of the book that seem to have been overlooked by the whole team when it came to proofreading (LOL). Echo of the Cliffs has the fewest errors; I just think I’d tighten it a bit for pace.
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Also, with regard to the market for Young Adult Fantasy right now, these aren't very sexy books. They were written very much with teens and tweeens in mind as the target audience, and they are "clean" books, far from the popular "Romantasy" trend right now. I could consider adding that layer to them, but while that might help sales, I don't think it would make for better stories.

​And I haven’t even addressed the whole part about Juniper being biracial: half American Indian, half white. Yeah. There’s that. The first book came out a couple months before the We Need Diverse Books campaign began in 2014. At first, I was excited to be included in the ranks of books that featured diverse leading characters, especially with there being so few that featured American Indian protagonists. The books were supported with incredible reviews from Multicultural Children’s Book Day bloggers, and they won awards. I made a great effort with the sequels to do tons of research to be respectful of Juniper’s heritage as it features heavily in the story. 

​Over the past 10 years, however, the call has moved from needing diverse books to needing diverse books by diverse authors or #ownvoices. And I totally respect that. It is for that reason I invited my friend Jeni Bautista Richard to come on board as co-author of my newest YA fantasy novel Dragon Surf. I knew my idea for a book centered around a Chinese American boy, his family, and a Chinese dragon legacy would never be authentic without her assistance. I’m so grateful she came on board. So, if I were to republish these books, I’d need to find a sensitivity reader if not a collaborator to help me rework the stories to make sure they aren’t doing any unintentional harm.

The last time I added to my latest work in progress, a romance novel called The Cabin Plan, was over a year ago. I did some writing as I cleaned up my play Songwriter Night for production last fall, and I did release two novels last year. However, with my career changes, I haven’t had time to write at all. I have found myself missing it of late and am planning to take some time this weekend to look at my unfinished projects and see where I’d like to put my attention. Should republishing these old books be on that list?
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So, I open this up to you, friends. I’d love to know your opinions, suggestions, ideas. If you’re reading this blog and you still haven’t read the Juniper Sawfeather books, the ebook versions are half off all month at Smashwords (Cry of the Sea is actually free), but they aren’t ever very expensive. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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