The Old Never Gets Old

 

My 2014 poetry book

 

“Wow! That book was published in 2014!” This was a thought I had recently when I was looking for the publication date of one of my poetry books that I was promoting. And even though this book was published over 10 years ago, I was still going to promote it. Why? The book’s theme was still relevant. I mean, we do still care about our soldiers and veterans, right? As well as those who lost their lives while serving their country.

 

Relevance is something writers need to aim for when they are trying to get their work published. One thing I was often told about my Tips book was that the topic was evergreen. And while this is true, I have realized that, as I have been working on revising it for the third time, a lot of the material was not. In fact, it contained a lot of dated material, something that can happen to any nonfiction book. (I often keep hoping that this third revision of the book will be the last one, but who knows!)

 

But circling back to a book’s old publication date, the question remains: Should a writer retire their work after a number of years have passed since publication? I think it really depends on the type of work that is at issue here.

 

When it comes to a book, a lot of factors will decide if the writer should quietly stop putting their energy into promoting it. Some of those factors include whether or not the topic is relevant, if there is a demand for that kind of information or books with that theme, and if there is anything new related to that topic which the old edition has not yet covered. With the Tips book, for example, it never discussed AI. However, AI is a hot topic in the writing community, so it belongs in a book about writing (and I am including it in this particular book about writing).

 

As far as articles, essays, poems, and short stories are concerned, the quality of the work is what must stand out in order for it to withstand the test of time. People will always want to read a good story, poems which are well-written, and essays including lived experiences. This is why we still read the works of Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe even today. With nonfiction, old work is a reflection of the time it was published. For example, anyone who reads the writings of Benjamin Franklin will understand that his thoughts and opinions were all products of the time period they stemmed from. There is the knowledge that dated writing is, well, dated. Still, they serve a purpose; historians are interested in them because they are interested in reading material about certain time periods, and students will read them in order to complete assignments. So, in this way, the old may be old, but it is still relevant.

 

If a nonfiction book warrants an update, then it should be updated. Update the book before continuing to promote it.

 

But with poetry, fiction, essay collections, and plays? Never stop promoting them. Why? Because the old never gets old.

 

That 2014 book I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post is a poetry book. The theme is still relevant, and so is the content of the poems, so that book can still be promoted – yes, even 12 years after it has been published.

 

The same goes with any of my works of fiction, essays, and story collections. Promote, promote, promote.

 

Authors should never choose to stop promoting their work only because said work was published a X number of years ago. If the author knows the work is too dated or irrelevant, then of course they shouldn’t promote the work. But if the theme or the topic is still relevant, then by all means, keep promoting it.

 

Which is why I will always promote my poetry book about the seasons, because we’ll always have seasons. I will always promote my collection of YA horror stories because I know there are young adults out there who enjoy reading horror stories. And I will always promote my book about writing parents because there are always going to be writing parents.  

 

I’ll continue to submit YA horror stories for publication because there is still a demand for YA horror stories. I will continue to submit writing about the seasons, should I ever feel compelled to do so, because the topic is still relevant.

 

The point is that the writer should not decide to give up on wanting to get their work published or promoting their work just because the work is old or they tried a certain number of times to get it published but ended up in Rejection City. If your writing is still relevant or something that a certain demographic of readers will want to read, then keep going. Keep promoting it. Keep trying to get it published. 

 

I wrote a story in 2012 that was published in an anthology in 2025. I wrote a novella in 2011 that was published in 2025. (Alas, it is currently out of print, but I am hoping it will be back in print soon!)  

 

The writing may be old, but the demand for that kind of material isn’t. Update it if necessary, but don’t ever stop trying to get your work into print. You WILL find a home for it somewhere, so keep submitting it!