Okay. Stop me if this sounds stupid. Or I suppose tell me. lol Actually to be more percise I am curious if there is any standard on the following. Or if it is just stupid. A book with two offical versions. Imagine one that is 30k. A lot of scene jumping. Less wordy. Just BAM Story in your face! While version 2 is like 80k. Slower, more detail. Ext. but both being released around the same time and both being the same story. So like if someone likes the story and recommends it. They can recommend the version that fits the readers style. Or if a reader liked the 30k one maybe they want to look into the 80k one to get more of the story. Is this done? Has this been done? Or am I just stupid?
I personally wouldn't do this. That's like giving the person a spark notes summary without having them grow with the characters and the plot. It's not about getting there, it's about the journey. Experiencing what this world has to offer is part of the fun!
I don't know, it's an interesting idea. Never heard of anything like it. I feel like there would need to be some real reason to do it, though. Hmm. Not sure what I think, really. I wouldn't do it, sounds like a lot of extra work.
First thing that comes to mind is Flowers for Algernon. A short story was published in a magazine. Seven years later, it was expanded and published as a novel. The novel narrates the same timeframe from the same perspective, just in much more detail. Considering that the novel is one of my favorite novels, I would say two editions can work.
Thanks everyone. Still a bit curious though. So Tagging people @jannert @Jack Asher @Cogito @Lea`Brooks
Stephen King's 'The Stand' did that as well. The original publisher edited out a MAJOR amount of the book. Many years later King released the original version. That is the version I first read, and I loved it.
There are plenty of books that have this end outcome for different reasons. I know Niel Geiman's book American Gods has a couple of different versions in print. The first two of David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr books (of which there are 4) have two version each. The original publisher edited out a lot of rhetorical material reminiscent of (and inspired by) the citizenship training found in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, and also a major facet of the MC - a homosexual relationship he has - was redacted. Later editions of the same two books from a different publishing house restored all this redacted material.
Nope. Should you ever happen to come across Gerrold's Chtorr books and think to yourself "My pal Wreybies told me about these...." This is the kid-friendly edition. And this is the hot, sweaty, furry-chested man-love edition.
