News Progress Post

Progress Report 2022 Week 26

This week, I got distracted a little by Tammi L. Labrecque’s book Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert. Did it detract from my word count? How many (if any!) Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) or Real Life Work Events (RLWEs) tried to wreck my schedule? Let’s look at the numbers first.

Progress Report 2022 Week 26 By the Numbers

Since my goal is at least 10,000 words a week, I can’t complain about these numbers!

The book I’m writing now, Evolution’s Hand Book 3: Primary Target, is about half done, if my experience writing Book 2: Dying Breath is any indication. That means I should finish the first draft in about three months. I think that positions me to publish it in mid-2023.

That doesn’t leave any time to dawdle. Two books a year isn’t a lot for an indy writer, so I’ll need to maintain my focus.

Progress Last Week

I had set these goals for myself last week:

  1. Finish Dek Conrad’s midpoint
  2. Finish Matsushita Sachi’s midpoint
  3. Start Atticus Porter’s midpoint

I finished the first two, since they were intertwined. But after finishing the first one, I realized I needed to present Jadwiga Janczak’s midpoint before Porters. So, I switched their positions, and I think I finished Janczak’s chapter. That means I get to declare victory, right?

And I have to saw: Her language is a lot worse than mine!

Getting this section right took more time and thought than I anticipated. Several of the themes and hints I dropped in the first two books came to fruition here. I wanted to make sure everything lined up and that the scenes weren’t just info dumps. I think I pulled it off, the but readers will be the ultimate judge.

A Quick Detour for List Building

I’ve been mulling over the data from Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action’s various ad campaigns. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not willing to invest the kind of money I’ll need to jump start sales, since I’m still an unknown writer. Also, I just don’t have enough experience to optimize those ads.

I’m going to focus on building my e-mail list. It, plus my anime site, were the primary drivers for sales so far. On the advice of my wife, whose e-mail list is the envy of her peers, I bought Tammi L. Labrecque’s book Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert. That book seems fantastic — well-organized, fun to read, and easy to follow. I’ve updated my writer’s Twitter profile, as well as my Facebook page, based on her advice. I even added the newsletter signup form to this site’s homepage. Building that newsletter will be my focus between now and when I launch Dying Breath.

I may run another ad to drive traffic to my newsletter signup page, but instead of being coy about my themes, I might tout them instead. More on that in another post.

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2022 Week 26

I’d love to keep up 10,000+ word weeks, but I think I might need to take a day or two to build out the space elevator network. I’ve already identified two of them. However, the coming scenes might need to talk bout one or more additional elevators. So far, every investment I’ve made in world-building gave me ideas I can bake back into the story. I guess it makes sense because it helps me visualize the world in which the characters live!

That said, here’re my goals this week:

  1. Finish Atticus Porter’s midpoint
  2. Finish Ira Malhotra’s midpoint
  3. Start Jack Booth’s midpoint

What Do You Think?

Without giving any anything confidential, how does your e-mail newsletter perform compared to your Amazon, Facebook, or other ads? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!

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