Progress Report 2024 Week 34

I’m approaching two very big milestones — one that’s cause for celebration but is laced with terror, and the other merely cause for celebration. It doesn’t help that the stakes are pretty high! Also, I had two realizations about Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Stellar Entanglements — either of which might have derailed the project had I encountered them a few years ago. Also, I figured out why my previous two Amazon ads got exactly zero clicks. I’ll share why, but only if you promise not to laugh! But before we talk about any of that, let’s take a look at last week’s key performance indicators.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

Given my goal is 10,000 words a week, I’d have to say I had a good week!

The word count would have been closer to 12,000, but I got carried away Sunday. I thought I was working on the helper plot’s last chapter, but before I knew it, I’d started the first half of the second chapter. I figured, “Well, I’ve got nowhere to be,” so I wrote another 1,500 words or so. Sunday marked one of my biggest days at 4,609 words. I usually cruise around 2,500.

While writing those chapters, I had one of the two realizations that would have killed my writing a few years ago. I realized that no, I wasn’t writing a helper plot — I was writing Henry Duncan’s arc. Only one of the helper plot chapters did not belong to him. I’ll move that chapter to the next book, where it makes more sense in retrospect. Before, I would have viewed that as a huge mistake on my part. Now, I see it as an organic part of building out the plot.

The other realization was that Trent Raven’s arc lacked emotional depth. I knew where he started and where I wanted him to end. But I didn’t give the reader anywhere near enough detail or action to entice them to care. So, I spent some time Sunday going back through his arc and adding the necessary bits.

A few years ago? That would have made me throw in the towel. Now, I accepted this as a logical outcome of learning more about how to tell a story. Since I know the character so well, it didn’t occur to me to add those little extra details. But a beta reader for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone called me out on it for a similar arc, and I learned from the experience. Well, maybe I didn’t learn enough to prevent the deficiency — but I caught this one, at least, before any beta reader!

Approaching Milestones

The Sword of Sirius Is Almost Ready to Publish!

I got the proofread back just yesterday for The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak. That’s cause for celebration, right? All I need to do is incorporate the corrections, generate the ebook versions, and generate the paperbacks. Then I’ll be ready to publish all three books in The Sword of Sirius. Fantastic, right? It’s cause for celebration!

Except.

Evolution’s Hand has sold better than I feared, but not as well as I had hoped. The individual books with ratings and reviews were largely rated/reviewed well — both on Amazon and Goodreads. That said, I think there are three strikes against them.

To file under “not as much as hoped,” can you tell that I stopped running promotions in July? I wanted to save all of them for the launch of The Sword of Sirius.

First, I’m a new writer. This is my first series. It’s a big ask for a reader to take on a six book series from a new writer. Second, the books are long. As in, they’re about as long as The Fellowship of the Ring. That compounds the ask. And third, they’re note written for a specific genre. It’s hard to articulate which tropes apply, so they’re hard to market.

I know these things. They’ve become an excuse. I can tell myself, “Well, they’re not selling as well as I’d hoped because of those three things.” But, The Sword of Sirius complicates the picture.

Lessons Have Been Learned and Incorporated

First, they’re launching into a space where readers see I have another series in place (Evolution’s Hand). They’re also launching all at once, so if someone loves the first book, they can dive right into the second. Second, they’re shorter. I designed them to be shorter, so they’d be more appealing. And third, I wrote them for the science fiction/military/space fleet genre. They should be easy to market because of that. Sure, I tweaked some of the tropes (two of the three main characters are women, and that’s atypical of the genre), but the other bits are largely there.

So I have no excuses. They should sell well. That’s pressure — and I really didn’t think about it until the proofread came back. I intentionally took away the excuses for the books not the sell well.

Look, I know this is a good problem to have. I should not expect these books to chart on the USA Today best seller’s list. If I force myself to think about it, I’ve positioned myself to learn from the next set of experiences. It’s just hard sometimes to reconcile hope (I’d love to build an income stream to pass on to my kids) and reality. The reality is, it’s unlikely these books will sell as well as I hope, and I’m about to learn why.

After all, the Facebook group is called “20” Books to 50K. Not 9 Books to any specific amount.

Untainted Cause for Celebration

Since I think I’m going to hold off publishing Dreams of Deucalion until I finished all three books (I just decided a few days ago that yes, this was going to be a trilogy), there’s no pressure for Stellar Entanglements yet. That’s why I’m really excited about the progress I’m making.

As you can see from the graphic, I’m 101,650 words into the first draft. That’s going to be reduced by about 2,500 words because I’m moving one chapter to the second book. But I’m close to finishing. I have one Plot Turn 2 to write and three Resolutions, and the first draft’ll be done!

I think I have the over-arching plots for books two and three in my mind. I’ll need to work out the details, of course, but I should be able to transition right into preparing for the second book once this one’s done. That’s part of what makes finishing the first book something to celebrate: I love casting characters and building sets. I love sketching plots. Finishing this book means I get to do that again — all without the pressure of publishing.

Hard to believe I’m almost done with Dream of Deucalion Book 1: Stellar Entanglements. I started writing on June 25, 2024. Seems like yesterday!

When I publish The Sword of Sirius, I should set a new goal: learn to love publishing books. Or, more to the point, learn how to view the process so it doesn’t generate so much angst. Talk about easier said than done!

Amazon Ads and Keywords

During my last two attempts at Amazon Keywords, I tried to be very specific. I tested the keywords in the Amazon website, and I got results. So, I figured I was on solid ground. A week or two ago, I saw news that other writers had seen problems with Amazon ads, and those problems were in the same timeframe as one of my failed attempts. So, I figured I’d give it another shot.

The result was the same. Despite a high bid, I had zero clicks.

So, I did what I should have done in the first place. I fired up Publisher Rocket and tried my keywords. I was shocked to see they yielded zero results. Then I realized why. Amazon’s website would give me results, but others aren’t using those keywords. I was the only one who would ever see my ads! Publisher Rocket showed me the keywords people were using — keywords that yielded results. So, I halted the second failing ad and spent time prototyping keywords in Publisher Rocket.

After I had identified a few new sets of keywords that covered my original intent, I relaunched the ad. After only one day, I’m already seeing results. So, lesson learned: use Publisher Rocket to check ad keywords. Yeah, it’s obvious — and I guess I told you before asking you to promise not to laugh! So, please do feel to have a chuckle at my expense!

Progress against Last Week’s Goals

Here’s how I fared against last week’s goals:

1. Complete Atticus Porter’s Plot Turn 2: Started! It turned out to be three chapters, and I finished the first two.
2. Complete Trent Raven’s Pinch 2 (part IV!): Done!
3. Complete Jadwiga’s Plot Turn 2: Done!
4. Start Trent Raven’s Plot Turn 2: Done! I am happy to report I not only started it; I finished it!
5. Take delivery of the cover for The Sword of Sirius Part 3: Firebreak: Done! Miblart came through once again.
6. Continue to investigate why Amazon ads generated zero impressions in July (stretch objective): Done!

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 34

Here’s what I hope to complete this week:

1. Finish Atticus Porter’s Plot Turn 2
2. Finish Jadwiga Janczak’s Resolution
3. Finish Trent Raven’s Resolution
4. Finish Porter’s Resolution (stretch objective)
5. Begin incorporating the proofreading results for The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak

What Do You Think?

Do you use Publisher Rocket? Has it helped you with keywords? Genre selection? I’d love to hear about your experience — just let me know in the comments!