I’m dying to get started writing Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Bait and Bleed. Did I make an progress in that direction this week? Is The Sword of Sirius any closer to publication? Plus, I have a cover reveal for you this week! Before we talk about those things, let’s take a look at the key performance indicators.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
Still no words written in the first second book of Dreams of Deucalion.
I haven’t started writing any of the chapters in the new book, but I took another couple of steps along that path. Atticus Porter and Jadwiga Janczak spoke to me regarding their motivations for this book. Which is another way of saying I sketched their motivations and starting point. I also started on Trent Raven’s perspective.
I think I have a few more days’ of work here. The interaction of these three motivations, as well as their surrounding circumstances, will drive a lot of the plot. The way things are going, Bait and Bleed is going to end with an event that changes the balance of power in the entire Sol system and its connected Fissures. That’ll set the stage for Flanking Maneuver to completely upend things.
Can you tell I feel like I let the status quo persist for too long — though both Evolution’s Hand and The Sword of Sirius?
Cover Reveal: The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak
Here’s the cover for the third book in The Sword of Sirius:
I think this is my favorite of the three covers.
How’s it look to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
I remain pleased with miblart’s work. Not only do I like the design, but they turned the covers around quickly. The price is also right, with a package that includes the ebook cover, paperback cover (including the PhotoShop original file), and some marketing materials, for around $300.00. Other science fiction cover artists that I priced ranged from $3,000.00 to well over $6,000.00. Those were specifically known artists for best-selling titles.
Are the expensive covers objectively better? Put another way, would they drive more sales? Probably. Would they drive enough sales to justify the extra cost? Not at this stage of my writing career. I’m glad that Dale L. Roberts introduced me to miblart. There’re on the short list when I bid covers for Dreams of Deucalion.
About to Launch The Sword of Sirius
The read-alouds are done. I just finished going through the proof copy of Firebreak, and it looked just as good as Red Flag Warning and Collapse Zone. Vellum knocked it out of the park — formatting the ebook and paperback has never been easier or turned out looking so good.
My next step is likely to be a soft launch at the full ebook price of $3.99 or all three ebooks. After a few days, I’ll drop the price of Red Flag Warning to 99 cents and start the promotions. In fact, promo availability will probably drive exactly when I announce the series as “published.”
I know that not having the promos stacked ahead of time will cost some sales. Most of that reduction will come from Amazon seeing that the published work isn’t moving copies. That’ll reduce the chances that Amazon will show my book in the also-bought section. But coordinating all that will take more energy and time than I have available. I’m going to put my faith in the books themselves and hope that, over time, I’ll get back any sales I initially leave on the table.
Progress against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Finish the read-aloud for The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak: Done!
- Create the ebook and paperback for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone and verify proofs: Done!
- Create the ebook and paperback for The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak and verify proofs: Done!
- Flesh out Jadwiga Janczak’s plan for her war against the Fourth Reich and the Investment Houses: Done!
- Begin plotting Dream of Deucalion: Not started! I’m still working on Trent Raven’s mindset and starting point.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 39
Here’s what I intend to accomplish this week:
- Finish the ad copy and graphic for The Sword of Sirius’ Facebook ad.
- Soft publish The Sword of Sirius at full price
- Schedule the stacked promotions to start running at the earliest opportunity I can have adequate coverage
- Reduce the price for Red Flag Warning to 99 cents before the promotions run
- Finish fleshing out Trent Raven’s starting point and mindset
- Begin plotting Bait and Bleed
What Do You Think?
How do you decide how much you spend on covers? How do you balance cost with expected sales? I’d love to know about your thoughts in the comments!
