Progress Report 2024 Week 40

It’s been a busy week! Care to guess how well the launch of The Sword of Sirius went? Here’s a hint: I’m still experiencing more than a little shock. I also have some data that hints at whether or not I should have waited to release all three books of the trilogy together. There’s also news about progress on Dreams of Deucalion. But before we get into any of that, let’s take a look at the key performance indicators.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

Is this as bad as it looks? Well, that depends!

Still no words written in the second book of Dreams of Deucalion. But I made major pre-production progress this week. I had to build some more sets, which involved fleshing out my definition of the 61 Cygni system. That was fun! I also had to sketch TCP’s shipyards, and their construction methodologies. Or at least hint at them. That was also fun!

I tried a couple of new techniques to plot the second book. In addition to using the seven point plot method, I sketched the key developments in the main plot and sequenced them. Too often in the past, I needed to keep track of who knew what and when. I neglected to write it all down, and there were times I got it out of sequence in the manuscript. That’s what happens when a Real Life Family Event (RFLE) can trigger a massive upheaval, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five (and sometimes sixty-six) days of the year.

I also added a timeline. Spaceship-based travel within even the inner star system takes weeks, and I didn’t want, for example, or portray Janczak getting from the Fissure emergence point to one of the inner planets in a few hours. I’m trying to be realistic here! So that timeline will help me keep elapsed times realistic.

The short version is that I now have the POV arcs for Atticus Porter, Jadwiga Janczak, and Trent Raven through their first drafts. That includes the master plot sequencing and timeline. I’ll polish them over the next few days, then begin writing! I hope. God willing’ and the creek don’t rise.

Oh, and as I plotted the book, I came to a realization. I had switched the titles for the second and third books. I did the same thing for The Sword of Sirius Book 1. For the longest time, I called it Firebreak. That’s now the third book’s title. With the caveat that my brain might change its mind again, here’re the titles for Dreams of Deucalion:

• Book 1: Special Recon
• Book 2: Flanking Maneuver
• Book 3: Bait and Bleed

Launching The Sword of Sirius

I launched the book last week. I attempted to stack promotions to give me the best chance of helping it sell well. The first promotion was through Book Barbarian, which has, historically, done well for Evolution’s Hand. How’d it do for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning? Check this out:

For a brief time on Friday, September 27, 2024, my book ranked in the top 100. I think it peaked around number 63.

I didn’t know how to react to that.

Full disclaimer: the book only stayed there during Book Barbarian’s promotion on Friday. It tapered off on Saturday. But for that period of time, my book showed beside greats like Iain M. Banks’ Consider Phlebas, which was a masterpiece (IMHO). I was also close to other writers whose works I respect and admire.

Their works remain in the top 100. Mine has dropped out. If I’m lucky, the book will bounce up during promos. But here’s the thing: for the first time ever, I had a book in the top 100 of Amazon’s hard science fiction Kindle books.

There’s more. I saw a buy-through rate in the first two days — in the first two days — of 10%. Not just to The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone but also to The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak. Some kind soul read the first book through Kindle Unlimited and started the second by the second day.

Think about that. Someone liked Red Flag Warning enough to give Collapse Zone a chance on the very next day. Man, I hope that reader enjoyed the second and third books. I hope all the readers did.

I think this suggests that releasing all three books in the trilogy was a good move. It makes sense: the best time to sell the second book in a series is the moment someone finishes the first and really wants to see the second. I have their attention. They’re ready to go. By releasing all three at once, they can dive right into the next.

Guess how I’m going to approach Dreams of Deucalion?

Progress against Last Week’s Goals

Here’s how I did against last week’s posts:

1. Finish the ad copy and graphic for The Sword of Sirius’ Facebook ad. Done!
2. Soft publish The Sword of Sirius at full price: Done!
3. Schedule the stacked promotions to start running at the earliest opportunity I can have adequate coverage: Done!
4. Reduce the price for Red Flag Warning to 99 cents before the promotions run: Done!
5. Finish fleshing out Trent Raven’s starting point and mindset: Done!
6. Begin plotting Bait and Bleed: Done!

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 40

Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:

1. Revise the outline for Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver
2. Write the first draft of Atticus Porter’s Hook
3. Write the first draft of the helper plot’s chapter one
4. Write the first draft of Jadwiga Janczak’s Hook
5. Evaluate performance of the Facebook and Amazon ads; tweak as needed

What Do You Think?

How do you handle the mental switch between the creative and business aspects of writing novels? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!