Progress Report 2024 Week 48

Advertising continues to be a challenge, and this week seemed to intensify it. But it’s not all my fault! At least, I don’t think it is. Also, my relationship with social media is changing. That has some implications for not only how I market, but how I interact with other writers and fans. Finally, how close am I to finishing Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver? Did Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) claim my writing time this week? Or did I actually get time to write? Let’s look at the key performance indicators before diving into the details.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

I really can’t complain about the word count this week.

I was really fortunate this week. No RLFEs attacked me or my family! I experienced a couple of nights that I felt so exhausted that at first, I didn’t think I could write. But I forced to recall when I had that feeling before (on multiple occasions), and I had produced some of my most fluid writing. So, I forced myself to write.

History repeated itself.

In that spirit, the chapters for both Jadwiga Janczak and Trent Raven went in directions I wasn’t consciously ready for. But they turned out better than I expected. In all honestly, what happened surprised me. It helped me understand the perspective of some writers, like Dean Wesley Smith, who say they write to find out what happens. I’ve felt that way on a few occasions, but it seems to be more common now. I wonder if that’s a good sign?

Advertising Challenges

If I had to pick one thing that makes advertising so hard, it’d be lack of good information. I find these to be the most egregious examples:

1. Tying sales to a specific ad
2. Knowing when you’ve exhausted a particular Facebook audience/demographic
3. Understanding trends within your genre
4. Knowing how those trends affect your ads

My Facebook ads started November strong. So did my Amazon ad. They’ve since throttled back. Did I exhaust that audience? Unlikely, since both were fairly broad, and the total impressions haven’t come close to the projected audience size.

Is that even a good measure? I’d better add that to the list!

I’ve read a number of writers in more than one forum lamenting sales. Is this an industry thing? Something to do with the election? I just don’t know. I’m trying to evaluate the data calmly. But I know there are gaps in my data, and it makes me suspect my decisions.

November started out on such a promising note, too! These are my ebook/paperback sales on Amazon.

Sales haven’t completely stopped. Also, while purchases are down, Kindle Unlimited page reads are up. I like that dynamic (though I’d prefer both be through the roof). That reminds me: unless something happens to change my mind, I intend to release Dreams of Deucalion the same way as The Sword of Sirius — all three at once and all three in KU.

My Affection for Social Media

I remember I used to look forward to catching up with friends and trends on social media. That’s all in the past. I enjoy almost none of it now. I am tempted to go off on a rant that starts with “Trolls and fascists (and I mean that literally, according to the dictionary definition of the term) have ruined…” But really, who would that help? I won’t feel better after writing it, and you certainly won’t feel better after reading it.

So let’s stick to the facts. Or, let’s stick to my conclusions based on what I think are the facts:

1. The types of discussion I see on social media may help some writers find an audience, but I think those writers are a minority; it appears to me that, with few exceptions, the time and talent investment in social media does not pay off in sales.
2. The types of discussion are not, to say the least, life-affirming. I’m not being touchy-feely here. I mean to say that those discussions are toxic and degrade the social fabric. On that basis, I’m going to throttle way back and only engage in thoughtful, interesting conversations.
3. “Thoughtful, interesting conversations” do not drive engagement. Consequently, they won’t drive traffic or sales. This is an implication of #2 and an example of #1.

The election clarified the situation for me. More broadly, the kind of conversations that surround the election and the candidates convinced me that social media is a net negative to our country and our world. Is that an over simplification? No. It’s an observation of an impact the technology has had.

Of course, it’s not all either doom or gloom. It’s possible to enjoy social media. But not in the way social media wants you to enjoy it. Put another way — social media will not reward your enjoyment with engagement. The algorithms will not reward you. And I find that I can live with that.

I’ve deleted my writing persona’s Twitter account. I had another Twitter account for a pen name I’m still considering using, and I deleted it, too. I will still post some updates on Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. But I won’t be spending a lot of time there. It’s just not worth it from a business perspective.

And personally? I’m just done with it.

Progress on Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver

From purely the perspective of words on paper, it was a good week. I think I only have one more chapter to write, which is Janczak’s resolution. Then the first draft of Flanking Maneuver might be done! I say might because I thought I needed one more chapter for Raven, but he seems to have wrapped things up in the the chapter I just wrote.

If all goes well and the creek don’t rise, in Week 49’s edition of this post, I should be able to report that the first draft is done!

Hard to believe I’m almost done! That last gray block for Trent Raven’s arc is where I thought I’d need to go — but he wrapped things up in his previous chapter. I think he’s a better writer than I am — and he’s a fictional character.

I learned from my approach to The Sword of Sirius. For it, I let the whole trilogy sit and performed final edits on all three manuscripts at once. That was a pain. I think this time, I’ll put each manuscript through its alpha read, beta read, and proof read as I finish the next manuscript. In other words, I’ll start the alpha etc. stage for Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon before I start writing Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed.

Once the third book completes those edits, I’ll read all read all three aloud as the final edit. That’ll help me catch continuity issues. It’ll also shift some of the work to a point earlier in the process, so that I don’t have such a lag between finishing one trilogy and starting the next.

Progress against Last Week’s Goals

Here’s my performance measured against last week’s goals:

1. Finish Atticus Porter’s Pinch 2 Part III: Done!
2. Finish Jadwiga Janczak’s Plot Turn 2 Part II: Done!
3. Finish Atticus Porter’s Plot Turn 2: Done!
4. Finish Trend Raven’s Resolution: Done!
5. Continue monitoring/refining ad performance: Done!

I also finished Atticus Porter’s Resolution.

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 48

Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:

1. Finish Jadwiga Janczak’s Resolution
2. Complete the second draft of Janczak’s Resolution
3. Begin to incorporate feedback from an alpha reader into Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon; I asked an ex-Army officer to read the manuscript to let me know how badly I mangled things. Turns out, pretty badly, but there’s a way out!
4. Solicit bids on another alpha read of Special Recon
5. Solicit bids for the cover of Special Recon

What Do You Think?

How do you think about social media? Does it help drive sales? Do you use it purely for enjoyment? Or do you see it in another way? I’d love to hear about your perspective in the comments!