News Progress Post

Progress Report 2025 Week 05

I’m starting to see results with my latest Amazon ad. My challenge so far has been to find the right balance of keywords and cost. Did this week move me any nearer that goal? I’m getting close to the end of Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed. Did the characters continue to cooperate with me — or did they get tangled up in the plot and cause a fuss? How’s research going for Wayland’s Forge? Before getting into any of those questions, let’s take a look at the weekly key performance indicators.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

Sunday was one of those rare days where it was hard to stop writing! That’s a good sign, I think.

On Sunday, the three major arcs crashed together — in a good way, dramatically speaking. I had to write smaller chapters, but more of them. I got so carried away that it was hard to stop writing! Usually, I get to the end of two hours or two and a half hours, and I have a 3,000 word chapter. On Sunday, I wrote 4,000 words.

If all goes well, I should be able to finish Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed this week. I began writing the trilogy on June 10, 2024, when I started building out Jadwiga Janczak’s space fleets. Writing wrapped up for the first book, Special Recon, around August 20th. I started the second book, Flanking Maneuver, with its pre-production work on September 21, 2024, and I finished writing it on November 27, 2024.

Looks like it’s taking about two months to write this size of novel. I want this to be a business, and I want to have a cadence to help propel me forward. On the other hand, I don’t want to become a slave to it. So I’ll consider this timeframe more a guideline and less a rule.

Bottom line: the characters seem completely on board with the direction Bait and Bleed’s plot’s going. That’s a huge relief, especially at this stage of the game!

Amazon Ads Update

There’s some good-ish news on this front. My strategy has been to find relevant yet economically priced keywords. That seems to be helping. I’ve gotten a couple of sales so far at a lower price point than before. Even better, I’m getting more page reads. I’m still operating at a loss, though. I think I may have to expect that.

The real sticking point is that I’m marketing a $0.99 book. Read-through is helping, and I’m getting closer to breaking even. That said, other writers in the Facebook group 20BooksTo50K report similar issues; same in Wide for the Win.

I think I’m going to try this:

  1. Stop running the Evolution’s Hand’s ad. It’s harder to market, and I’m not getting traction with the current ad.
  2. Keep the Sword of Sirius Facebook and Amazon ads running, and keep Red Flag Warning’s price at $0.99 for now.
  3. Prep and publish Dreams of Deucalion; set Special Recon’s price at $0.99 and raise the price of Red Flag Warning to $2.99.
  4. Continue marketing Red Flag Warning.
  5. Conduct the normal launch advertising for Special Recon.
  6. Begin a Facebook and Amazon ad for Special Recon.
  7. Cross fingers and toes and hope that I get more read through between The Sword of Sirius and Dreams of Deucalion.

I know I sound like a broken record (does anyone use the phrase anymore?), but it’s hard to believe I’m this close to finishing Bait and Bleed.

Kindle Unlimited might be the key here. Now that I understand how to attribute KU reads to an Amazon ad, I can tolerate fewer conversions if I turn a greater profit by selling the first book at $2.99. After all, the price doesn’t affect KU readers.

Preparing for Wayland’s Forge

Back in week 3, I mentioned that I’m reading  Goering: : The Rise and Fall of the Notorious Nazi Leader to prepare myself to write the character Moritz Lehner. He’s played a role in multiple books all the way back to  Evolution’s Hand Book 5: Split Infinities. He’s a Nazi, and I wanted to understand that mindset from a factual, historical perspective.

I’d gotten away with a surface understanding until now because Luisa Brunner, the POV character in several books, including the entire The Sword of Sirius trilogy, was a professional solider first and a Nazi second. Lehner, though, is a Nazi. Not first, not second; just a Nazi. He embodies the branch of fascism that is Nazism. But not as the previous Nazi leader defined it; as Hans Alder defines it.

That distinction is actually going to form some tension within Lehner’s plot. Hans Alder doesn’t like the term Nazism. He prefers fascism, because he’s trying to avoid the mistakes of the past and he considers Nazism a mistake. But not fascism.

All that aside, I’m getting ideas from the Goering book, but I’ll tell you this for free: it’s painful reading. Don’t get me wrong. It’s well-written. The narrative flows and it’s exhaustively researched. No, it’s difficult because of the subject matter. It’s too relevant to today; it’s too revealing of how the Nazis rose to power. It’s too real how some in American politics are orchestrating their power grab.

But I want the book to hit hard. I want to capture some of that fanaticism and casual extremism for Lehner; but I also want him to go his own way. That “way” is becoming more clear in my mind — which is the point of conducting this research!

TL/DR: I’m getting ready to kick off the Scrivener project for Wayland’s Force Book 1: Conventional Forces.

Progress against Last Week’s Goals

Here’s how I performed compared to last week’s goals:

  1. Finish Jadwiga Janczak’s Plot Turn 2: Done!
  2. Finish Trent Raven’s Plot Turn 2 Part II: Done!
  3. Finish Atticus Porter’s Plot Turn 2: Done!
  4. Start the Help Plot called Success Planning: Partial! I’ve finished some of the pre-work; I think I’m ready to start.
  5. Continue brainstorming to improve newsletter performance: Ongoing!
  6. Continue evaluating Amazon ad performance: Ongoing!

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 05

Here’s what I hope to finish this week:

  1. Complete Janczak’s Resolution
  2. Complete Raven’s Resolution
  3. Begin ProWritingAid pass for Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver
  4. Write the back cover blurb for Flanking Maneuver
  5. Bid alpha reads and the cover for Flanking Maneuver (stretch objective)

What Do You Think?

How do you approach Amazon Ads? Do you find the absolutely most relevant keywords — price be damned? Or do you look for a blend of popularity and price? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!

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