Progress Report 2025 Week 29

I feel like a real writer now, because I hit my first major technical snafu with Amazon technical support. What happened? Is it resolved? Is my Amazon account still active? Also, this week, I decided to try to get ahead of any Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) by writing on Monday night, just in case. Did it pay off? Also, I experienced a breakthrough in the plot for both Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement and Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation. We’ll talk about all that after we look at the key performance indicators (KPIs).

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

This just might represent the most words I’ve written in a week since I started Wayland’s Hammer!

I decided to try to write Monday, just in case I ran into a RLFE this week. I did encounter RLFEs, but none that blocked my writing time. So, I ended up writing six days out of seven last week! Add to that a three hour instead of a two hour session on Sunday, and I managed to crank out seven chapters and 16,722 words.

There might have been an additional reason for the higher output. While crafting this week’s chapters, Owen Payne let me know how his arc should end in Resistance Movement. That character was also kind enough to fill me in on what his arc will look like in Lines of Operation! I’ll have to buy him a beer or something. That had been weighing on me, even though I’d sketched the plot for Resistance Movement before I even started writing.

What’s cool is that this week, Payne’s character stepped up and made some decisions that gave the second book a crisp, clean end for this arc. A devastating end for Payne, in fact. Best of all, it perfectly sets up Lines of Operation!

Mortiz Lehner did something similar. His arc ends about where I thought it would, but he added more drama, excitement, and intrigue than I knew about. Seriously, even though I used Plottr to lay out these arcs, I couldn’t see the details clearly. It was starting to freak me out! But this week, these two characters stepped up to give me a solid end for the second book.

The other protagonist, Gerhard Wimmer, performed every bit as well. But his arc was always clear in my mind. But even he added some more cool details. In fact, he took the initiative to a greater extent than I’d foreseen!

I guess what I’m saying is that I’m more hopeful that this book and Lines of Operation will actually work well together to bring the plot started in Conventional Forces to a close. It’s amazing how much faster I can type when I’m hopeful!

Dreams of Deucalion Runs Into a Big Obstacle

Automation is Usually a Great Thing

Last weekend, I finalized the drafts for Special Recon, Flanking Maneuver, and Bait and Bleed. I uploaded and reviewed all three ebooks. I uploaded and electronically reviewed all three paperbacks. Then, I ordered the proof copies of the paperbacks.

If you’ve never published on Amazon, once you get your paperback all set up, you can order proof copies from your local Amazon marketplace. Within about four hours, usually less than one, you get an e-mail with a link to actually place the order. A few days after placing the order, the proofs arrive with a banner saying “Not for Resale.”

Notice anything missing?

The e-mail for Special Recon showed up within an hour. So did the e-mail for Bait and Bleed. But I didn’t get an e-mail for Flanking Maneuver. Now, in theory, I could publish without seeing the proof. That proof copy is a quality assurance step for me, though, and I don’t want to skip it. So, I contacted chat support.

They told me the standard stuff. Flush my browser cache, try incognito mode, try a different browser, etc. Then try to order again. I did exactly as they instructed. No e-mail.

I contacted support the next day. They “refreshed my book shelf.” Said it was fixed and to try again. Still no joy.

I’ve now chatted with five different agents. The third agent told me my book was ineligible for shipping to the USA because of these shipping restrictions. Honestly, I was trying to be helpful when I pointed out that books 1 and 3 made it no problem. But the agent insisted I order from the UK.

I realized this was a step in their checklist. I could be a jerk and make demands — which would not only be ruin the quality of someone’s day who hadn’t done anything to me, but would delay any ultimate response — or I could help them complete the checklist. I chose the latter, because I was gambling that at the end of the checklist, I’d either get my proofs, or get the incident escalated to the next level.

I didn’t figure this would work — but I had to try!

I requested the proofs, this time from the UK marketplace. I received the e-mail within minutes. Bursting with hope, I clicked the link to place the order. As you can see by the screen shot above, my hope was misplaced.

This is Not a Complaint about Amazon Support

Honestly, this is not a complaint. Not at all. I’ll go into more detail about why in a moment.

After that error message, I started another chat. This time, I got assigned an agent named Mohammed. I explained what had happened. He had to go through the same script as everyone else, and I walked him through the answers. I finally said something to the effect of “Man, I hope you can help me, because it’s been almost a week, and I still can’t get the proofs I need to publish.”

He assured me he would help. He tried to reset my book shelf again. Apparently, that resolves many issues for most folks. He asked me to try to order one more time. “But please do let us know if you not received any email and we will try get this resolved from our senior team.”

I’m sorry to say it didn’t work. But now, armed with the magic phrase “we will try get this resolved from our senior team,” I started another chat. I had written a summary of what had come before ahead of time, so I was ready. This time, the agent who joined the chat was named Subrata. I led with the magic phrase. Subrata reviewed the logs.

This time, the response was, “I will consult with my technical team and will get back to you with the updates within 24 hours.” Within just a few minutes, I received an e-mail confirming what he’d told me. They were escalating the ticket! This is progress!

It looks so innocent, sitting there without a care in the world!

I received an e-mail over the weekend saying, “We are further troubleshooting the issue from our end. We need a little time to look into the problem with technical team. We’ll reply and send you more information within 2 business days. Thanks for your patience.”

This isn’t the answer I’d wanted. But they’re working on it. That’s the important part. For now, that’s the second best thing that could happen (with a fix being the best!).

Avoiding Burnout for Me and the Support Team

Decades ago, I worked microcomputer support for a Fortune 500 company. This was before we’d developed level 1, 2, and 3 scripts. In fact, I worked on developing those scripts, so I understand their value. I don’t know how many chats and e-mails Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) handles in a day, but I bet it’s a lot. After all, they publish at least 7,500 ebooks a day — and those are 2023 numbers.

If I tried to get all mouthy with level 1 support, I would have frustrated them, increased my own blood pressure, and decreased the chance someone would go the extra mile and actually help me. You have to consider: most of those folks are working because at least at some point in their life, they wanted to help people. Why would I want to contribute to their burn out?

I understand why support is in tiers. For most problems, flushing the browser cache or trying another browser fixes the problem. Any system that correctly handles 7,500 new ebooks a day is robust, so problems have to be rare.

It’s just my bad fortune to have become one of those rare occasions! But harassing level 1 won’t change that.

I am very, very glad I didn’t plan an elaborate, intricately-timed hard launch. I’ve read horror stories on Facebook about writers trying that, only to have some minor detail in the process crash everything. I’ve learned from their experience. I don’t control Amazon’s publishing process. I can’t guarantee that everything will go smoothly. So, I save myself the heartache and stress and work with the system.

Yep — it costs me some initial sales. But I honestly think that robust post-publication marketing can make up for it. I’ve seen plenty of evidence in the 20BooksTo50K Facebook group to prove that.

Now, fingers and toes crossed that I can order the proofs this week — and that publishing goes smoothly!

And yes. My Amazon account is still active. Thank God!

Progress against Last Week’s Goals

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

1. Continue Gerhard Wimmer’s arc. Advance him through pinch 2 into his plot turn 2. He’s doing his own thing, so I’m not sure what form it’ll take. Done! I think. I’ll see how this week goes!
2. Write Moritz Lehner’s Midpoint Part III. Done!
3. Write Lehner’s Pinch 2.Done!
4. Writer Owen Payne’s pinch 2. Done! This turned into two chapters.
5. Review the paperback proofs for all three books in Dreams of Deucalion. 2/3 done! See above.
6. Begin scheduling the Dreams of Deucalion launch promotions. Not Done! I’m holding off until the books are actually published.

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 29

Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:

1. Work with Amazon tech support to resolve the issue with the paperback version of Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver.
2. Write Moritz Lehner’s plot turn 2.
3. Write Gerhard Wimmer’s plot turn 2.
4. Writer Owen Payne’s plot turn 2.
5. Continue working with the Amazon Virtual Voice audiobook for Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action.
6. Begin working with the human narration for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Red Flag Warning.

What Do You Think?

Have you had to rely on Amazon technical support? What’s your strategy to keep things moving? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!