Did you know Apple released their latest version of MacOS? It’s called Tahoe, a.k.a. MacOS 26. Did you know it doesn’t play well with Scrivener? I didn’t. But I do now! In spite of that, I’m making progress on the Dreams of Deucalion Virtual Voice pass. Am I finding more or fewer errors in Book 2: Flanking Maneuver as compared to Book 1: Special Recon? Finally, I’m beginning to think about how I’m going to restart marketing after this re-edit pass. How’s that going? Before we get into that, let’s look at the key performance indicators (KPIs).
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
Still zero words in Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation. But there’s progress in one other key area.
I kept my focus on the Amazon Virtual Voice pass of Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver. This series is already published and people are reading it. I want it fixed soonest. As we chatted about in previous weeks, I messed up a change in my writing process. That change allowed too many typographical (and minor continuity) errors to get through. I’ve adjusted my processes. It shouldn’t happen again. But I really want to get the fixes in place.
Well, I finished listening to the Virtual Voice version. I tracked every error (and a few bits of word-smithing). Then I did something stupid.
I used to be an application programmer. I used to support operating systems. That means I know better than to upgrade my operating system without testing. So I tested the new MacOS release (code named Tahoe) on my developer workstation. Key point here: I did not upgrade my writer’s workstation. I tested most of the functionality I thought I’d need, including a lot of Scrivener’s features. The ones I tested worked.
I upgraded my writing laptop mid-week. That was just a couple days before I finished the Virtual Voice pass and incorporated the changes into Flanking Maneuver. That actually worked, even though I’d upgraded. I thought I was on a roll!
How was I stupid? I should have waited until after I uploaded the corrected manuscript to Amazon. Late one evening, after entering all the changes into Scrivener, I tried to compile the manuscript.
Did you know MacOS Tahoe focused on a facelift for the user interface? That facelift, called Liquid Glass, wrecked Scrivener’s compile interface. It was just gone. I spent an hour trying to work around it. That’s on me. I should not have upgraded so close to needing everything to work. But dang it, I was trying to get excited at an upgrade. I was trying to get beyond my technology cynicism. Sigh.
Kudos to Scrivener. They made an interim version of Scrivener available that fixed the compile screen. Which allowed me to upload Flanking Maneuver to Amazon. So that’s done. At least Vellum worked without incident!
Kudos to Scrivener for releasing an interim version that fixes the Compile screen.
Virtual Voice Pass of Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed
I’m struggling to shake off self-recrimination about the number of errors I’m finding. I should not have skipped the second read-through I’d done for all manuscripts up to Dreams of Deucalion. On the plus side, after uploading the corrected version of Flanking Maneuver, I had myself convinced that yeah, I’d found a lot of problems. About three per chapter. But I’ve corrected my processes. It won’t happen again.
If I’m honest with myself, that’s the right way to think about it. I need to edit Bait & Bleed, but after that, the manuscripts I upload to Amazon will be in a lot better shape. And then I edited the first four chapters of Bait & Bleed. They’re not in better shape than the two previous manuscripts. They’re showing about 20% more errors per chapter.
The fact I have errors in print is really getting under my skin. I hate doing that to my readers. I know I’ve decided to look beyond this; but having to deal with it is really a drag on my morale.
And when I think of what I’ve subjected my readers to, it makes things worse. Never again!
I’m going to put my head down and power through this edit.
The Next Marketing Campaign for Dreams of Deucalion
The only ad I have running right now is a keyword Amazon ad for Special Recon. It’s the most successful campaign I’ve ever run with Amazon. I think the quality of the book’s cover, plus the revisions I’ve made to its blurb (thanks to Chris Fox for the suggestions!), are helping. I’ve found some effective keywords. There’s room for improvement, certainly. But it’s an improvement compared to what I’ve done before.
I need to improve my Facebook ads. So far, I’ve not created a profitable ad. Each is getting closer, but I’m still not in the black. I want to be ready to restart my Facebook ads when I finish editing Bait and Bleed, so I’m working on graphics now.
I researched methods to create short videos. The approach I’ve settled on is using Canva. I’m going to read in my cover, isolate the main character, and run a “breathe” animation. It’s like a slow zoom on the character as the background remains static.
Canva makes something like this really easy. But it’s only available in the Pro version. To be fair, Canva Pro is reasonably priced! Oh, and please ignore the rifle!
It’s just a little movement, but that’s the idea — use a little movement to catch the user’s attention. Then they’ll see a graphic with a special forces operator in the foreground with accelerating spaceships in the background. That should communicate the idea of “military sci-fi,” which I hope will entice them to click. When they click, they’ll see the same graphic, but as the cover the book. That should tell them that they’re in the right place.
At that point, I have to rely on the cover plus the blurb to sell the book. Amazon’s ad has given me a bit of confidence in that area, though I’m going to monitor it. I’m sure it could be improved.
As soon as I upload the corrected version of Bait and Bleed, I’ll kick off the new ad.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Finish the Virtual Voice pass for Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver. Done!
- Review the Scrivener version of Flanking Maneuver and recompile the manuscript. Done!
- Create the Vellum versions of Flanking Maneuver. Done!
- Update the Amazon ebook and paperback versions of Flanking Maneuver. Done!
- Begin reviewing the Virtual Voice version of Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait & Bleed. Done!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 39
Here’s what I hope to complete this week:
- Finish about 40% of Bait and Bleed’s Virtual Voice review
- Continue to experiment with Canva Pro and animation
- Finish an audio edit of one more chapter in The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning
What Do You Think?
Have you worked with animation for your ads? What products have worked for you? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
