Progress Report 2025 Week 41

I lived through my most annoying Real Life Family Event (RLFE) to date. It cost me at least an entire day, and possibly two. And it only involved me! I’ve continued working on Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed’s post publishing proofread, as well as continuing to keep with industry trends. Have I started writing again yet? Let’s review the key performance indicators (KPIs) first.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

Nope. No new words yet. But I have a better understanding of what I have to do.

I finished listening to Amazon Virtual Voice read Bait and Bleed to me. I tracked all the typographical errors and line edits, then incorporated them back into the manuscript. Vellum made fast work of re-creating the ebook and paperback versions, which I’ve uploaded to Amazon. Amazon quickly made them available, so I restarted the Facebook ad. Now we wait.

Man, finding all those errors was embarrassing. I feel bad for what I put my initial readers through. I intend to apologize to my newsletter recipients. The good news is that I’m not about to let this happen again. I know what happened, and I know how to fix it. Still, I had hoped Dreams of Deucalion would build on the momentum I’d built with The Sword of Sirius. I basically cost myself two months plus earned a couple of one star ratings. My suspicion (and that’s all it is) is that those low ratings were a reaction to the typographical errors.

Lesson learned: writing fast is fine — provided I spend enough time revising subsequent drafts.

My RLFE this week involved the emergency room. I went to urgent care for what I thought was a minor issue. They agreed, except for the small percentage of causes that might be fatal. So, they send me for tests. I realized I had underestimated the scope of the tests when they fitted me for an IV. The hospital was fast (in fact, I could not be happier with how they treated me), but I still lost all of Friday. I suppose I should say I gained peace of mind, because the tests indicated I wasn’t about to take a dirt nap. Which was reassuring.

The entire experience reminded me that I can’t take for granted that I’ll have time to do anything. From that perspective, even being embarrassed by publishing too many typos is a positive.

Thoughts after Finishing The Artisan Author

The History of Rapid Release

I finished Johnny B. Truant’s audiobook The Artisan Author (affiliate link). Last week, I lamented how Mr. Truant seemed to cast Amazon’s algorithms and the indie approach of rapid release as villains. I went so far as to suggest he’d treated them as scape goats.

I stand by that characterization, even after finishing the audiobook. But I understand why he did it. Mr. Truant had been part of the early independent (indie) writer movement. He had his colleagues had offered extremely generous insights into how they realized success in more or less real time. I’m talking about even giving us insights into their writing process with Fiction Unboxed. I got a lot out of those materials.

One of the things they shared was Write. Publish. Repeat (affiliate link). It was a precursor to rapid release. I can confirm that what Mr. Truant said about how things played out in the publishing industry is true — I personally watched it unfold. As he spoke about those times, I began to get the feeling that he blamed himself for helping rapid release gain popularity. I’ve thought a lot about that.

I’ve concluded that if he blames himself, he’s not being fair to himself. He and his colleagues just shared what worked for them. That’s all. They were being magnanimous with their time and experience. I’m sure it felt great that so many folks listened to them, and they earned that. But I don’t think he deserves any blame for what other people did with those ideas. But like I said, I suspect he blames himself, and I think that accounts for how hard he went after rapid release.

The Book Got a Lot Right

After I got past the parts of the book the emphasized the negatives of both Amazon’s approach and rapid release, I found a ton to like. I said I didn’t like how hard Mr. Truant went after rapid release. That said, I readily admit that he’s right, at least when we look at how too many writers interpret rapid release.

I mean, I just got done apologizing for releasing Dreams of Deucalion with too many errors. That was a direct result of me trying to release more quickly. I don’t fully embrace rapid release, but I felt it breathing down my neck.

Mr. Truant’s book champions another approach. In essence, he emphasizes taking the time to build a quality manuscript and cultivate strong relationships with readers. Now, I know writers who release rapidly who would also champion those ideas. But it’s likewise true that I know of a lot of writers who seem to emphasize the speed of release even if it means a drop in quality. It’s not that releasing fast is wrong. It’s that releasing fast at the expense of quality and the reader experience hurts everyone.

Recently, Amazon changed their algorithms. The changes seem to change the reward system to stop favoring rapid release. I think that’s an admission on Amazon’s part that burning out writers not only limits the writer pool. The output from burned out and burning out writers is less enjoyable for readers. Which in turns hurts Amazon’s bottom line.

Regardless, if you’re an indie writer, I unreservedly recommend Johnny B. Truant’s audiobook The Artisan Author (affiliate link). His career developed alongside the indie writing community, and he has a uniquely qualified perspective on this material.

What’s Going on with Wayland’s Hammer?

I’m about a third of the way through revising Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Extraction. I’ve revised Gerhard Wimmer’s arc, and I’m ready to start on Moritz Lehner’s. That’s my next task. That’ll leave Owen Payne’s arc, and if I’m honest, I’m apprehensive about it.

Reviewing what happened with Dream of Deucalion, I realized I cut too many corners without having insight into the impact. Reviewing the beta feedback for Point of Extraction, I have to admit: I did something similar here. I started writing before I had fully surfaced Payne’s motivations. I missed several opportunities to plumb the depths of that character. Not only that, but there are opportunities I missed to build on thematic elements with his AI colleague Amaterasu.

I need to give stories time the breathe before I start writing them. In this case,I think the structure is there, but I tried to rush it. Fortunately, I caught the problem before I started writing Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation. I need to take more time than I want to fix Point of Extraction, but it’s better to spend the time now than after the book’s published.

I do not want to put my readers through an experience like release of Dreams of Deucalion again.

I’ll fix the first book, ripple any needed changes through the second book, then reflect on the outline I have for the third book. Only after I am confident I know what’s going on inside all three main characters, and only after I’m sure I know the points I want to make, will I start writing again.

Progress Against Last Week’s Goals

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

1. Finish the Amazon Virtual Voice pass of Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed: Done!
2. Update the Scrivener master manuscript with the fixes: Done!
3. Use Vellum to generate the ebook and paperback: Done!
4. Upload both to Amazon: Done!
5. Restart Facebook ads for Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon and reduce the Amazon ad spend for same to conserve cash: Done!

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 41

Here’s what I hope to achieve this week:

1. Monitor the effectiveness of the new Facebook ad
2. Produce three more audio chapters from The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning
3. Begin reviewing Moritz Lehner’s arc in Point of Extraction
4. Bid the new cover for Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action

What Do You Think?

How do you know you’re ready to start writing a new story? Does the method vary depending on the story? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!