In my post from last week, I said I felt like some Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) were heading my way. Boy, was I ever right! How much of an impact did they have on processing the raw audiobook files for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning? Also, I’ve started looking into how I want to distribute that audiobook. Who’s the leading contender? Is it Amazon’s ACX? Am I any closer to writing Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation? Let’s look at the key performance indicators first!
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
Despite the RLFEs, I was able to finish the first audio edit pass.
Despite two massive RFLEs that crashed through my weekend schedule, I finished my first pass of Red Flag Warning this week. I gave the punch list of changes to the narrator, Summer Foovay. While she’s working on that, I’ve started researching options to distribute the audio book.
So far, it looks like I’d get the highest royalty (40%) if I go exclusive with Amazon’s ACX. If I don’t go exclusive, ACX only pays 20%. However, there are some markets outside of the United States where ACX is not a major player. There’s a chance I’d make more by going wide.
If I go wide, I’d have to choose between INaudio, Author’s Republic, PublishDrive, and maybe others. I want to go with whoever has the widest distribution network, the best reporting, greatest flexibility, etc. The “etc.” part means I need to develop some formal criteria. I’m a bit past the point where I make feelings-based decisions. I want to know what I’m getting in to!
And if I don’t go ACX, how will the audiobook appear in the existing The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning on Amazon?
I still have a lot to learn! I can see why some writers would stick just with ACX. It’s a lot easier!
What’s Coming for Wayland’s Hammer
Finding Wisdom among the Kaiju
I’ve talked about how writing Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure was a struggle. My conclusion, until recently, was that I had just not given the plot and characters time to gel. I still think that’s true, but I want to thank John Scalzi for his afterward to The Kaiju Preservation Society. It helped me realize something else was at work, too.
Before I say more, I just want to say that The Kaiju Preservation Society is a delight. The book is a ton of fun to read, and Wil Wheaton was a perfect choice as narrator. The manuscript’s simultaneously light-hearted and dramatic. Highly recommended.
On to the afterward. Mr. Scalzi divulged that he hadn’t planned to write the Kaiju book. He was working on another manuscript, on deadline, as COVID ramped up. Apparently, the the other book dealt with emotionally weighty issues. As he fought to finish it and the world reacted to COVID, he realized something. It was the wrong time for that manuscript. He had to beg off with his editor, who was very supportive. The next day, his subconscious presented him with The Kaiju Preservation Society, pretty much in its entirety.
Monsters of Another Sort
That’s exactly the kind of feelings that I had trying to write Wayland’s Hammer. It’s a series that explores the implications of Nazism in a high-tech society, and that by itself is heavy. It also hits a little too close to home. I don’t want to “go there” and turn this into a lamentation for what my country is becoming or could have been. Or an expression of hope for what we might yet salvage. But right now, I’ll say that trying to present a nuanced interpretation of Nazism in space is just tough.
I don’t have anything like The Kaiju Preservation Society in me. At least, I don’t think I do. I also think that Mr. Scalzi’s smarter than I am, because I still intend to finish Wayland’s Hammer. But maybe this realization will inform how I end the trilogy. I think that Owen Payne and Gerhard Wimmer want to make a statement, and I think even Moritz Lehner has something to say.
I’m not naive enough to think my books will have any impact on the world or the path my country’s on. I merely have a story I want to get in front of my readers, about characters who have a perspective they want to share.
The lesson I’m taking away from this? I need to take the time to not only let the story and characters develop. I also need to understand why I’m writing the story. It’s fine to think in terms of character and story, but I can’t forget I’m a human writer at a specific point in time. Which might sound obvious, until I mention that I often think of myself in the third person. Which is probably weird. But here we are.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against my goals from last week:
- Finish the first pass of The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning’s audiobook version. Done!
- Work with Summer Foovay to finalize recordings. Done! She’s working on the material now.
- Investigate how I asked Discover Sci-Fi about their program. Make sure I don’t have a spam filter or something. Not Done! I didn’t get the time to work on it this week.
- Monitor the Facebook ad for Dreams of Deucalion. Ongoing. It looks like the video portion attracted a lot of attention, and sales are doing well. It looks like that experiment proved a little bit of animation attracts more attention than the same still image.
- Research the technical requirements for uploading audiobooks to ACX. In progress. I’m leaning against going exclusively with ACX, but I still have a lot of work to do.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 44
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Continue researching audiobook distribution options.
- Work on the next gift for my newsletter recipients.
- Begin revising Moritz Lehner’s arc in Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure.
- Take another stab at asking Discover Sci-Fi about their program.
What Do You Think?
If you’ve published audiobooks, did you go wide, or did you stick with ACX? If wide, who’d you select as your distributor? I’ve love to hear about your experience in the comments!
