Progress Report 2025 Week 47

I had been concerned about what I didn’t know about audio editing. Turns out I was right — dang it! But at least I’m making progress. There’s good news to share about Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure. I’ve also been thinking about next steps for Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement. I think I should change my plans, but I’m not certain how to decide. Before we talk about any of that, let’s take a look at the key performance indicators.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

Yes! Finally! I finished undoing the damage I inflicted on Point of Departure. No, I’m not bitter about it. Much.

I’ve finally fixed the damage inflicted by my attempts to writer faster. Fast isn’t bad, but I didn’t invest the necessary time in plotting or in proofing. I won’t do that again, and I’ll prove it when I get back to plotting Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation.

I think I’ll stop talking about those mistakes. It’s probably getting unproductive (or more unproductive). Instead, I’m going to celebrate the fact that Point of Extraction is ready to go to the beta reader. I’m confident in the story now; it’s execution, too. Fingers crossed that the beta reader confirms this! I’ve bid the job and am waiting for a response.

I’m debating what’s next for Resistance Movement. I was going to go through it to sync minor details with the changes I made to Point of Extraction’s ending. Those changes are still fresh in my mind. However, I might run into situations while writing Lines of Operation that’ll require changes in the previous manuscript. Before, my best practice was to leave the most recent manuscript fallow until I finish writing the next.

I’ve documented many of the changes I think I want to make. I’m inclined right now to start work on Lines of Operation to let Resistance Movement percolate in my subconscious. However, there’s another task that just made itself know. It has to do with The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning.

Well, It Sounded Good

Summer Foovay, the narrator, had finished her work on Red Flag Warning. I’d run all the chapters through Adobe Podcast, and I’d used Audiobook Builder 2 to create a draft audiobook. I listened to it in my Bronco Sport. Since I took my son on a 3 hour excursion this week, that gave me time to finish it.

The sound levels seemed good. The narration sounded good. I thought I might have to insert some extra silence in some of the chapters, but I thought otherwise it was good to go. I created the record in Author’s Republic and uploaded the first chapter.

This is a fun moment — setting up the record in the distributor.

That’s when I got the error that the file needed to be recorded at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. Okay. I figured out how to fix that and tried again. Then the site told me I had to have a constant bit rate (CBR) of at least 192 kbps. And that I needed 2 to 3 seconds of silence at the start and end. Sigh.

Now I’m going through each file and making these changes. I’m also taking the opportunity to make sure I incorporate my best learning from the final chapters whose audio I edited. I’m up to chapter six, and things are starting to move more quickly.

Is this the last step? Probably not. Author’s Republic offers a free audit once a manuscript’s been uploaded. I’m going to take advantage of that. They say it’ll take about a day for the review. I anticipate they’ll find something I’ll need to fix. It wouldn’t be fun otherwise, would it?

I wonder if I’m too pessimistic. But that aside, I have to say that my experience with Author’s Republic has been positive so far. I’m glad they caught these issues before readers started buying the book.

Progress Against Last Week’s Goals

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

1. Finish revising Owen Payne’s arc in Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure: Done!
2. Bid a beta reading job for Point of Departure: Done!
3. Continue listening to the audiobook version of The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning; it should take another week or two: Done! I actually finished.
4. Continue developing the Sirius colony guide as the new lead magnet/newsletter gift: Ongoing
5. Begin adjustments to Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement to sync it with the changes I made to Point of Departure (Stretch Objection): Not done. I think I’m going to change my plan and move forward with Lines of Operation

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 47

Here’s what I hope to achieve this week:

1. Finish converting and uploading at least half of The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning’s audio chapters to Author’s Republic.
2. Send Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure to the beta reader.
3. Plot Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation.
4. Monitor my first promotion through Books Butterfly (I just finished one through Book Barbarian that went well).
5. Continue working on the Sirius colonial guide.

What Do You Think?

How long do you let a manuscript sit before you perform an edit? Right away? A few months later? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!