Do you remember that month-long Real Life Family Event (RLFE) I mentioned in last week’s post? It got a little more aggressive this week. I managed to help my family as needed, but was I able to keep my word count up? Any change in sales performance or Author’s Republic audiobook URLs? Also, Craig Martelle posted some information about rapid release to Facebook. Have I been seeing the same thing? Let’s look at the key performance indicators first.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
I didn’t think I’d break 10,000 words this week. Especially with the snow fall we experienced.
I messed my hip up somehow about six weeks ago, so physical activity like shoveling and blowing snow is even less fun than usual. But we had about four and a half inches of snow on Saturday, and it snowed until late. So, I had to take care of it Sunday morning. By the time I finished, I was well past when I usually write. Now, I could only finish half of one of Lehner’s chapters on Saturday. I hate half-finished chapters, so, I tried to write Sunday after I finished my snow removal tasks. I’m glad I did! When I’m physically tired, I tend to write better. Maybe because I don’t have the usual energy to fight myself!
The RLFE will keep up at least through the end of December. Fortunately, though it flared up this week, it happened outside of the times I set aside for writing.
I think I might need a new term, because the “E” usually refers to a single happening. Real Life Family Program? Campaign? Whatever I call it, it’s going to take time until at least early January. I don’t begrudge the time; I love being here for my family. It’s just hard sometimes.
Audiobook Situation
Author’s Republic still doesn’t list any URLs from any of the retailers. If I go to specific retailers, I can see the audiobook is for sale. Folks might be buying the audiobook as we speak! But I can’t know until the retailers report to Author’s Republic. That means I can’t make decisions about an audiobook version for either The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone or The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak right now. I have to how they’re selling first.
I haven’t seen any reviews yet on Amazon. Though I haven’t started advertising yet, either, so I can’t expect sales. I’m not complaining. I knew going into the audiobook effort that I didn’t understand all the moving parts. This is really educational! It’s just that nothing seems to move fast enough.
Well, except time. It moves plenty fast.
I researched portable recording booths this week. I could invest in one for under $200.00, but I don’t think I want to do that. It would take about 10-15 minutes to set up, and I don’t want to deal with that. Instead, I purchased a $35.00 acoustic foam cube for my microphone. I’ll either use a chair with a quilt or something similar for the “enclosure.” Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to set up.
I’m still not sure I want to narrate Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon or not. I’ll probably wait until the ongoing RLFE wraps up to see how much energy I have. This is a completely separate effort from The Sword of Sirius.
The Fall of Rapid Release?
I’ve talked before about Johnny B. Truant’s recent book The Artisan Author (affiliate link). In it, he presented the need for writers to focus on quality work that they love to write so they can excite their super fans. As part of that, he lamented the impact rapid release has had on the author community. Writer burnout was one such outcome; commoditizing the product was another.
I’ve never tried rapid release, though I employed some some aspects of it. For example, instead of publishing the first book in a trilogy and waiting months to publish the second, I decided to hold off publishing any of the books until they were all ready. That gave readers a fast-path to reading all three books.
Still, I noticed what Amazon would, and would not, do for my books. I measured the impact based on how many I would sell based on advertising or promotions. I’ve noticed a major change between The Sword of Sirius and Dreams of Deucalion. I try not to generalize from my small sample size, but I can’t ignore those trends, either.
This week, I saw a post in the Successful Indie Author Facebook group from Craig Martelle. He discussed, among other things, how Amazon has changed their algorithms so they don’t reward rapid release. It used to be Amazon would give a rapidly released book and its successors extra visibility. The net effect was that Amazon promoted prolific writers, sometimes at the expense of less prolific writers. Amazon stopped doing that, at least for now.
The net effect? Writers have to rely on advertising, promotions, social media, and newsletters to promote their work. They can’t count on a free boost from Amazon. I feel bad for folks who have relied on Amazon’s rapid release boost for their income. For writers like me who don’t have the time to release rapidly, it almost feels like the playing field is more level now.
That’s not a fair view. It’s not writer-versus-writer. There are plenty of readers. Also, the problem facing me hasn’t changed. I still have to get my books in the hands of readers who will enjoy them.
Overall, it won’t affect how I write. But I’ll be honest. I feel vindicated that what I was seeing wasn’t my imagination insistent on connecting dots that weren’t there.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against my goals from last week:
- Write Moritz Lehner’s plot turn 1: Done!
- Write Gerhard Wimmer’s pinch 1: Half done! I had to split the chapter to wrap around one of Lehner’s chatpers.
- Write Lehner’s pinch 1: Done!
- Monitor availability of URLs in Author’s Republic: Ongoing! Apparently, I’m going to have to keep this goal around for a while!
- Continue working on the Sirius colonial guide: Ongoing. I’ve started creating the graphics for individual colonial planets (the star systems are done).
- Research technology options for recording an audiobook for Dreams of Deucalion: Done! I think I’m ready to start recording, once I get the $35.00 foam cube. When and if I decide that’s a goal I want to pursue.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 51
Here’re the things I want to finish in the coming week:
- Finish Gerhard Wimmer’s pinch 1
- Write Owen Payne’s pinch 1
- Write a helper plot chapter from Jackson Scott’s perspective
- Monitor availability of URLs in Author’s Republic
- Continue working on the Sirius colonial guide
What Do You Think?
Did you embrace rapid release? Will Amazon’s reduced visibility boost impact you? I’d like to hear about your experience in the comments!
