Progress Report 2026 Week 01

It’s 2026, and my vacation’s ending. So, we’re starting off with two causes for sadness! Joking aside, I needed my vacation time to keep my word count up. It’s one of those things that I should have anticipated, but I just didn’t think about it. Also, I came up with new supporting evidence for something I mentioned in last week’s post. Unfortunately, it’s evidence I would have preferred not to find! Finally, how’s the audiobook experiment going? Let’s take a look at the key performance indicators, then dive in.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

I’m frankly surprised I exceeded 10,000 words this week.

Two factors helped me write more than 10,000 words this week. First, I was on vacation, so I wrote Monday morning. I usually treat Monday as an admin day (for example, publishing this post) without any fiction writing. But writing on that day compensated for two mental health days. On New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, my annual “Well, I didn’t accomplish everything I’d hoped” realization hit me.

I would say it coincided with Facebook posts by writers saying they’d just published their first book and they made enough money (without advertising) to buy a private island. A nice one, too. But I’ve gone through this depression every year for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first “novel” when I was in sixth grade. The expectation (okay, my expectation) was that I’d someday make some best seller’s list somewhere. The fact it hasn’t happened in a weight on me.

It’s getting worse because I published Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action on June 1, 2022. That’s coming up on four years ago. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself, but I feel like I should be smart enough to do two things:

1. Write a book someone wants to read
2. Get that book in front of people who want to read it

I have evidence that I’ve at least partially succeeded on the first goal. I have more evidence that I haven’t achieved the second. Even though it’s been three and a half years. The guides are there. The data’s there. My brain just isn’t getting it. More on that in a minute.

The second reason I managed to write more than 10,000 words this week was preparation. I thought a lot about Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation’s outline. I tried hard to feel the emotional beats and pace the story correctly. That helped me write 3,200 words a session twice this week. It pays to prepare!

Marketing Out of the Gate in 2026

This year, Facebook has removed the fine-grained tools writers had to target audiences. I used to be able to target a specific age group who liked certain science fiction writers who also liked ebooks. Not anymore. Now, Facebook is all about letting its automated systems target your ads.

Why would they do something that so obviously doesn’t work? Well, it does work. Just not for indie writers. It’s optimized for products other than ebooks — at least, that’s my take. I started my Facebook ad January first, and so far, it’s not performing well. I chose a video ad this time, because my last ad of 2025 earned a higher percentage of clicks because I used video. Despite that, this new ad, with its automated targeting, is not driving sales.

Clicks? Yeah, the thing is driving clicks. But not purchases. Theoretically, I should be able to use my ad’s creative content (graphics) to signal my books are for an older audience of hard science fiction. But targeting specific writers and not infringing on someone’s IP? Not sure how to do that. Facebook can drive clicks. But they aren’t clicks from my readers. I need a way to refine targeting.

In my last update, I mentioned that I’d listened to Chris Fox’s audiobook Ads for Authors Who Hate Math (affiliate link). He reminded me of something I’d forgotten: the Facebook Pixel. If I install it on this website then use the Facebook ad to drive traffic here, the Pixel can report which Facebook users subsequently click on my order links. That identifies the customers who are likely interested in my writing.

That’s only the first part. Driving traffic to my site, back when I could target Facebook ads, resulted in a significantly lower sales percentage per click when compared to driving people from Facebook directly to Amazon. But the Pixel will now be the second step of a three step process.

After running what’ll likely be a low performing ad for a month, I can then use the Pixel’s observations to build an audience for a new ad. At least, I think that’s still possible! If I can do that, then Facebook should be able to create a lookalike audience. That audience, in turn, should result in more sales.

There might be another way. Facebook’s automated targeting might suddenly produce. I doubt it, though. I think I’ll need to try this, as well as put more focus on my newsletter. Amazon ads still perform poorly for me, because I still can’t figure out how to make them profitable.

Audiobook Progress: The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning

Author’s Republic still only shows two URLs, though the audiobook is available almost everywhere. The dashboard shows that Hoopla had twenty-three rentals, which is extremely encouraging for two reasons. First, twenty-three rentals? That’s great since they happened before I started advertising! And second, it was from Hoopla. Hoopla is not one of the URLs Author’s Republic did not list the URL for. That means financial reporting is working even if URL reporting is not.

I really wish I knew where those rentals came from — so I could replicate the performance!

I wish I knew why twenty three folks checked the audiobook out from Hoopla!

The one drawback is that it already has a rating — two out of five stars. Not an auspicious start.

The advertising campaign I used to kick off 2026 is for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning. For the audiobook, the ad lists Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Nobel. If I can actually generate sales (see above!), I hope to get some more reviews.

I might need to reconsider my ad copy and highlight the lack of AI used in either the ebook or audiobook. I’ll give that some thought.

Progress Against Last Week’s Goals

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

1. Write a helper plot chapter preparing Owen Payne for his midpoint: Done!
2. Write Owen Payne’s Midpoint: Done! It stretched into two chapters.
3. Write Gerhard Wimmer’s Pinch 2: Deferred! In the middle of the night, my brain woke me up to warn me this chapter needed to come a little later. So I rearranged things! Instead, I wrote a second part of Moritz Lehner’s midpoint.
4. (Stretch objective) Write Payne’s pinch 2: Not Done
5. Continue working on the Sirius colonial guide: Ongoing
6. Monitor availability of URLs in Author’s Republic: Ongoing. At least I’m seeing some financials!
7. Monitor proofreading for Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure: Ongoing! It’s about fifty percent done.

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 1

Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:

1. Write a helper plot for Jackson Scott’s preparations
2. Write Owen Payne’s pinch 2
3. Write Gerhard Wimmer’s pinch 2
4. (Stretch goal) Writer Payne’s plot turn 2
5. Monitor proofreading for Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure

What Do You Think?

Have you figured out how to get results from Facebook’s ad targeting changes? If so, I’d love to hear how! Feel free to share in the comments!