I invested more time plotting The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament last week. Did it pay off in written words yet? Or do I have yet more reasons (and they’re reasons, not excuses!)? What have I done to get Wayland’s Hammer closer to publication? Is there any news on the audiobook front? Finally, has my advertising unveiled any new data that’ll push my marketing campaign into the black? Let’s look at the key performance indicators before talking about any of these.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
Finally! Numbers greater than zero!
I founded Semele’s Lament’s Scrivener project back in October 2025. Back then, I thought this was going to be a short story lead magnet called Blue Angel Ascension. Then the plot started to expand, so I set it aside so I could take care of other business. I started plotting the new series in earnest around March 29, 2026. And now, about six weeks later, I’ve finally started writing.
I’m trying to be more deliberate this time around. By that, I mean I’m trying to be conscious of hooking a reader, then getting them comfortable with one point of view character before introducing another. Feels like a newbie thing to have to think about, but the bottom line is that I’m trying to give more thought to the pacing of introductions. Maybe the newbie thing to do all along was not give that due consideration before!
I feel terrible for Leah Flores, the first of three point of view (POV) characters. I dumped more on her in the first chapter than I usually dump on a character for an entire book. It makes an effective hook, though. It also establishes what kind of person she is, and how she reflects on those around her. Well, she’s a character in one of my novels. She knew what she was in for.
I’ll keep banging away at the keyboard until I get a draft done. I feel good about this one; better than I felt about Wayland’s Hammer at this stage, though that series was so thematically heavy I’m still recovering from it. I think The Fissure King’s plot is tempted to flirt with themes that are every bit as weighty. We’ll see what the characters think as they get into it!
Wayland’s Hammer Lumbers Towards Publication
Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners is ready to go. I just need to run it through Vellum to create the various ebook and print versions. It even has its cover.
Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement has its cover, too. It’s currently at the proofreader and should be done in a few weeks.
Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation has its cover order in at Miblart. I’ve bid it to my favorite beta reader, but they haven’t gotten back to me. It’s been about a week, and they usually answer in an hour. So I figure they’re on vacation or something. I’ll give them another week or so.
I have drafts of all three Amazon blurbs written. I plan to reveal the first cover in my next newsletter, and then I’ll show it to you here.
The Next Two Audiobooks are a Go!
I was relieved to learn that Summer Foovay, the narrator for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning, was available to perform The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone and Book 3: Firebreak. Production will begin this summer with no firm projected completion date.
This is the next book we plan to turn into an audiobook.
I’m going to change things up a little on the production front. For The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning, I used Adobe Audition to process the last audio files. Since then, the cost for the Adobe Creative Studio subscription has gone up around $80 a month, and I’m not getting that much value out of it.
For my anime site (Crow’s World of Anime), I’ve switched to Canva’s Affinity (from Illustrator). I already use Canva for this site’s graphics. For my cover work, I’ll probably need to stick with Adobe Photoshop; it’s the industry standard, and Miblart provides my covers in that format. My wife also uses it. I think the subscription for that one program is about $30.00 a month. Still not zero, but my wife and I realize value from it.
That leaves audiobooks. I’m considering Apple’s Creative Studio. It’s about $11 a month (if I go on the annual plan). It includes Logic Pro, which is a professional quality digital audio workstation. I already use other Apple products like Numbers and Pages, and they supposedly integrate well with Creative Studio.
I intend to test narrate some chapters from Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners, and I’ll use Logic Pro to master them. Then I’ll share them with my newsletter to see what they think. If that works, I’ll use it for Collapse Zone once Summer finishes her work. I didn’t want to make the change, but it wasn’t long ago that Adobe’s suite cost $50.00 a month. It’s gone up a lot without giving me any more value, so I feel compelled to look elsewhere.
Marketing Update
The new ad is performing. It’s not performing great. It’s not performing poorly. Compared to April, it’s performing somewhat better. They’ve almost returned to mid-March levels. So let me sum up where I am:
- I’m creating my best ads ever
- I’ve optimized every step in the chain, from cover to ad creative to headline to blurb
- I’m seeing book one to two conversion rates as high as I ever have; and book two to three remains in the 90-100% range
My expectation was that my attempts to optimize in step 2 would either make things better or worse. I expected to see some impact. But the only real change I saw was in mid March when it seems like Facebook tweaked their engine. My changes don’t seem to have the impact, positive or negative, and it’s starting to really annoy me. No change I make has a major impact. It’s been that way for over a year now.
I’m watching a video called Rules for Book Advertising with David Gaughran. I haven’t finished it, but it reiterated that this is a game of very, very slim margins. There’s some combination that I’m missing and I need to reflect on what else it might be. I guess I’ll keep iterating on step 2 and see what happens.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Finalize the plot for The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament: Done!
- Write the first three chapters for Semele’s Lament: Done!
- Incorporate alpha reader feedback into Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation: Done!
- Bid the cover for Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation: Done!
- Make a decision regarding whether I’ll push forward with the last two audiobooks for The Sword of Sirius: Done!
- Review ad performance for the week and make adjustments as needed: Ongoing!
- Review the approach I’ve taken to newsletters and look for ways to amp it up: Not Done! I still need to do this. And given that Google is about to crack down on newsletters who don’t send regularly. Which is mine.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 19
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Write four new chapters in The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament
- Review the approach I’ve taken to newsletters and look for ways to amp it up
- Publish a new newsletter to reveal the cover for Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners
- Send Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation to the beta tester
- Review ad performance for the week and make adjustments as needed
What Do You Think?
What software do you use for ad graphics or audio processing? Which software would you recommend? I’d love to hear about your perspective in the comments!
