I had an interesting experience last week with my BookBub ad for Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action. I also had an interesting experience with Amazon ratings for Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon. I’m still considering what to do about both. I received beta feedback for Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operations, and that will impact that book’s next steps. Finally, I was able to invest time in writing The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament. Did I finally manage to break 10,000 words for the week? Let’s take a look at the key performance indicators for the week before we talk about those.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
For the first time since starting The Fissure Kings, I managed to break 10,000 words for the week!
Knowing what emotional beats I needed to hit because of my investment in plotting, as well as not having a major Real Life Family Event (RLFE) this week, helped me hit 12,729 words. That’s including me reading the previous day’s writing aloud before starting the new day’s chapter.
This week, in the eleventh chapter, I finally introduced the third point of view (POV) character: Lewis Taylor. Some of the reviews I received suggested I hit the readers with too many characters too fast, so I’m trying something different. I think I hit the notes I needed to. It actually came out better than I feared. So did the chapters I wrote for Leah Flores.
I’m a little worried about Trent Raven’s arc. I don’t think he resonated with readers in Dreams of Deucalion, and I really wanted him to. So, I’ve made some changes that I really hope will endear him to readers. We’ll see how that works out.
But as far as weeks go, I cannot complain about how last week played out.
New Experience with BookBub Advertisement
BookBub ads are different from a BookBub featured deal. I can run a BookBub ad anytime. I give it a cover, links to retail stores, a budget, default bid for ads, and a set of dates. Then it runs. The last ad I ran was back in October 2025 for Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon. It did not go well.
Last week, I ran an ad that ended up spending around $10 against a budget of $50. That means my bid was so low that I didn’t win a lot of auctions. But I sold about 3x what my best previous BookBub ad had achieved at a fraction of the cost.
Of course, I’d love to know why. The last Executive Action ad was back in June 2024, and it did not sell very well even though I had considerably more clicks. There are two differences:
- New genre appropriate cover
- Blurb that better represents what’s in the book
I could see how one, either, or both of those could drive better sales. Does that mean Evolution’s Hand deserves another chance? Yeah, I think it does. But I want to see if I get read through from Executive Action to Dying Breath. If I see even a moderate read-through rate, I’ll run another set of ads.
More Ratings for Special Recon
Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon got another couple ratings, but they were twos or threes. I have only been tracking total ratings over time, not which ratings came in when. Of all my books, Special Recon seems to face the most headwinds in terms of ratings.
Obviously, I want to know why. Does the book really suck? Did I mess up presenting Trent Raven? Was the pacing off? Did I fumble the hook? All of the above?
Or am I simply marketing it to the wrong audience? The military science fiction audience is generally “conservative,” and Special Recon presented characters that are not universally appealing to “conservatives.” Did that contribute? I know it did for The Sword of Sirius.
My alpha and beta readers generally liked it. My proofreader liked it. I don’t think it sucks that badly.
Still, I think in June, I’ll either advertise The Sword of Sirius or Evolution’s Hand. I’m still planning to publish Wayland’s Hand Book 1: Duty of Prisoners in July, so July, August, and September (at least) will be dedicated to marketing Wayland’s Hammer‘s releases.
Beta Feedback on Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation
My beta reader, J. Flowers on Fiverr, went through Lines of Operation and offered feedback. Between his feedback and feedback from the alpha readers, I think the book’s ready! I haven’t identified any more changes — major or minor.
So, it’s now in the queue for my proofreader, who’s finishing up Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement. We’re getting closer to publication!
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Write four chapters in The Fissure Kings Book 2: Semele’s Lament: Done!
- Evaluate the beta reader’s feedback for Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation: Done!
- Monitor proofreading progress for Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement: Done! And ongoing.
- Monitor ad performance and make adjustments as needed: Done! It’s going okay, but not great. That said, the results are making me regret going wide on most of my books since the majority of income this month was from Kindle Unlimited.
- Launch a small BookBub ad campaign for Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action and its new cover and blurb; compare to previous Executive Action campaigns. Done!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 21
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Write four chapters in The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament
- Monitor proofreading progress for Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement
- Record one or two sample chapters of Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners to use in my newsletter
- Test using Apple’s Logic Pro to process the audio files (to compare to Adobe’s Audition)
- Select the next series to advertise in June
What Do You Think?
If your book earns disappointing ratings, how do discern the reason? Or do you not worry about it? I’d love to hear your experience in the comments!
