Finally, after more delays than I care to recall, Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners is now live! Book 2: Resistance Movement and Book 3: Lines of Operation are on pre-order. How’re sales going? Am I trying the new approached I talked about? Plus, I’ve continued to research Apple Logic Pro — did I make the right choice in selecting it over Adobe Audition? Finally, between Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) and scheduling book release promotions, did I get any writing done for The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament? Let’s take a look at the key performance indicators first.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
I’m grateful that I had the chance to write this many words this week.
Before this week started, I was afraid I wouldn’t get as much time to write. Fortunately, things turned out better than I’d feared. It helped that Thursday, I pushed hard to finish an especially long chapter — only to find that I had really written two mid-sized chapters. So, I finished five chapters instead of four this week!
The character Trent Raven really came into his own this week. He had me go back and tighten a few of his chapters. He also directed me to take the chapters I wrote on Saturday and Sunday in a slightly different direction. Not only did it effect his arc. It also gave me the hook for the next book. I appreciate his hard work!
So the bottom line is that I continue to make good progress writing Semele’s Lament. I really hope I can keep up this pace, because writing like this, with a clear idea of where I’m going, is just a joy.
Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners Published!
Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners is now available for purchase! It’s on sale for $0.99, and it’s in Kindle Unlimited. That link’ll take you to the Amazon page for the book (it’s not an affiliate link). Please give it a shot if you’re at all interested!
And if you have a moment, leave an honest rating. I’d love to know how you react to the manuscript.
I started writing this in February, 2025. Now, finally, you can read it!
This book took a long time to write. It took a lot energy out of me, but a) I’m proud of the result (to the extent I can be proud of my work) and b) I think it tackles an important topic. I hope it resonates with readers!
Sales, as usual, are better than I feared but not as good as I’d hoped. However, that said, I’m happy with the numbers so far, because I’ve only advertised it to my newsletter and a single Facebook ad. The promotions (via The Fussy Librarian and others) start this week. I’m really interested to see how well it does.
As it is right now, Duty of Prisoners is #113 in the Amazon hard-science fiction ebooks category. I’d like to see it go much higher. I still have a lot to learn about marketing, though, so we’ll see.
This is the first time I’m experimenting with making books available for pre-order. I published both The Sword of Sirius and Dreams of Deucalion all at once — all three books on one day. This time, I’m trying to take advantage of the mythical Amazon boost that happens the first few weeks after publication. I’m going to time Facebook ad refreshes to coincide with the availability dates for Resistance Movement and Lines of Operation. I’m really looking forward to seeing how that turns out.
Fun with Apple Logic Pro
I found an informative post by Eddie Tonkoi called Producing an Audiobook — by Eddie Tonkoi. There are two things I really liked about his approach. First, he took the time to explain some basic concepts. I’d been annoyed that 0 dB was the loudest anything could be and that -3 dB was the loudest an audio book should be. I’d made some good progress before reading this post, but I was ready for the clear explanations.
Second, I enjoyed seeing what workflow worked for him. He uses some tools I don’t have access to, but he described the process in such a way that I’m confident I can use other software to compensate. By the end of the post, I was more confident than ever that I can make Logic Pro work.
I managed to record a rough draft of the first chapter from Duty of Prisoners. I performed a basic edit, but actually bringing up to ACX standards is still beyond me. I’m practicing on my work because the narrator for The Sword of Sirius, Summer Foovay, continues to record Collapse Zone. I want to perfect my approach on my sample chapter before engineering Summer’s work. Ideally, I’d like to start editing each chapter as she submits it so I can release the audiobook as soon as possible.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Write four new chapters in The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament: Done!
- Take delivery of the proofread Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation: Done!
- Apply the proofreader’s suggestions to Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation: Done!
- Put Lines of Operation up for pre-sale: Done!
- Monitor audiobook recording progress for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone: Ongoing!
- Publish Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners: Done!
- Set up the Facebook ad and promotions for Duty of Prisoners: Done!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 28
Here’s what I would like to accomplish this week:
- Write four new chapters in The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament
- Monitor Summer Foovay’s recording progress for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone
- Monitor the sales numbers for the Duty of Prisoners during the promotion period
What Do You Think?
Do you have a structured launch plan for your ebooks? What are your favorite promo sites? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
