I invested a lot of time looking into comparable titles (comps) last week because I think my marketing has attracted readers who aren’t really into my themes. In doing so, I ran into questions I flat-out can’t answer. I also set up my August ads, and I tried to incorporate everything I think I’ve learned. How’s that going? Finally, I continued writing in The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament. How close did I get to finishing it? Let’s take a look at the key performance indicators first.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
This book went longer than I expected. Honestly, the length worries me. I hope it’s not inappropriate for my genre!
I finished the second draft of Semele’s Lament on July 31, 2026. It’s the second draft because I do a read-aloud and make changes to start each new writing session. I wrote the first chapter on May 6, 2026, so it took just short of three months to write. Thinking about it, I already know some plot areas that need attention, but fundamentally, I don’t hate the book.
I took the weekend off, in part to put my new ad campaign together. My Facebook ad takes into account a renewed analysis of my comps. I’d been using John Scalzi and James SA Corey as target authors because they write fantastic books that I thought were similar to mine. Specifically, I had thought the political and hard science fiction aspects of my books matched well with those two authors.
Thinking hard about those two writers, I think Mr. Scalzi’s books make better use of humor to the point where humor is an expected component. If someone expected humor in my books, they’ll get a little bit of it, but not to the extent they’d get in one of Mr. Scalzi’s books. The Expanse has been described hard science fiction as well as as cinematic. My books are more cerebral and strategic; they’re less tactical. I doubt the could be called cinematic.
So, my Facebook ad now references Marko Kloos and Elizabeth Moon.
For audience targeting/special interests, I decided not to choose speculative fiction. It’s too broad. Instead, I picked the Star Trek franchise. I grew up with those series, and a lot of their ideas, like teams working together competently, are at the core of my stories.
It’s far too early to know if the new ad’s working. But I’ll let it run a week or two to see. I know some writers report spending thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars on Facebook ads. I’m not one of them, and maybe that’s the problem. But I’d like an ad to be in the black before I drop a ton of cash on it. Probably.
Pre-orders for the second book, Resistance Movement, and the third book, Lines of Operation, are running between ten and fifteen percent of sales of Duty of Prisoners. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it’s an interesting data point.
The Outside Looking In
I wanted to read some materials that might be a good comp. I found one popular book and started listening to the audio book version. I’m not going to give you the title; the numbers I’m about to present are skewed so you can’t identify the book. My goal’s not the say anything negative about any give work. My goal is to get my head around some concepts that so far utterly elude me.
I try to write stuff that works together. Plot flows from character and world details flow from plot. Everything should make sense. It should feel realistic. I don’t think that’s controversial. Do I always achieve it? Hard to say. I contracted with Kirkus to review Duty of Prisoners not because I want to quote the review, but because I want them to tell me if my book’s as bad as the one star review said it was. But that’s where I’m coming from.
But back to this comp. I’m two-thirds of the way through, and I’m freaking out. The book doesn’t hold together. The characters are cliche. The situations are cliche. There are a dozen or so plot holes and world building issues that forced me to stop listening to the audio book on five or six separate occasions. I’m going to finish it, but there are parts that bothered me so much I had to take breaks.
An average rating of 2.5 is not a good look. Sure, it’s two ratings, but still…
I checked its reviews. It has over 10,000 reviews. Its average? 4.3 out of five. Do you know how many one star reviews it has? Zero.
It has zero one star reviews.
Not sure how that was possible, I checked its two star reviews. Sure enough, there, in black and white, was a two star review that listed each and every issue I had with the book. The list was long; the list was comprehensive. And yet, that book had zero one star reviews and remains in the top one hundred hard science fiction titles despite being released years ago.
I don’t understand something about reader psychology. Why do readers like it? Why is it earning over 10,000 ratings averaging 4.3 stars? Do readers see the cliches as tropes that they enjoy or feel comforted by? How do I get 10,000 ratings when I’m having a hard time getting two?
I want to emphasize: I don’t begrudge this writer his or her success. More power to them! I wish them (honestly!) continued success. But I just don’t understand how, short of spending tens of thousands of dollars, I could even get my book in front of that many people. Much less that many people who would actually enjoy my books.
And maybe that’s the takeaway. Somehow, there’s a blind spot in my brain that’s holding me back from understanding this whole marketing thing. I really hope I figure it out soon, because I am not getting any younger.
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 (and potentially finish the second draft): Done!
- Monitor Summer Foovay’s recording progress for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone: Done! She kicked serious butt this week.
- Re-record the first chapter of Duty of Prisoners and confirm that I can engineer it to meet ACX’s requirements: Not done! The Real Life Family Event (RLFE) that I talked about last week continued and I just didn’t have the energy
- Keep experimenting with Amazon ads and try to have a profitable week: Ongoing!
- Begin reading new potential comps for Wayland’s Hammer: Done! I made at least enough progress to start my August ads.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 31
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Reconcile where Semele’s Lament actually stopped with where I had planned to start the next book
- Begin plotting The Fissure King’s second book
- Monitor Summer Foovay’s recording progress for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone
- Re-record the first chapter of Duty of Prisoners and confirm that I can engineer it to meet ACX’s requirements
- Monitor the performance of the Facebook and Amazon ads
What Do You Think?
Do you have a technique for overcoming mental blinders? Or a technique to know when you need to? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!