Comments on: Has Apple’s recent update killed your Facebook ad performance?

By: Creating a Lookalike audience that actually buys! - Hidden Gems Book Blog

Creating a Lookalike audience that actually buys! - Hidden Gems Book Blog — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 13:08:04 +0000

[…] I wrote a blog post about how the Apple IOS 14.5 update had disrupted the performance of a lot of authors’ Facebook ads, and one of the solutions I suggested was to generate a better audience using the members of your […]

By: Should you advertise direct to your Series Page? - Hidden Gems Book Blog

Should you advertise direct to your Series Page? - Hidden Gems Book Blog — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 13:08:04 +0000

[…] I’ve been driving clicks from my Facebook ads to my series page for a while now, and I’ve found it to be one of the factors that keeps my advertising profitable despite the recent Apple IOS 14.5 changes. […]

By: Eliza

Eliza — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 21:55:51 +0000

Hi! Great article. Fortunately (I think), I haven’t used FB for a ton of ads yet.

But I did have a question on something you said about creating a lookalike audience.

What do you mean by: I’ve also gone into my MailChimp account and pulled the highest-spending members of my subscriber list and used them to create a Lookalike Audience.

How are you finding what they spend? By clicks? I like the idea of using my list and it’s something I’m working on nurturing more next year.

Thanks!

By: Stacy

Stacy — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 16:05:24 +0000

Great post! I don’t use FB ads but I have seen the panic this has caused many authors. I feel for them. Many already do Amazon ads but for wide authors, this won’t help much because it only moves books on Amazon. They will have to be more creative and find other avenues to promote. I am betting that wide authors rely on FB ads the most because it’s so difficult to advertise wide books. Every promo site automatically caters to Amazon and KU so FB ads have become one of the biggest tools for wide authors. Also, many haven’t gotten satisfying results from Bookbub ads.

I know many authors who depend on FB and this right here is a lesson as to why we should be versatile with our advertising. We never know what will change or what a company will do. An author should have a variety of ways to promote their work so they won’t be stuck out if something no longer works.

Luckily, there are ways for all authors to promote besides FB ads. They can use promo sites (like Hidden Gems of course), BookFunnel, newsletter swaps and even Youtube. Another great way to promote is uploading your backlist to places like Radish.

I knew this would be a negative change for many authors. Some authors said it wouldn’t be that big of a deal but many are scrambling because their entire advertising plan is now sunk.

I definitely agree that you should not throw money at bad. If FB isn’t working for you anymore you need to try something else.

And yes, you can’t let changes in the industry stop you. Things are always going to change and part of being an indie author is being a prepared to to adapt to change and not get to comfortable with anything.