If you’re like me, you’re scrolling through Facebook and you see an ad for a book, so you click on the READ MORE and read the excerpt the author provided, or you click the Amazon buy-link and take a look. Not only could you find a new read that way, but all of a sudden your feed is full of books because the FB algorithms have decided that you love to read and they’re going to show you every ad under the sun. This can work out to your advantage because you can look on the author’s page and see the kinds of ads the author is running–and how many. This could be a big help if you see an ad with lots of engagement, or if you know an author is moving books and want to know the kinds of ads s/he’s running.

I don’t want to single out an author or her ads because I’ve been getting reprimanded for that lately (haha, it’s okay, I just have to be more careful with what I say on here) but I can show you how to do it and you can use the steps to look up ads that pop up on your own feed. We all read and write different books anyway, so if you want to take a look at an author’s ads library on FB here’s how:

First find an author or group that is running ads. This can be an author running ads from her FB author page or a group such as Ravaged Romance that runs ads for authors and books. Click on the page to go to their profile and on the left hand side should be a Page Transparency box. You may need to scroll down a bit to see it. Click on SEE ALL.

After you click on See All, scroll down in the box that pops up and click on GO TO AD LIBRARY.

When you do that, you’ll see all the ads that page is running. You’ll have to turn your ad blocker off if you want to see them–because they are ads and your blocker won’t let you preview them. It took me a minute to figure out why the page wouldn’t load on my Mac.

There you can see all the ad copy that author or group is using with what kind of blurb, excerpt, headlines, and creative (stock photo).

You want to research authors who are writing what you write and then you can see what makes their ads so popular. Like with covers, you don’t need to copy down to the letter, but borrowing the vibe or feel of the ad could help you with reach and conversion.

Some of the smaller authors I chose for this experiment didn’t yield a lot of data, but if you look at a bigger indie author if you click on the SEE AD DETAILS, on the ads no longer active, you’ll be able to see the number of impressions, the potential reach of the audience chosen, how much that author spent on the ad, and who the ad was shown to.

I think it’s interesting to see what kind of ads authors are using on Facebook, and, if anything, it’s another way to waste time poking around when you should be writing.

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If you want to take a Facebook Ads class for beginners and can’t afford a lot, I signed up for Mal Cooper’s Facebook Ads for Beginners, and it’s only $50.00. I read both of her Help! My Facebook Ads Suck books, and taking a Zoom class with her should be as interesting as it will be fun. I don’t have a book to promote yet, but I”m hoping the class will prepare me for when I do. If you want to look into her class, look here: https://www.thewritingwives.com/service-page/facebook-ads-beginner-class

If you’re looking for a more advanced class, she’s offering one of those too, but it is a little more money. You can look up the details here: https://www.thewritingwives.com/service-page/building-next-level-audiences

That’s about all I have for today. Facebook Ads were something I couldn’t get to work for me, but there are a lot of reasons for that. I wasn’t writing in a niche and hadn’t really nailed down a brand. When you don’t do those things, it’s difficult to figure out who your audience is. With my billionaire romance, I have a ton of comp authors, and finding my audience will be a lot easier. If I can figure out how to create an ad and keep it on point, I hope I won’t lose too much money.

These links aren’t affiliate links. I just thought I would share since Mal’s been in the industry for a long time and knows her stuff.

I hope you all have a great week!