There's a pattern I keep running into, and it's the wrong way round.

The authors doing the most are earning the least.

Ask an author earning a few hundred dollars a month what they've got running to sell their books, and the list keeps going.

Ask an author earning a few thousand a month and the list is shorter.

Ask one earning $10,000 or $20,000 a month and it's shorter still. Often three things. Sometimes two.

That isn't a coincidence, and it isn't that success bought these higher earning authors the freedom to drop things.

It's the other way round. The shortlist is what got them there.

August 29th, 2026   •   4 minute read   •   Issue #169

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Facebook doesn't know whether you sold a book.

It knows someone saw your ad. It knows someone clicked it. It knows what that click cost you.

Then the reader lands on Amazon, and Meta loses them completely.

Everything after that point is a blank. Which means every number on your Facebook Ads dashboard is describing the doorway, not the sale.

Most authors are running their entire business off numbers that stop at the doorway.

August 22nd, 2026   •   4 minute read   •   Issue #168

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For a long time, Facebook Ads targeting meant picking a comparable-author interest from a drop-down and calling it done. Vince Flynn readers here, Lee Child there. Twelve interests, three saved audiences, an evening spent researching who Amazon says reads similar books.

That's been a waste of time for a few years now.

Meta has been de-emphasizing interest targeting since 2022. Advantage+ Audiences accelerated the shift.

August 15th, 2026   •   4 minute read   •   Issue #167

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