The long-duration Facebook ad started this week. Is that cause for celebration or lamentation? A Real Life Family Event (RLFE) struck on Saturday — what impact did it have on my writing goals? Before we get into those questions, let’s take a look at the numbers.
Progress Report 2023 Week 23 By the Numbers
Does that say “all chapters?” Seems like decent progress!
The RLFE on Saturday cost me a day’s worth of proof reading. Despite that, I managed to finish proof reading reading Evolution’s Hand Book 4: Blind Exodus out loud on Sunday night. That’s the first half of the second draft. The second half will be to push it through ProWritingAid. I started the read-through on May 18th. That means it took me about two and a half weeks to finish. I’m curious to see how long it’ll take me to finish the ProWritingAid pass.
It would have taken a little less time, but chapter sixty needed work. I realized two-thirds of the way into the first draft that I had screwed up the physics I’d created for interstellar travel. A couple of sections had mixed physics, which impacted some character placements, and in chapter sixty, it kind of fell apart. It only took a couple of days to fix, but I’ll use the lessons I learned to make plotting for the next book smoother!
The Long Duration Facebook Ad — Too Soon to Tell?
My ad spend for my long-duration ad is around half the daily amount as my test in mid to late May. I thought that my new ad might yield about half the sales volume. So far, it’s running a little higher than that. I’ve heard people talk about Facebook learning the audience and trying to show the ad to people more likely to buy. I don’t know if that’s kicking in or not.
I plan to let the ad run for at least a month. I think it’s too soon to draft any definitive conclusions. I want to let the experiment run its course before I try to dissect the campaign for lessons. For the first week, I’m cautiously optimistic. If I could make one wish, it’d be that I have more uninterrupted time to study the advertising side. The success I’m having right now is, frankly, beyond what I had expected. I have to wonder what’s possible if I could get out of my own way!
In terms of other possible methods of advertising, I have an ad scheduled for Fussy Librarian this week. After that, I think I’ll run a BookBub Partners ad to see what it does with the new pricing. After that, I’ll let the Facebook ad run and focus on publishing Blind Exodus.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2023 Week 23
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Evaluate the results of the Fussy Librarian ad
- Monitor the long-duration Facebook ad
- Work on the ProWritingAid pass of Blind Exodus
What Do You Think?
How far do you get into a book before you’re pretty sure you want to read the next in the series? Or do you wait until the very end to decide? Does it vary by series? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
