September 26th, 2026   •   3 minute read   •   Issue #173

The most boring thing I'm doing right now is the Facebook Ads I'm running.

They've been live for almost two months.

In that time, I've doubled the budget. And they're still converting at 3.5% to 4%, which is strong for Facebook Ads on a $4.99 Kindle book.

The only change I've made is that budget, and I increased it (gradually, each week) because the numbers asked for it.

No rebuilding the ads to see if they could do a bit better. They've simply been left to get on with their job.

Which, if I'm honest, is harder than it sounds.

It's also worth saying that it isn't one ad doing all the work. On Facebook Ads these days, it rarely is.

It's a small group of ads working together, each one reaching slightly different pockets of readers, with Facebook deciding who sees which.

The hunt for a single unicorn ad is mostly a thing of the past. What you're looking for now is a group of ads that works well as a team.

Why Good Things Start To Feel Stale

I think most of us who write are wired for novelty. It's part of what makes us good at it. We're drawn to the new idea, the new character, the next chapter, the book after this one.

That's a wonderful instinct when you're writing.

It's a slightly less wonderful one when you're looking at ads that are working.

Because something odd happens after a few weeks. You've seen the ads a hundred times. You know every word of them. They start to feel tired, and it's natural to assume your readers must feel the same way.

Most of them don't, though. The majority of people seeing those ads today have never seen them before. They're brand new to them.

The ads aren't tired. We are, from looking at them.

It's like hiring the world's best chef, then barging into the kitchen every ten minutes to check on the soup. Something is ticking along nicely, you find a reason to "improve" it, and more often than not, the improvement makes things worse.

Nobody warns you that doing well can feel a bit dull.

What Boring Looks Like In Practice

Ads like these rarely last by luck. A set of ads that keeps converting is usually standing on a book that's ready for it: a cover that fits the genre, a blurb that draws readers in, and a product page that turns clicks into sales.

When those foundations hold, the ads don't have to work very hard. They just have to bring the right readers to the book. Then the book sells the book.

So what does a boring author business look like?

In my eyes, it's something like this:

→ The same set of ads running for months, because they just work

→ Checking your numbers once a week, rather than once an hour

→ One ad platform mastered, rather than three half-learned

→ Changes made because the numbers asked for them, not because you got restless

A romance author with six standalones might have a small group of ads on her most-read book, and let her back matter and Amazon's also-boughts carry readers on to the rest.

A business coach with three books might run a handful of ads on the book that brings people into his program, and leave them alone while he gets on with the coaching.

Neither of those is exciting to describe. Both of them work.

And I've come to think that's the point. When the marketing feels boring, it's usually a sign it's doing its job.

Where The Excitement Belongs

None of this means never touching your ads again. Ads do tire eventually.

Mine are already starting to show it. Costs are creeping up, which is often the first sign of fatigue. But the conversion rate is holding, so for the moment, so am I. When the numbers tell me something is changing more dramatically, that's when I'll act.

There's a big difference between responding to your numbers and responding to your boredom.

The first is running a business. The second is just being human.

So here's something to try this weekend.

Look at what's working in your business right now: an ad, a price, a blurb. If you've been itching to change it, ask yourself where that itch is coming from. The numbers, or you?

This matters whether your writing already fills the day or has to fit around everything else life asks of you. Every hour spent fiddling with something that works is an hour that didn't go into the next book.

And the next book is where the excitement belongs. The new world, the new argument, the character who surprises you halfway through.

Let the ads be the boring bit.

Your books get to be the exciting part.

That's it for this week.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

To Your Success
– Matt