Read Time: 1.5 Minutes

Facebook Ads don't sell books.

I know. Bold claim from someone who teaches Facebook Ads for a living.

But hear me out...

The Mistake I Made For Years

For years, I approached Facebook Ads with one goal: sell books.

And my results were... fine. Nothing special.

Then I stopped trying to sell books with my ads.

Our royalties tripled.

What Facebook Ads Actually Do

Here's the thing most authors don't understand:

Facebook Ads aren't a bookshop. They're a discovery engine.

Your ad doesn't convince someone to buy. It makes them curious enough to click.

The real sale happens on your book product page. In that 3-7 second window where a reader decides: "Is this for me?"

Think about it.

When did you last buy a book because an ad told you to?

Probably never.

But I bet you've bought books after an ad made you curious enough to check out the Amazon page. Then the cover caught your eye. The blurb hooked you. The reviews sealed it.

The ad was just the door. The book product page closed the sale.

Where The Money Is Really Made (Or Lost)

This is why authors with amazing ads and weak book pages bleed money.

And why authors with decent ads and stellar book pages print it.

Once I understood this, everything changed.

I stopped optimizing my ads for sales. Started optimizing for curiosity.

I stopped obsessing over targeting settings. Started obsessing over whether my ad actually stopped the scroll and attracted the right readers.

I stopped fighting the algorithm. Started feeding it better creative.

The results spoke for themselves.

Same budget. Same books. Completely different outcomes.

So if your Facebook Ads aren't working, maybe the problem isn't your ads.

Maybe it's that your ads are trying too hard to sell.

Or maybe it's what happens after the click that's letting you down.

Either way, blaming the ad platform rarely solves the problem.

A Final Thought

The Facebook Ads algorithm is smarter than us. Let it do its job.

Our job?

Create ads worth clicking—and book pages worth buying from.

That's a wrap for today.

Thank you so much for reading and enjoy your weekend. 

To Your Success
– Matt