I Analyzed 2-year-old Fiction FB Ads: Here's What Authors Can Learn

When an author runs an ad for two or three years, something in the system is working. I love going through old ads to see what remains after the initial excitement of a launch fades. I recently went into the Facebook Ads Library and filtered specifically for dark romance and crime fiction. I looked for ads older than 2024, focusing on the 2019 to 2024 range, to see which creative survived the test of time.

I found thirty-two ads that have lasted through various algorithm shifts. One author, L. Thorpe, has several ads that have stayed active for a significant period. I keep these observations in a spreadsheet because putting lessons into a grid turns them into formulas. This process makes ad analysis a science rather than a feeling, and it helps me eliminate my own biases when I am trying to understand why a specific creative works.

The Logic of the Organic Meme

The first reality I noticed in these long-running ads is that imagery carries about 80 percent of the weight. I am a content person, so I usually focus on the words, but the imagery is the entry point. In one successful romance ad, the image looks like a typical organic meme. This is a deliberate strategy to reduce ad blindness. When an ad looks like an organic post in a feed, it leads to a higher click through rate.

A higher click through rate results in a lower cost per click. Many advertisers are currently hammering people with high-pressure ads or get-rich-quick schemes, and audiences are tuning those out across industries. This author is shifting toward ads that look like they belong in the feed naturally. The phrasing on the image, such as "When you are a plus size woman, but he says X," uses the specific language of social media culture. This style signals to the reader that they are looking at relatable, organic content, not sales messaging.

I also noticed the use of all-caps text on the image. A professional designer might advise against this, but for an organic look, it works. It bridges the gap for people like me who need words to understand the context of a vague image. This text also helps filter out the wrong audience. In romance, this text prevents men from clicking on the ad because they think it is a different type of content.

Signaling the Insider Lingo

Successful ads use trope signaling and sub-genre keywords within the first few seconds of engagement. You have about three seconds to keep someone from scrolling past. If you are writing an action thriller for example, you might use lingo from the security operations world, i.e. leaked reports, red notices, etc. that act as beacons for genre readers.

In the romance ads I analyzed, the lingo was specific to power play and enemies-to-lovers tropes. For instance, if my grandma sees the phrase "I said sit, not hover around the bed." She’ll probably pay it no mind. (Unless my grandma secretly reads spicy romance of course.) But to the right reader, it acts as a signal for a certain type of relationship dynamic and promises a certain emotion/experience. These are genre-insider languages and if you know the genre, you know exactly what “I said sit on the bed and be quiet” means.

Worth a note, is that the ad images that stood out to me had high contrast, e.g black and white, makes the text pop and ensures the trope is the first thing the reader sees. (See my video walkthrough to see what I’m talking about.)

The Reader Group Aesthetic

Another ad that caught my eye used an image that looked like it came directly from a Facebook reader group. I spend time snooping in psychological thriller groups, and people there constantly share photos of the books they are currently reading. These photos are usually unpolished. They might feature a book on a bed or a hand holding a copy.

This author used a photo of a hand holding a book set. I have looked through hundreds of ads in the library, and most authors avoid this unpolished look. It feels authentic because it mimics what readers see from their peers.

By the way, while I was analyzing these ads and recording, I actually had to stop for a moment to save my house from a chicken invasion. That is the reality of working from home, and it reminded me that being grounded in real, unpolished environments is what connects with people on social media.

Someone would respond very differently to a paperback ad image sitting on patchy grass next to a speckled hen named Lucy, compared to the same book on a polished, white background. One is social and looks like organic/native content, the other is associated with ads.

If we are running ads for ebooks, we can adapt this by showing a hand holding a Kindle. We can use software to make the words on the Kindle screen pop or highlight specific lines. The goal is to make the ad look like a recommendation from a friend.

Conflict and Direct Sales Logic

I noticed a pattern in these long-running ads; many of them often start with heavy action verbs and immediate conflict. One example began with a character sliding into a booth and turning over a reserved sign. Even if the conflict is playful banter, it creates a hook that forces the reader to pay attention. I like action verbs because they pull the reader into the scene immediately.

I also noticed a very technical approach to the call to action for authors selling direct. This:

“BUY DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR AND SAVE 20 PERCENT.”

She then laid out the exact steps the customer needed to take.

1. Click Shop Now.
2. Add to your cart and check out.
3. Receive an email with the links to your books.
4. Download your favorite reading app and enjoy.

This level of over-communication is necessary when you are asking people to buy outside of the Amazon ecosystem. She is anticipating the objection that buying direct is difficult. She meets that objection before the customer even thinks of it. She frames the purchase as supporting a small business while also providing a financial incentive. Think about potential reader objections in your own ads and pre-emptively address them in your ads. E.g.

“I know what you’re thinking: ‘Every cozy mystery reads the same nowadays.’ (Cue: This is where you roll your eyes.) But I’ll bet you my last hair follicle that this one is different. Well, there’s a biker gang involved for starters…”

Steering Toward Contrast

If you are tired of your existing ad styles, you should search for organic content styles to steal. For instance, black plain text (hook )on a white background, or grid-style memes that set up a contrast between two scenarios, such as "before and after" or "this vs. that."

E.g. Image 1: Picture of a corporate guy in a suit looking pleased. Text: When the secret organisation you worked for as an assassin sells you out.

Image 2: Picture of an old man packing a "go-bag." Text: But they forget you’re a bad MOFO who once brought a toothpick to a gun fight (& won).

Contrast in ads creates a narrative gap that the reader wants to fill by clicking. Whether it is a boss-employee trope in romance (“My billionaire boss saw my spicy side-hustle profile and left a five-star review. Monday morning will be awkward.” ) or a specific romantic cliffhanger, the logic remains the same.

You use the organic style to get the click and the specific genre lingo to ensure that click comes from the right person. If an ad has been running since 2022, my bet is, these are some of the mechanics that are keeping it alive.

PS: I believe in cross-training; using techniques from seemingly unrelated spaces and adapting them for your genre/industry. So if you plan to create book ads but have trouble figuring out how to structure hooks, first lines, imagery, the lower-third (headline, call to action & description), etc...

I curated 107 romance ads and added commentary for each section to show you what works and why. Romance authors are some of the (if not the) most aggressive marketers in fictions, so you'd do well, seeing what they're upto.

Authors from all niches are using it to learn by exposure. (For one, you'll see romance authors using trope maps in interesting ways, but I've never seen action thriller or crime book ads leveraging trope maps, even though we do have entrenched tropes. Why not?) Get it here: Romance Ads Swipe File.