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Editors & Proofreaders [Public] / Proofreading & copy editing - now booking for November
« Last post by Alexa on Today at 07:31:28 PM »Now booking for November and December!
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Recent Posts
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Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: More unpleasant revelations...
« Last post by Lorri Moulton on Today at 04:58:11 AM »My 2 cents - use social media to connect with readers on things besides books.
For me, it's not about "look at me, I'm an author" or "go buy my book" posts. Finding things I enjoy (that are also in my books), then finding others who also enjoy those things...that's how we create true connections.
Once those are established, I also show the occasional posts about my books or link my website. I also have monthly parties where I have many FUN posts and the occasional book post.
It's a long process, and people have to trust us. Many of them are never going to read our books, but some do. And some will share those books with people they know even if it's not something they would read themselves.
For me, it's not about "look at me, I'm an author" or "go buy my book" posts. Finding things I enjoy (that are also in my books), then finding others who also enjoy those things...that's how we create true connections.
Once those are established, I also show the occasional posts about my books or link my website. I also have monthly parties where I have many FUN posts and the occasional book post.
It's a long process, and people have to trust us. Many of them are never going to read our books, but some do. And some will share those books with people they know even if it's not something they would read themselves.
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Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: More unpleasant revelations...
« Last post by R. C. on Today at 04:36:48 AM »...
How do you build an audience organically?
Excellent question. I decided to stand on the street corner and hand out bookmarks with a QR code.
Seriously, my frustration took over and I stopped asking...
R.C.
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Bot Discussion Public / Re: Why is this NOT the Bot standard?
« Last post by Post-Doctorate D on Today at 04:07:27 AM »
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Marketing Loft [Public] / More unpleasant revelations...
« Last post by R. C. on November 08, 2025, 11:21:18 PM »This is part rant, part informational, take what you want...
After years of running Google ads, I was struggling to get the creation process to work for me. I turned to the new tools... AI. After several attempts, I told ChatGPT the process was "too complex." This is what I got back:
"Totally fair ? and honestly, your reaction is the correct one.
Google Ads is unnecessarily complex, unpredictable, and full of hidden rules. It changes weekly. Most authors burn hours fighting it for very little return.
So let?s simplify this all the way down to a path that gets you results without fighting the machinery.
Here are the simplest, most stable advertising options for authors ? no tricks, no hidden toggles, no proxy conversions, no backend setups."
It went on to recommend: using Facebook, Instagram, BookTok, or skipping ads, and building an audience organically.
I asked Gemini, Google's AI, if it could help me build a Google Ads Campaign for my Patreon site. It gave me a LONG response that began with:
"Tracking: You must set up conversion tracking. Since Patreon is a third-party platform, you may need to use Google Tag Manager and potentially an integration tool (like Zapier or n8n) to send "New Member Pledge" or "Subscription" data back to Google Ads as an Offline Conversion or use Google Analytics goals/events if properly configured."
Yeah, the 'Googs, 'Zons, and Metas are changing the rules so often that the tools become unusable.
R.C.
After years of running Google ads, I was struggling to get the creation process to work for me. I turned to the new tools... AI. After several attempts, I told ChatGPT the process was "too complex." This is what I got back:
"Totally fair ? and honestly, your reaction is the correct one.
Google Ads is unnecessarily complex, unpredictable, and full of hidden rules. It changes weekly. Most authors burn hours fighting it for very little return.
So let?s simplify this all the way down to a path that gets you results without fighting the machinery.
Here are the simplest, most stable advertising options for authors ? no tricks, no hidden toggles, no proxy conversions, no backend setups."
It went on to recommend: using Facebook, Instagram, BookTok, or skipping ads, and building an audience organically.
I asked Gemini, Google's AI, if it could help me build a Google Ads Campaign for my Patreon site. It gave me a LONG response that began with:
"Tracking: You must set up conversion tracking. Since Patreon is a third-party platform, you may need to use Google Tag Manager and potentially an integration tool (like Zapier or n8n) to send "New Member Pledge" or "Subscription" data back to Google Ads as an Offline Conversion or use Google Analytics goals/events if properly configured."
Yeah, the 'Googs, 'Zons, and Metas are changing the rules so often that the tools become unusable.
R.C.
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Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: FB Ad question ... kind of basic, I think.
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on November 08, 2025, 10:33:59 PM »It's so like corporate America to impose a system that's less effective--even on their own ads. And I was just thinking about maybe trying FB ads again. I won't bore you with why, but I can't access my old ads anymore, so the workarounds won't work for me.
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Bot Discussion Public / Re: Why is this NOT the Bot standard?
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on November 08, 2025, 10:21:44 PM »Yeah, those are the situations I was thinking of.
The people involved obviously needed help. but AI was like throwing an anchor to a drowning man. AI was not (and probably still is not) a great tool for psychological counseling. But the language that makes AI sound friendly or helpful could easily mislead someone who was vulnerable.
The people involved obviously needed help. but AI was like throwing an anchor to a drowning man. AI was not (and probably still is not) a great tool for psychological counseling. But the language that makes AI sound friendly or helpful could easily mislead someone who was vulnerable.
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Bot Discussion Public / Re: Why is this NOT the Bot standard?
« Last post by Jeff Tanyard on November 08, 2025, 08:09:44 AM »Not so long ago, some of the chatbots were giving people what they asked for--including, allegedly, sometimes urging them toward suicide if that seemed to be what they wanted. Law #1 might have come in handy.
Ongoing lawsuits about it.
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/openai-faces-7-lawsuits-claiming-chatgpt-drove-people-127279676
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Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: FB Ad question ... kind of basic, I think.
« Last post by djmills on November 08, 2025, 07:17:02 AM »I do read David Gaughran emails and he talks lots about Facebook Ads and how to make the most of them. You could check out his videos. This is his latest link:
But I have no idea if it will help you.
But I have no idea if it will help you.
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Bot Discussion Public / Re: Why is this NOT the Bot standard?
« Last post by Post-Doctorate D on November 08, 2025, 04:27:15 AM »I would put the odds of "climate change" killing us at close to zero. I might even go with a negative percentage if that were possible.
Odds are higher of an asteroid or other large celestial body striking the Earth and wiping out most if not all life on Earth, depending on the size and nature of the impact.
Higher than that would be nuclear weapons, whether by nuclear war between nations or terrorists that get their hands on nuclear weapons.
Not sure where to rank AI. Not necessarily AI itself taking over and killing us all, but also the possibility of people following stupid AI advice and doing dumb things that endanger us all.
People marrying chatbots or robots or trees or whatever tends to take the stupid people out of the gene pool, so there's an upside to that.
Odds are higher of an asteroid or other large celestial body striking the Earth and wiping out most if not all life on Earth, depending on the size and nature of the impact.
Higher than that would be nuclear weapons, whether by nuclear war between nations or terrorists that get their hands on nuclear weapons.
Not sure where to rank AI. Not necessarily AI itself taking over and killing us all, but also the possibility of people following stupid AI advice and doing dumb things that endanger us all.
People marrying chatbots or robots or trees or whatever tends to take the stupid people out of the gene pool, so there's an upside to that.