Happy Friday Everyone! How did your week go? Mine was a blur! I finished a book over the weekend that I really thought I'd be editing by now, but my week had other plans. I've had a lot of training classes this week, and I've been exhausted. I was hoping to get some editing done during coworking, but I had an ADHD meltdown this week over a bookshelf for my office, and guess what just arrived? So, I'll be in a class all morning and during coworking time, guess who will be putting a shelf together and reorganizing her office? So, if you want to watch me trying to wrangle a new shelf, organize my office, then you're in for a treat for today's co-working session! However, I will soon have no more excuses not to work on my books. What are your not writing excuses?

I'm never really comfortable on video, so now I can be on video without recording the video with heyGen. I just upload photos I want in the video (or images) upload the script, and then the software create the video, creates me (I recorded a 15 second video for it so it can minimic my face and likness) and it creates a really polished looking video! I get to say what I want to say without getting nervous. Check out the video I made for our next workshop using it. You can use the software to make quick reels, even if you don't have a script, it'll write one. You can upload images of your books or merch for product placement videos. Lots you can do with it https://www.heygen.com/?sid=rewardful&utm_medium=affiliate&via=jill-cooper Also, hope you'll stick around for our next workshop. Starting the first week of May!

We ran a 20 minute Q/A! Hopefully we can get more people next time. Here are some notes: Impromptu Zoom Meeting - March 25 Meeting Purpose Q&A on Facebook ad strategy and Kickstarter promotion. Key Takeaways - Ad Set Diagnosis: To fix a $60 spend vs. $7 revenue ad set, add unique attribution links to each ad. This isolates the winner(s) and allows you to pause the losers, preventing Facebook from wasting budget on underperformers. - Ad Rotation: Rotate ads for longevity and audience psychology. A break from an ad can overcome creative fatigue, and seeing it again later signals quality, which can convert readers who needed time to decide. - Kickstarter Strategy: Use a reader magnet ad to build a warm email list before launch. The ad sells the story, not the campaign; the Kickstarter CTA is placed at the end of the novella and in a subsequent email drip. - New AI Targeting: Facebook is testing a new AI-driven targeting feature where you describe your ideal reader in natural language. This could restore the hyper-specific targeting capability lost in recent years. Topics Ad Set Diagnosis & Optimization - Problem: An ad set spent $60 for only $7 revenue (1 sale + ~1500 KU reads). - Root Cause: A single attribution link for all 5 ads in the set. Impact: This prevents identifying which specific ad is performing well and which are wasting budget. - Solution → Add Unique Attribution Links: Add a unique link to each ad in the set. Run for ~3 days to gather data. Pause underperforming ads; keep the winner. - Ad Set Structure Best Practice: Run only one ad per ad set for traffic campaigns. Why: This allows precise budget control and audience adjustments for that single ad without affecting others. Exception: Sales/lead ads can run multiple creatives, as Facebook's algorithm can optimize for the best performer.

Sigh. Taxes. After all the number crunching it came out to costs: $3584.22 (and that's everything from website upkeep, covers, supplies, ads, this, etc) and income: $3512.04. So in the red $72.18 for 2025 (my first official doing this seriously year). Which, I guess is basically breaking even. Really gotta step up my game for 2026. I could use some encouragement and/or what was your first year like?

I'm working on my own writer dashboard focused mostly on writing but a little bit marketing. What do you think? Would you want something like this that runs on your local PC? What would it be worth? What I'll add next? Mal's bulk image generation plugin for marketing FB Headlines and Primary Text Generator Ability to upload series level codexes And a few new tricks!