Why I Stopped Advertising

When I first became an indie author back in 2018, I hated the idea of advertising. I always had. Unfortunately, certain gurus, particularly one of them, convinced me that unless I embraced it wholeheartedly, I was essentially wasting my time.

So I did what a sensible (??) person does. I signed up for a long, intensive course on Amazon advertising that I should never have embarked on in the first place. For context, I am someone who considers the word spreadsheet to be a swear word, and I spent school mathematics and physics lessons gazing out of the window, dreaming of escape. This was never going to be a natural fit.

Still, I tried. I really did. And at first, it worked. Which was both encouraging and deeply unfortunate.

Advertising felt like me wearing a ball gown in the 1970s when all I wanted was bell-bottoms and scoop-neck T-shirts. Or trying to dance a waltz when my body quite clearly wanted to dance to rock music. I could do it, technically, but I never stopped resenting it.

I learned the language. I stared at dashboards. I absorbed acronyms. So many acronyms. ROI. CTR. CPC. FU**. Enough to make me feel slightly unwell. And gradually, that’s exactly what happened. I began to feel sick every time I opened an ad dashboard. I certainly never got ‘excited’, like many people in the group claimed to be. Worse, I even felt disappointed when the ads were working, because that meant I didn’t have a decent excuse to stop.

But when I finally looked properly at the numbers (yawn), not in a hopeful way but in a clear-eyed, slightly grim way, it became obvious that it wasn’t worth it. Not the time. Not the energy. Not the mental space it occupied. Whatever it was doing for my sales, it was doing something far worse to my sanity.

Late last year, I removed my books from Kindle Unlimited and went wide. That turned out to be the moment when everything clicked into place. I realised I could simply decide which parts of this business I wanted to do, and which parts I was prepared to let go.

So that’s what I’ve done.

From now on, it’s newsletters. Promotions when I feel like them. Possibly the occasional ad, if the mood ever strikes. But the endless analysis, the relentless checking, the sense that I should always be doing more, watching more closely, optimising harder – all of that has gone out of the window.

I won’t be buying a yacht anytime soon. My sales are not of that variety. But they pay for some treats, and the heating (in summer), and a life that feels steady enough. And that, for me, is plenty.

I’m writing this for anyone who might feel the same way. Not as advice, and certainly not as a rule. Just as permission. Sometimes we are allowed to stop doing the things we hate, even if someone once told us they were essential.

Essential for them, maybe.

And sometimes, stopping is the most professional decision we make.

PS. I might still do the occasional ad, if and when I feel like it, but the pressure is OFF.