Update: I had to go through my Meta for Business account and file a ticket to resolve this issue. Even then, they couldn’t get the original ad approved. Instead, I had to resubmit an identical ad, let it get rejected, and then inform my Meta for Business representative. Only then were they able to allow this ad to be approved.

***

I am more than a little incensed right now.

Let me explain. I’ve been running ads monthly on Facebook since February, marketing my queer romance books. Sometimes I market a specific book, especially when I launch a new one. Other times, I market the current collection of them.

This is the marketing graphic I was using for the month of June, taking advantage of Pride Month to market my queer romance novels.

June 2022 Marketing Promotion

I posted this graphic on my Facebook author’s page and then boosted the post as a paid advertisement. It was approved immediately and ran the entire month. I was paying around $1.33/day for running the boosted post, and earned an average of $3/day between sales and Kindle Unlimited reads. I’ve been relying heavily on these ads to boost my readership and sales and it’s been working splendidly until now.

That brings me to the new marketing graphic I created for my July promotion. I took the same concept as before, changed the background and title, and added the Kindle Vella logo. That’s it. Yet, this time it’s been rejected by Facebook.

July 2022 Marketing Promotion

I’ve appealed three times. I’ve made three additional changes. I even tried going through Instagram (which is owned by Facebook/Meta). Every time, it was rejected with a vague explanation of violating their advertising guidelines. I’m familiar with the guidelines and I cannot pinpoint a single one that my post violated.

Yes, my books are romance novels, and they include sex scenes, but there are tons of sexy romance books being advertised on Facebook every day. The only difference between the ones I’ve seen and mine, is the sexuality of the characters involved. I mostly see ads for straight romance, and mine are gay. I’m hoping that’s not why my ads are being banned, because that would be outright discrimination. However, I cannot rule that possibility out entirely.

I even reached out to Meta Business support (I’m signed up with Meta for Business) and talked to a human being. They wouldn’t tell me why either, just that they would escalate the review and then they disconnected me. Five minutes later, the review was rejected again.

At this point, I don’t know what else to do. Twitter ads are much more expensive. Amazon won’t even allow books that are labeled for 18+ audiences to be advertised. I’m already seeing a steep drop in earnings since I have no ads running currently.

I’ve tweeted about it, but until this is resolved, my earnings will continue to spiral without some kind of paid promotion running. This will greatly reduce any income I earn from my books, which is also worrisome. If you wish to help me, feel free to scream and holler at Facebook with me, or maybe donate a cup of coffee while I work to resolve this issue.

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