Richard V. Rupp

November 7, 2020

I have given up on trying to "boost" my Rupp's Notes/FBI Special Agent Hartmann Series  Facebook (FB) posts to expand my reader audience. My research indicates the FB ad program is not designed to distribute newsletters. Background on how I arrived at this decision follows. It may be of value to some of you who use FB to promote products or your business.

 

Because of this decision, I am asking you to help me expand my audience. Please share/forward my posts to your friends. Of course, this assumes you like them. To help you make your decision about helping me expand my readers, you will find below my comments about "FB ad boosts" and recent reviews of my novel – "Death on the High Seas."

 

According to FB, I am free to boost these posts if I comply with their requirements. I tried and found FB is still blocking them. Part of the older posts' problem was that I include words or phrases that their algorithm program considers unacceptable. To FB, terms such as 'New Normal,' 'Avian Flu,' and 'protestors' are unacceptable. They also indicated that my posts were too lengthy to be considered ads. I love the fact that they put a "boost" button on the bottom of each of my posts. To me, the proper name for this button would be the "tease button" or "waste your time button."

 

As I write three posts or newsletters a week that are fairly lengthy, I will not try and comply with their multi-pages of rules. The rules pages include numerous spots to click that takes you to more restrictions or further explain the initial restriction.

 

The following is from the lengthy email FB sent me –

 

"Thank you for the detailed explanation you provided regarding the issue you encountered as you tried to create ads.

 

We now understand that you weren't promoting political ads and that the ads you tried to create were meant to promote your novels which may have mentioned some government positions and the like. This may have triggered our system to block you from moving forward and made it think that your ads were of political nature…

 

We know that it was important for you to share a brief backstory about your book and that this will help your audience to better understand how you came up with the plot for it. However, we noticed that the ad's caption included words and phrases such as 'New normal,' 'Avian Flu,' 'protesters,', etc. which makes the system flag it as an ad regarding social and/or controversial issues."

If you want to see the posts FB is referring to you can go to my website – www.richardvrupp.com and click on the Rupp's Notes button.

 

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Here is a recent review by Joanne Wojcik on Amazon – "Loved this book, "Death on the High Seas". Rupp definitely knows the captive insurance industry. It seemed so realistic it made me wonder whether there are any drug cartels using captives to launder money?

I also liked the fact that unlike in most mystery novels, the reader always knew who committed the crime; the question was whether the authorities would be able to collect enough evidence to prove it, and whether they would be ever be able to apprehend the fugitive murderer.

My only reservation I had was with the lesbian sex party scene, which did not seem realistic to me. Then again, I've never been to a lesbian orgy. But my gut tells me they're not that into each others' "boobies" as the author suggests.

Still, an overall captivating story and characters!"

 

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This is from a BookLife Review – "Rupp's extensive world travel shines on the page. The truly varied assortment of settings includes Berlin, Monaco, and North Carolina. As each new locale is described, readers will find it easy to picture the characters there. His background in the commercial insurance industry paves the way for a sophisticated insurance scheme that keeps the pages turning as layer after layer is uncovered. Armchair travelers will get the most from this cruise through bloody waters."

 

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Your comments and support are appreciated. As mentioned at the outset, if you like my novels and these newsletters, please forward them to your friends.

 

Stay Safe! From both the "Avian Flu" and "Election Protesters." I had to do that.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author