Using Claude to Decode Facebook’s Own Ad Data and Build a Better Campaign | Ep 371

A milestone episode: Jerry officially finishes the latest revision of book three — 61,718 words, 43 chapters — and immediately moves into his final draft pass. He also hands Claude Code a five-file plan for his reader-engagement puzzle website and watches it build the entire thing unsupervised from his couch. The real deep dive this week is AI narration: after discovering that ElevenLabs voice pricing varies wildly (some voices burning through nearly all his credits in a single chapter), he finds an affordable, natural-sounding voice, builds full text-to-speech directly into his custom writing app, and produces a complete AI-narrated version of chapter one, which he links in the show notes for listener feedback. He makes the case for offering a budget AI audiobook option to readers who’ve asked, given that a traditional $5,000 narrator is out of reach. He also opens up about likely stepping away from his writers’ club after three straight missed months, and walks through a genuinely interesting experiment: feeding Facebook’s own ad chatbot his campaign data, then handing those insights to Claude to build a sharper, better-targeted October ad campaign — including some eyebrow-raising findings about which age groups are actually buying his books. Rich had a more grounded week: finishing a fall garden planting, assembling a new table saw, upgrading his wife’s laptop, and delivering an entertainingly brutal review of a book club pick that didn’t live up to its author’s reputation. He also shares real excitement about an upcoming indie author conference in Texas featuring some recognizable names in self-publishing. What we talk about: Finishing the second revision of book three and moving into the final draft pass Watching Claude Code autonomously build a reader-engagement website feature from a multi-file plan A deep dive into ElevenLabs AI voice pricing and choosing an affordable, natural-sounding narrator voice Building full text-to-speech narration directly into a custom writing app Sharing and reacting to an AI-narrated chapter one, and weighing whether to sell budget AI audiobooks to readers Deciding to step away from an in-person writers’ club after three months away Using Facebook’s own ad chatbot to pull campaign performance data, then having Claude interpret it to build a smarter, better-targeted ad strategy Surprising demographic insights about which age groups actually convert on book ads Rich’s fall garden planting and chicken coop repairs Assembling a new table saw and upgrading his wife’s laptop An honest, critical review of a disappointing book club pick and why the author’s reputation didn’t match the book An upcoming in-person indie author conference in Texas featuring well-known self-publishing names Jerry's Chapter 1 AI-Created Audiobook Link: https://jerryevanoff.com/books/networ... Contact Us Jerry Evanoff Email: ⁠jerry@jerryevanoff.com⁠ Website: ⁠https://jerryevanoff.com⁠ ⁠https://jerryevanoffauthor.substack.c... Rich Kacy Email: ⁠rich@richkacy.com⁠ BlueSky: @RichKacy ⁠https://richkacy.substack.com/⁠