SPS-441: AI Can Fix Your Ads James Blatch & Cissy Mecca

James and Cissy explore one of the most practical uses of AI for authors: analysing advertising, sales, and marketing data to make better business decisions. James shares how he used Claude to review Facebook ads, KDP income, and reader engagement data, while Cissy explains how she used AI to assess years of BookBub performance and identify the best strategy for future promotions. Alongside the data discussion, they touch on the ongoing debate around AI writing, why detection remains unreliable, and how authors can focus on using AI as a powerful backend assistant rather than a creative replacement. The episode also includes a mention of James's upcoming webinar on improving AI translations.

Key Talking Points

• How authors can use AI to analyse Facebook ads, KDP sales, and reader engagement data in seconds instead of spending hours in spreadsheets.
• Cissy's use of AI to evaluate BookBub results over time and identify which price points, formats, and titles perform best.
• Why AI can be a game-changer for admin, reporting, and decision-making even for authors who do not use it to write fiction.
• A continued discussion on AI writing, including why detection tools are unreliable and why the market may ultimately decide what readers want.
• Details of James's upcoming webinar on AI translations and why first-pass translation tools still fall short for fiction.

Links & Resources Mentioned

• ProWritingAid (Sponsor – code IWC15 for 15% off annual subscriptions): https://prowritingaid.com
• AI Translations Course: https://learnselfpublishing.com/aitranslations
• Free AI Translations Webinar: https://www.learnselfpublishing.com/webinar