What commercial do you hate? What commercial is your favorite? (YouTube link us if possible) Have you ever got an idea for a story from a commercial?
This week’s topic is commercials, but as I don’t watch and TV or movies and don’t listen to the radio, I don’t know any, good or bad.
As I never watch commercials, I have never been inspired by them, but I am sometimes inspired by pictures, especially picture writing prompts.
So, I have decided to apply wide poetic license and show off a few of my book advertisements. Many of these are provided to me through my All Author subscription and book promotions and some I make myself. I like all of them, but I personally enjoy the advertisements I make myself and which include quotes from my books best.
The above three advertisements’ for A Ghost and His Gold set out above are a GIF that I made using a tool provided by AllAuthor, a picture advertisement provided by AllAuthor, and my own advertisement incorporating a quote from the the book.
These are a few of my own adverts for anthologies I have contributed to that I quite like:
What’s your favourite advert? Which one do you hate? Join in the blog hop by clicking on the link below, or just leave a comment:
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roberta-writes.com 
I’m with you Robbie, I don’t watch much TV either. I watch sports, (I am a hockey fan) and most of those commercials are local and pretty bad. I like your ads above, they are well done, informative and not intrusive.
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Hi Carla, I am glad you like them. I try to make them interesting and I also try not to overdue them on social media as I think to much advertising makes people spammers.
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I don’t watch adverts as a rule. I like your ads. AllAuthor are great for banners and 3D book covers.
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Hi Stevie, I think so too. I like AllAuthor, they are efficient and they provide a good quality service.
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I’ve always been impressed with your adverts. I can see how they’re done and could do them with Photoshop but that takes a long time. I had to Duck Duck ‘AllAuthors’. Do you like them?
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I use AllAuthor and have for some time. I like them. I would not be able to do these myself.
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Good to know. I’m going to check them out.
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BookBrush is good for creating ads. I find it easier to use than PhotoShop or Canva.
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I’ll check that out, too.
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This is good to know. Thank you, Liz.
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You’re welcome, Robbie.
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Hi Jacqui, my ads don’t take me that long to make, I do it in powerpoint and use the graphics tool. I do like AllAuthor. They have never given me any problems and I like the banners they make for me.
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All very well done, Robbie…curious if you get much traffic from Twitter…for some reason, the number of links from there to my blog is very small, even when there is a lot of interaction….
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Hi John, I don’t have a great love for Twitter. I see it as the dustbin of social media and everyone posts everything but no one reads it. That being said, I do pick up a few clicks through to my blogs from Twitter and it is considered a must have for authors. I much prefer WP and FB.
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I get nothing from twitter and only share stuff for others in case it helps them!
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That is interesting, John. As I said, I don’t think it is a great platform for bloggers either, but I know many authors love it and do get a response from it. I share to twitter just in case. It can’t hurt.
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I also don’t watch television much, Robbie. And I definitely don’t pay much attention to commercials. I like yours though. You make me think I should do more of those. 🙂 Well done!
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Hi Diana, I must be honest, I don’t make that good use of my adverts and banners. I always have good intentions to post them to my FB page and to Twitter but I really do because I spend all my time chatting to my friends on WP.
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Ha ha ha. That sounds like a familiar problem. I prefer chatting on WP to marketing and managing updates any day.
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I avoid all comnericals except on Superbowl Sunday when I do watch them. Great take on this to share your advertising, Robbie!
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Hi Denise, it was a little opportunistic of me [smile].
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I don’t watch much television either and commercials are when I do chores like wash dishes, laundry, dust, iron etc. So I can’t tell you if I like any or not.
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Ah, we are peas in the proverbial pod, Darlene.
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I like your images/ads. My favorite is the phone with A Ghost and His Gold cover image, stuck in the grainy sand. It’s beautiful but features the book, too.
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Hi Priscilla, that is my favourite ad too and that is why I chose it. I like the colours.
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I don’t watch much TV either. I’d rather be reading. 🙂 I do listen to the radio, but pretty much tune commercials out. I love your memes! I think you did a great job.
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Hi Jan, thank you. I make them in Powerpoint which seem to be an unusual choice of programme. I listen to audiobooks but they don’t have adverts. Actually, including adverts would be a good way for authors to make money, a bit like the YT model.
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I am a member of the inspired by visuals club. My father worked in B&W like an amateur Ansel Adams and I grew up pen and ink guy. Color is fine, but is so often overly dramatic. Here’s some TV, no commericals that requires you to write your own script… Or just put on the headphones and write whatever you’d write to accompany impressions of Arvo Part’s “Spiegel im Spiegel” – true classical music valium.
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Hi Phil, thank you for visiting. Unfortunately your link doesn’t work in South Africa. I’ll see if I can find another version.
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I’m not familiar with AllAuthors. I’ll have to check it out.
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Hi Patricia, I like AllAuthor and am very pleased with the banners they provide me with. I use them as headers for my blog.
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I like all of your advertisements Robbie and applaud your diverse presentations. I am very interested in how books are launched and promoted. You have been an excellent guide in this area of exploration. Thank you!
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Hi Rebecca, I do try hard with advertising, but I have my favourite social medias with are WP, FB and YT. I am not that crazy about Twitter so don’t bother with it overly. I have Pinterest but that is for my articles boards and cake picture ideas collections.
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the top photo is OUTSTANDING!!!!
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Hi Wendi, I must admit that I think the GIFs are pretty cool. Thanks for visiting.
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always a pleasure to visit! 🙂
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add graphic desginer to your list of skills; well done, Robbie!
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Thank you, Jim. I use Powerpoint for my design work which seems to surprise everyone else. I like the images I create though, so I stick with what works for me.
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I have also used PowerPoint to do “photo editing”. There’s no learning curve, and it satisfies my basic needs…
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The visuals on your examples are all compelling. It’s definitely the most important part of a print or digital ad. (K)
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Hi Kerfe, I agree with you, the visuals are everything with adverts. Even blog posts must have pictures to attract readers.
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Robbie, I love that you used this prompt for making your own ads.
My writing gets inspired by all sorts of things. So, I’m rather surprised to realize that I have never been inspired to write by a commercial. When I was a very little girl (maybe 5 years old), there was a hair cream commercial that I made up daydream-stories around because it captured my imagination. But that’s the only one.
Congratulations on the great reception for A Ghost and His Gold. Hugs on the wing!
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Hi Teagan, thank you, I am glad you like my adverts. I am not nearly as good as you are, but these aren’t bad and I like including quotes. I can remember commercials from when I was an older girl, we didn’t have a TV when I was very young, but none of them were remotely inspirational. They still aren’t.
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You have done well with your ads for your books and anthologies, Robbie. I’ll have to learn to make GIFs and use techniques like that one day. (Maybe next life. 😂)
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Hi Norah, I make them because I like to use them for my blog tours. I don’t share them much on Twitter or FB like some authors do. I don’t think people buy books based on an advert, even a very good one, unless they know the author or a blogger or reviewer who is recommending the book.
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I agree. They are great for blog tours – a good way to find out more about the book. I don’t take much notice of ads on Facebook.
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I watch evening television 📺 and think one of the best ads is of a family going on an outing when trouble strikes in the form of the dog hopping into a canoe and getting swept downstream.
The family chases the dog in their vehicle (the source of the advert) while the animal considers it a grand adventure and even sails past a surprised fisherman before getting rescued by his family.
I like your memes, Robbie. They really work to promote your books.
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Thank you, Jacquie. That sounds like a fun ad. My sister is in advertising and some of them are very good. I just rarely see any do to my lack of TV and movie watching.
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Your “ads” are well done and classy. Personally I watch no ads/commercials on TV – I dvr everything I watch (which isn’t much) and can pass by them. Most commercials are “dumbed down” for the public and silly and non-interesting. Your ads are not like that. But I must admit, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a book because of its ads or trailers. I buy them (1) if I know the author or it’s been recommended by someone I know/trust (2) I like the description of what the book is about (3) good reviews.
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Hi Pam, I agree with you completely about book ads. I buy books on the same basis that you do and have never bought one based on an advert. I have bought many based on a fellow bloggers review and/or opinion. I use these ads more for my blog tours than anything else.
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I really like your book ads, Robbie, they’re very eye-catching. I shall have try out All Authors and Book Brush. I think book ads are a great idea and fun to do, although I’m the same, it’s reviews that make me want to read a book. Unfortunately, I can’t avoid radio ads here, but I can whizz through the ones on TV – we record everything we watch, many BBC TV series and Pointless, the exception being watching Liverpool FC play live, of course.
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Some adverts are good and quite interesting to watch. I only see the compulsory 10 seconds on YouTube.
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