How Do We Feel About Trope Arrow Ads?

[bulgariansumo]

I've been seeing ads like the above for a couple years now. I'm guessing they're more popular on Booktok, but I've never really been over there. Whenever I see ads like this elsewhere, there's not that much engagement. On tumblr specifically, these have kind of become a joke and are usually spoken about negatively.

So what do you think? Have these kinds of ads gotten you to check out a book? Have you used an ad like this for your own work? How did it go? Did you notice any differences depending on where you posted it? I don't know if I've ever seen these for comics, but comic creators can chime in if they have any experience with this.

Personally, I can't see myself making these, at least anytime soon, though I think tropes can be somewhat helpful in figuring out the vibe of a book. I prefer summaries, though. These kinds of ads turn me away somewhat, but I did think about checking out a book from one of them.

Picture based on this post. The only reason I didn't use it is because I worried it might skew the conversation towards the negative.

[cherrystark]

I don't mean this as an attack on any author who has used them but as a reader, I think they're silly. If you're familiar at all with popular tropes, you can fairly accurately piece together the plot without ever reading it. I'm in a lot of author promo groups with my KDP stuff and that style isn't really popular at the moment.

[vapidink]

My feelings on most marketing tools is "you gotta do what you gotta do". I hate marketing, it's the one thing I dislike about writing but it's necessary and you have to keep in mind that people's attention gets caught by different things. Some people will take a look because of pretty art, others like to learn about a story's characters, plot, etc. And then some people's interest gets piqued by tropes and dynamics. Maybe they're on the hunt for more enemies to lovers, or fluff or whatever. This sort of ad makes it easier for them to find that quickly.

From a writer's perspective, they're easy to make and get the point across quickly, plus the use of the book's cover adds some visual appeal. I made a couple and paired it with a little graphic with the summary. It got some attention, mostly on sites that are all about visuals, like insta.

But yeah, my general feeling is sometimes you gotta throw things at the wall and see what sticks, lol.

[bulgariansumo]

Oh, that's really interesting to hear that it's fallen out of popularity! I saw a few on Bluesky about a week ago. I hadn't even thought about how easy it would probably be to sus out the plot

[cherrystark]

I seem them pop up every once and awhile in the groups but it's rare if I see one come through as a sponsored ad from a writer.

[AmysGames]

I can't say I've seen this particular advertising technique used much, haha. If your whole gimmick is relying on those sorts of tropes (like romance novels often are), then it'd probably be fairly effective. For me personally, I don't think a list of tropes like this would describe my comic very accurately, so I definitely don't think it'd work for everyone.

(And I don't even mean that in a "I don't use tropes! Ha ha I'm so subversive and unique!!" way but like, I just don't feel like that's the best way to describe the story)

[joannekwan]

It's definitely more of a marketing trend for novels. I've used it myself on threads and I'll say it does work. Since novels don't get to rely on visuals as much as comics do, it behooves them to find a way to make a visual that gets selling points across in a quick snappy way.

[bulgariansumo]

Thanks everyone for chiming in!

@vapidink Oh gosh yeah, marketing feels like a whole lotta trial and error. If it works, it works! I can definitely see the usefulness in readers being able to quickly see if a book has the tropes they're looking for. It kinda reminds me of the leg up fan works tend have over original, with people already having an idea of what to expect.

@AmysGames Good point! Getting a sense of the character dynamics at play is really useful if you're advertising a romance novel, since that's like, the whole point. I have seen these ads used for other genres though, and wonder how effective it is for those... There's a lot of different ways to execute tropes. Each instance of found family is as different as the characters making it up, for example. So I get where you're coming from when you say listing tropes might not work for your comic.

@joannekwan I'm glad it worked out for you! And yeah, I can see the value of having that visual element to it.

[Kelheor]

First time I see this (but I am not much on social media, especially TikTok), and eh... Looks like something that young teenagers can be into? They see "he fell first" and go full UWU. Like it's cute and straight listing the points readers may like. For me, personally, it's cringey. But I can see how it can be a nice and quick marketing idea.

[Calculus_Homework]

I'm with you on this. I prefer summaries as well.
Ads don't get me to click them. Period. The only ad I've ever clicked in my life was in 2007 on the Neopets website. Their ad banner was advertising for MapleStory, and my tween self was intrigued. lolol

The fact that "someone" has to disingenuously glam it up like a cheap product deters me from perceiving it as anything but. (hm, that sounded harsh. whoops. ) I put someone in quotations because I actually have never seen ads like that before. It just seems like the person who wrote the thing wouldn't legitimately make that kind of ad?? xD that's just me, because I think it's bad marketing in that it lessens the work down to tropes just to grab an audience for clicks/views. Idk. It seems yucky.

it makes for a funny meme though to make fun of that kind of ad. lol

[bulgariansumo]

@Kelheor Yeah, I do get the feeling that these mainly appeal to teenagers and people in their early 20's.

@Calculus_Homework Yay for summaries! I'm also not easily swayed by ads. If it's something I already don't think I'll be interested in, an ad will rarely change my mind. With how many ads we're exposed to daily, it's hard for me to imagine anyone who is swayed by them. There's not enough time or money in the world to engage with every product, so it seems like it would cause endless wanting and depression. Ignoring ads is kind of a necessity. And unfortunately that impacts indie creators, not just corporations.

A few people in this thread + plus some other authors do make their own versions of these ads. I'd guess that most authors make their own, because unless an author is really popular, they don't usually have other people making ads for them. And if a type of ad works, it works, no matter how disingenuous it might feel.

That being said, I get that yucky feeling. It's part of the reason why I don't want to do these (at least not seriously. Maybe as a joke.) When you boil down books to a collection of popular trope names, I feel like there's a risk of any book advertised this way coming off as generic. Like it was made in a lab. It makes it hard to tell a story that was quickly made to cash in on popular trends and one that was made with passion and care.

Technically, all the tropes in the example image apply to my story (though some are misleading), but even if I swapped out some of the more misleading ones for more honest ones, I'd feel bad advertising it this way. I think @/vapidink had the right idea of pairing one of these ads with a summary.

I also love the memes, though. I've seen a Breaking Bad one, an American Psycho one, and I think an Epic of Gilgamesh one?

[cherrystark]

This is a screenshot of an ad that came across my FB feed. Most of the sponsored ads I see from authors are like this, blurb and a stylized image with the cover.

[bulgariansumo]

Ohhhhh! I guess that definitely gets across the book's vibe.

[cherrystark]

This was one of the newer ones that came across my feed. I did see a trope arrow ad the other day after this thread came out. But for the most part, the ads I see are like this one - book cover, excerpt, matching background.