One of the most frustrating moments for fiction authors running ads is realizing that the exact author you want to target… simply isn’t available. This happens constantly on platforms like Facebook Ads. An author may be dominating bestseller lists, trending on BookTok, or selling millions of copies, and yet they don’t exist as a selectable targeting option.

According to author coach Rebecca Hamilton, this is one of the most common reasons authors believe ads “don’t work,” when in reality, they’re just approaching audience building incorrectly. This misunderstanding often shows up alongside other performance issues authors attribute to broken ads, even when the underlying systems are functioning exactly as designed, a pattern explored further in Why Most Authors Think Their FB Ads Are Broken in 2026 blog post.

The good news? If an author isn’t targetable, their readers almost always are. just under different signals.

This post walks through practical, reliable ways to find targeting ...