How My Noir Social Media Campaign Almost Became a Crime Scence

Book marketing for a noir-mystery indie author can feel like trying to tail a suspect through foggy alleys with a broken flashlight — especially when promoting a new novel like WORKING STIFF. I’m a mystery writer, not a marketer — well, not exactly. But I do own a carry permit for my one secret weapon: a background in advertising.

My plot? Author creates a visually consistent, noir-inspired campaign across platforms. He wants each piece to look like it belonged to the same gritty world — black-and-white quote cards that felt like vintage film stills. The only thing changing would be the headline:

“PERFECT NIGHT TO MAKE A BAD DECISION.”
“THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR HAD IDEAS. ONE OF THEM GOT HER KILLED.”
“FRANK LELAND HAS NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE – EXCEPT WHAT’S LEFT OF HIS SOUL."

Each line had a wry voice and a shadowy vibe. If he got it right, you’d recognize the campaign before you even saw his name.

But here comes the plot twist: He has almost no social media presence. When he tries to post something, his computer yawns back at him and says, “And you are?”

OK, so our hero decides to get a sidekick. He opens Canva – and designs his first quote card. Loves it. Develops 10 more. Easy Peasy. Uploads it to Facebook...

And runs into the Ultimate Bad Guy: His own ignorance! 

This guy might write about detectives but doesn’t have a clue when it comes to using tools like Photoshop or Gimp to make this kind of work … well, work!  So, what happens? Facebook promptly lops off the top of his ad, eliminating his name. Then Instagram crops it differently and cuts him off at the feet – you know, the bottom of the page where it says WORKING STIFF: A Frank Leland Mystery … not to mention, the poor guy’s website address: BillKriegerMysteries.com.

And don’t even talk to him about Twitter. They want another format entirely.

If our hero – me – wasn’t such a tough guy, he be sitting at his computer … staring at the screen wide-eyed, cross-eyed, and blurry-eyed.

What will this guy do???

God wasn’t his co-pilot.  Copilot was.

In fiction, when divine intervention solves a problem, it's called a deus ex machina. Readers hate that.  It isn’t fair, it isn’t fun, it isn’t write. (Yes, bad pun intentional — thanks for asking.) 😊

But people love a MacGyver. He finds a tool and saves the day himself.

So, that’s what I did.

I opened up my photos in GIMP – an art tool program I never used before – and opened up Copilot and ChatGPT at the same time.  Then, baby step by baby step, AI walked him through the twisting technical maze of layers within layers of this complicated tool. I resized and repositioned my quote cards until they looked good on every platform.

AI didn’t write or design any for me. But it showed me how I could — even with all ten of my thumbs.

The result? A cohesive noir campaign that I’m finally proud to share.*

*No words or photos were harmed in the making of these quote cards.
(But AI may have saved their lives.)