You’ve written and published your book, received praise from family and friends, but now you’re struggling to reach new readers. Don’t worry; you’re not alone. Many new authors face this challenge.
Amazon, as the largest platform for publishing and book sales, can significantly help increase your book’s reach. This article focuses on using ads, a powerful tool to promote and sell more books on Amazon.
Why should you try Amazon ads?
Amazon is where most books are sold, and its customer base is continually growing. The benefit with Amazon is that when customers come to Amazon, they have a buying mindset, making them more likely to purchase books than those on social media platforms. Mostly importantly, Amazon ads will use the book cover as an ad image, saving you design work.
Types of Amazon ads
Amazon Advertising platform offers two types of Amazon ads to authors:
- Sponsored Ads: These can promote both eBooks and paperbacks. Your book appears when readers use specific keywords. It’s simple to create, and you can run ads on various Amazon websites.
- Lockscreen Ads: These are for eBooks only and operate on a pay-per-click model. They appear on Kindle E-readers and Fire tablet lock screens and reach readers directly.
Steps for Creating Amazon Ads
Below are the steps you need to follow to create an ad for your book:
Step-1 Create an Account
If you’ve self-published your Kindle book, your Amazon KDP account includes an advertising feature. If not, create an account through the Amazon Advertising platform.
Step-2 Choose Ad Type
Select the type of ad you want to create (Sponsored Ads or Lockscreen Ads).
Step-3 Create a Campaign
Name your campaign and set its start and end dates. Define your daily budget.
Step-4 Choose Targeting
Decide between automatic targeting (Amazon selects similar books) and manual targeting (you choose keywords or phrases).
Step-5 Bidding Strategy
There are three options to choose from:
- Dynamic bids, down only – In this type, Amazon will lower your bid when your ad is less likely to convert to a sale.
- Dynamic bids, up and down – In this type, Amazon will lower your bid when your ad is less likely to convert to a sale or may increase it if the ad is more likely to convert into a sale.
- Fixed bids – The bid, in this case, is set.
- Ad Format, Product, and Targeting:
Under Ad format, you can create a ‘Customer text ad’ which will let you add custom text to your ad to give readers a glimpse of your book. The other type is ‘Standard ad’ in which you don’t have to put a custom text to create the ad. In the next section, you will have to choose the book for which you have to create an ad (in case you have several books). Use can use one of the two targeting methods:
- Keyword targeting – In this, you choose the keywords for which you want Amazon to show your book. This will be enabled only when you select the Manual Targeting option in step 4.
- Product targeting – In this, you choose specific products, brands, categories, or other product features to target your ads.
- Review and Submit
Provide custom text (if using custom text ad), preview the ad, and submit it.
Your ad will be live within 72 hours if it meets Amazon’s requirements. Ensure your ad doesn’t contain grammatical errors, unsubstantiated claims, or inappropriate images.
Amazon KDP Select Program
Authors of Kindle eBooks can enroll in Amazon’s KDP Select Program, giving Amazon exclusive distribution rights. While you can’t sell your eBook elsewhere, you gain access to promotional features such as price promotions and Kindle Unlimited.
The KDP Select Program offers several promotional offers such as:
- Price Promotions: One of the most popular promotional features of this program, the price promotional activity allows the authors to make their book free for a few days or even sell it at as low as Rs. 9/-
This can be a great strategy for new authors as well as those fiction authors who write series.
- Kindle Unlimited/Kindle Lending Library: If you opt to put up your book in Kindle Unlimited/ Kindle Lending Library, readers who have subscribed to those programs can read your Kindle book for free. You as an author will be paid on the basis of the percentage of the book read and a global fund which is created by Amazon each month in order to compensate its authors.
Of course, the earnings from this are less than what you will earn if your book was sold outright. However, this is a good strategy to reach out to more readers.
If you’re new to Amazon ads, don’t expect instant success. Experiment with different combinations and gradually increase your budget as you identify what works.
With time and persistence, you’ll find the winning formula that boosts your book sales on Amazon.
