marketing on amazon

Amazon offers a way to reach more potential readers through Amazon Advertising. These ads are run on a cost-per-click auction based model. That means Amazon holds a real-time auction every time someone does a search to determine which ads will appear based on relevancy. The cost-per-click, your “bid” is the amount you choose to pay if someone actually clicks on your ad.

Amazon will always choose the highest bid within the category to display since it will make them the most money. So suppose you have a book about canaries that you want more people to be aware of. Amazon suggests that you bid $0.70 but the bid range for that category is ($0.40 – $1.40). You decide to go with the custom bid of $0.70. However, someone else has a book about canaries and their bid is $1.40. Amazon will choose to show that bid more often than yours when the criteria is met in a search.

Your book cover and book content have to meet certain requirements to even be considered. To see the complete list of prohibitive cover images and book themes, you’ll need to read through Amazon’s book ad policies.

Currently, you can run Sponsored ads on Amazon in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Lockscreen ads are only available for the US.

You can advertise books written in languages other than English, but all language in the ad must match the language of the Amazon site where the ad is running. For example, if you want to advertise a book written in Japanese on Amazon.com, the ad must be in English. Also, book titles must clearly state if the book isn’t in the language of the Amazon site where the ad is running.

If potential readers click on your ad, they’ll be taken to the detail page of your book on Amazon. Therefore, before you set up an ad campaign, you should make sure that the layout is eye catching and the book blurb is interesting. Check the visual appeal of your book cover, too.

Creating an Ad Account

To begin, go to your KDP bookshelf and select a book you want to run a campaign for. Choose Promote and Advertise under the ellipses.

Then you’ll want to look at the Run an Ad Campaign section. Choose a marketplace from the available options.

You’ll be taken to a screen that forces you to accept Amazon’s policies before continuing.

Once you do so, you’ll see that there are two options to choose from: Sponsored products and Lockscreen Ads.

Sponsored products are those that you see across the top after you search for a particular book topic. Lockscreen ads appear on Kindle and Kindle Fire devices of people that have read a book related to one of your target words in the past. Lockscreen ads are only available for eBook promotions, not paperback. We will discuss these individually in future posts.

Assignment: Set up an Amazon Ad Account

***

Make sure to scroll down to see which eBook is FREE for you to download from Amazon today!

A great way to get reviews is to offer your book free every so often. When your title is enrolled in KDP Select, you can give your book away for up to 5 days every 90-day term. If you have already done a Kindle Countdown Deal during a period of enrollment, your book won’t be eligible for a Free Book Promotion.

To set up a free book promotion click on the Promote and Advertise button next to the title on your KDP Bookshelf.

On the Promote your book on Amazon page, make sure the Free Book Promotion is selected and click on the yellow Create a new Free Book Promotion button.

Choose a start and end date. You can choose all five days at once, or run multiple free book promotions during the 90-day period. Once the dates are entered, select the yellow Save Changes button.

You can edit or delete a free promotion at any time, including during an ongoing promotional period. While the book is free, it won’t be included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL). You also don’t receive any royalties for any free books that are purchased during the promotional period.

While your book is free, it is eligible for ranking on the Top 100 Free page in the Kindle Store. Once the promotional period ends, it reverts back to ranking on the Top 100 Paid page.

Don’t forget to blast your social media networks with the news! Everybody loves FREE books!

Assignment: Set up a Free Book Promotion.

I’ve set up a free book promotion for my latest that you can pick up for FREE until April 8, 2020. A Woman’s Survival Guide to Disasters in Rural Mexico eBook version is FREE–so go on and pick it up!