How to Promote YOUR book on Amazon discussion

Hello everyone!

I had a great question come in from one of our group members, Leon Kastel, about how to use Amazon's Kindle Advertising platform and if it is worth the costs? I figured this would be a great topic to propose to the group and get real time feedback from authors who have used this platform to promote their book.

Here is the original comment from Leon:

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I am wondering if you or any other author you that know has used Kindle Amazon's advertising program on Amazon. I'm asking because I would
like to try it but you can only use one book in the ad campaign. I's kind of expensive to test as you must set a minimum campaign budget of $100.00.
So I'm hoping to find out if it's worth the expense to test it.
Best regards, Leon

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Please comment below if you have any feedback or personal experiences to share with Leon and the group on the subject.

Looking forward to your responses!

- Kait Neese (Group Moderator)
@KaitNeese

Thanks, Kait. And if you have any connections, could you ask for a 'like' button for a quick post reply? Thx!

Unfortunately, I do not have any personal experience to share.

I haven't seen it! But might consider it as an option! Where is it advertised?

And Goodreads advertising for that matter, and/or how the two compare.

Although the minimum budget is $100.00, you only pay for any clicks you receive. The campaign runs for several months and if you receive no clicks during that time, you pay nothing. I have only just started a campaign and there seems nothing to lose.

I was about to sign up my new release Whispering Hills of Love, but when it created the ad, it only showed 1 book review (since I only had one at the time). I wrote to them and asked if it automatically updated the number of reviews as other reviews came in. The answer was that it does not. It lists whatever you have at the time of the ad's creation. So, I'll wait until I have a few more reviews before I participate.

They are only small ads about two inches square that appear on the right hand side of the book pages of other authors who write in the genre audience you are targeting. You are charged every time someone clicks through to your book--but the charge is minimal.

I would love to hear from someone who has seen results!
Dorothy Wiley

I would be interested in the experiences of others as well. I have been considering this, but was unsure what to enter as a bid. My understanding is if your bid is too low, you will not get seen. But if too high, the $100 would not last long.

Anyone have thoughts on what a competitive bid might be, or does that depend on your genre?

Tom wrote: "I would be interested in the experiences of others as well. I have been considering this, but was unsure what to enter as a bid. My understanding is if your bid is too low, you will not get seen. B..."

I have set bid at the minimum amount. It is purely an experiment for me at this stage.

I just signed on for Kindle for my new book, "Social Media Rules." I don't see how it can hurt. Neil Mahoney

I have not advertised on Kindle, and I know nothing about it, but I wish to learn more!

Great subject! I am anxious to hear the responses too. I am always thinking of ways to get my name out there since I am a first time published author. Thank you.

As am I, Joanie. I think I might give it a try. Not sure if I would get enough sales to justify the cost, but surely there would be some sales. I'm willing to give it a try. I will start with a small bid, and increase if needed, just to see what happens. I will report back what I find out. Wish me luck, all. :)

Joanie wrote: "Great subject! I am anxious to hear the responses too. I am always thinking of ways to get my name out there since I am a first time published author. Thank you."

You'll find 'Promote and Advertise' link under the KDP tab on your bookshelf. Worth trying.

I haven't experienced this yet. I hope someone can get back to us soon!

I was a part of the testing group for Amazon and ran 4 different campaigns since August through this program. I was as excited as anyone about the potential until I actually used it. I got...wait for it... two sales. In total I had 360,000 impressions with only 379 page views and a whopping two sales. This was in a focused audience of Science Fiction customers.

I'd put myself in the mid-list group selling 70-100 ebooks a day, so those extra two sales were just a waste of time. Waste of money too since I wound up paying about $20 (6 cents per click cost) for $8 in sales ($6 actually since Zon keeps 30%). Losing!

In short, I found the new program very ineffective and not worth the time or money.

Hi all,

I participated in the beta program for Amazon's paid advertising. I paid $100 and sold 8 books. In other words, I spent $100 to make $16. That's just my experience;).

Wow!

Giving out $100 just doesn't look/feel right to me from the comments i read from people who have experienced such advertising...i get that you only pay for 'clicks' but then again getting clicks and being billed, with no sales, make $100 a bit too much, for me, as an indie author...you can get more or less the same thing by posting book ads on various sites and i guess they charge less than that per month...but yeah, looking forward to listening to more from people who have tried this through Amazon and the results they got.

I have tried the cheap cost ads on other sites a time or two. Spent about $10 on one, and did not even get a hit that I can tell.

I have already signed up for the promotion on Amazon, and I will give it a shot once, just to see what the results might be. As I said earlier, I will post my results, but it will be a month before the campaign ends. I will keep this thread informed, however.

Since I am new to all this, I am mostly just wanting to get recognition. I am not expecting a sudden surge of sales, but I feel my book is good enough. So I consider this a marketing test more than anything else.

Thanks for sharing that Mark!!! Your sales are impressive. Other than great writing, book covers, & descriptions, to what do you attribute your success? What has been effective for you?

I put in for advertsing, but I have found that my clicks have stopped even though I increased my CPC. My guess is, there is a huge number of advertisers right now and thus the CPC (which is how you compete for impressions, from my understanding) has a price that is being driven unusually high. I also wonder if, even though you put in $100, if you can cancel the ad promo after less money has been spent and thus not spending the whole thing. $100 better spent on doing a freebie promo with Bookbub.

Can you adjust the end time for the campaign? If so, you could simply extend the time. Perhaps the CPC price will drop again after a while. Just a thought.

I am still waiting for mine to be reviewed, at the moment.

Dorothy wrote: "Thanks for sharing that Mark!!! Your sales are impressive. Other than great writing, book covers, & descriptions, to what do you attribute your success? What has been effective for you?"

Multiple books in a series is the biggest thing. Once I had 3 I would run a free promotion of book 1 every 3-6 months using the fee listing sites at first. Eventually it got enough reviews so that Bookbub ran a promotion on book 1. That was what really did it. Now every 6 months when sales taper off I'll run a Bookbub ad to bounce them back up again and they go a little higher and last a little longer each time.

I would be willing to try it out. Does anyone have a link? As for advertising on Goodreads: I've advertised there a lot, but haven't noticed much of a difference in book sales. Would be willing to try out the Amazon advertising though.

I checked into this today and discovered that although I have a secure website to send book buyers to from an Amazon advertising link, the following message comes up. "Your product category is not currently supported by Amazon Product Ads." It seems that books are not included in this program.

Tom wrote: "Can you adjust the end time for the campaign? If so, you could simply extend the time. Perhaps the CPC price will drop again after a while. Just a thought.

I am still waiting for mine to be review..."
After reading the notes on here, I 'terminated' mine. Didn't spend anything. Had about 300 impressions, zero clicks. Perhaps its genre or cover issue that is the issue behind no clicks, but I think my covers pretty darn cool.



I'd give it a ride, see how it goes, and then just 'terminate' if its not going well. Seems that option allows you to spend less than 100. (I think)

So far the only money made when I advertise has been made by goodreads and FaceBook. Mark's strategy sounds like a good plan. Thanks for sharing!

The promotion option for Amazon is under the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing dashboard. There is a Promote and Advertise link on the dashboard. Same one that takes you to doing Countdown Deals or Free Giveaways.

Thanks for the info, Mark. I will be looking at that for the future, once I get some reviews.

I'm currently running an Amazon ad campaign and a Goodreads one. So far, I have paid $4 for 7 clicks and no sales on amazon. $4.50 on Goodreads has given me 22 clicks. Not sure if the Goodreads one has affected my sales or not. I'll probably cancel the Amazon ad soon since it does not seem to be worth it.

Thanks to those with the Goodreads comparisons. Anxious for more advertising results. The point about Amazon not updating review count is very helpful to know.

Great question. Great replies. Thanks! I too have no experience with this but am considering it and the Goodreads one.

Yeah, I am considering the GoodReads one myself. lol
This has been a great thread.

As a long-time adman, I see my Goodreads investment as a long-term investment in brand recognition.

I may be wrong and invite any commentary from more experienced investors. Neil Mahoney

There's a relatively new website called BookBzz.com. It's free to list your books, but today I became a "Premium Member" for $15/month (cost for one author multiple books. It's only $7.50 for one book.) It seems like a great investment in a growing and innovative site that offers several options with premium membership. I also participated in the BookBzz Prize Writer Competition and my book WHISPERING HILLS OF LOVE made the finals in romance! The winner is determined by public vote in February.
Dorothy
P.S. I would appreciate your vote, then take a look at the site:
http://bookbzz.com/prize-writer-roman...

Thanks Mark for your insight. I suspected as much. I've heard that multiple books seems to be the key. I liked your answer so much, I copied it onto my home screen to help remind me that I need to focus on writing! Book Four here I come!

I've not used the Amazon option but did run a Goodreads campaign last August. It co-incided with an uptick in sales but I personally think that had more to do with momentum from other areas (eg. knock-on from Kindle Countdown). I paid $100 and only started to get some activity once I'd raised the CPC to $2.

If you're interested I have more stats about epublishing my novel here on my blog: https://ncocker.wordpress.com/

Hi Kait,
How do I advertise on Goodreads?
Thank you,
Juliet

@Neil, I've liked your input so much that I've added your site to my blog post 'Lessons from two-day free book and week-long kindle countdown deal' comments section:

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

360k impressions over 4 months, no sales for GoodReads ads

Mark wrote: "I was a part of the testing group for Amazon and ran 4 different campaigns since August through this program. I was as excited as anyone about the potential until I actually used it. I got...wait f..."

Thank you Mark for the information on your Kindle Amazon campaign. I had a very similar experience with GoodReads at 360k impressions/views, 64 reported clicks, no sales. I believe personal word of mouth or having read a previous work by an author are about the only two reliable ways to get sales.

Neil wrote: "I just signed on for Kindle for my new book, "Social Media Rules." I don't see how it can hurt. Neil Mahoney"

That book title should sell very well because many new authors believe social media is the grail.

Maria wrote: "Hi all,

I participated in the beta program for Amazon's paid advertising. I paid $100 and sold 8 books. In other words, I spent $100 to make $16. That's just my experience;)."

Thanks Maria! From what I gather you did comparatively well.

I'm an old adman and I view my investment in Goodreads as long term. It takes a while to build brand/name recognition so I'm in it for the long haul.

It's frustrating that the clicks & purchases are so few, buy I'll bet the Amazon "store" would make the big boxes seem like doll houses. Keep slugging.

Noorilhuda wrote: "@Neil, I've liked your input so much that I've added your site to my blog post 'Lessons from two-day free book and week-long kindle countdown deal' comments section:

https://www.goodreads.com/auth..."

Thanks Noorilhuda! Very generous of you! :-)

Leon wrote: "Neil wrote: "I just signed on for Kindle for my new book, "Social Media Rules." I don't see how it can hurt. Neil Mahoney"

That book title should sell very well because many new authors believe ..."

It's not just Twitter or Facebook, but SM has taken over commercial communications -- especially B2B. The main point of my book is that SM, while it dominates, it is still a form of Marketing Communications, and the basic rules for effective promotional are still in force. Neil Mahoney

H wrote: "Although the minimum budget is $100.00, you only pay for any clicks you receive. The campaign runs for several months and if you receive no clicks during that time, you pay nothing. I have only jus..."

But clicks don't necessarily equate to buys though do they?
Maria

Anyone have any information on Book Buzz, marketyourbook.net? Just wondering as I got an email from them offering advertising service. Thanks.

Tom wrote: "As am I, Joanie. I think I might give it a try. Not sure if I would get enough sales to justify the cost, but surely there would be some sales. I'm willing to give it a try. I will start with a sma..."

Good Luck
Maria x

Thanks Kait! I think it's important for people to know some of the dynamics of selling indie books. A lot of people see titles like "I sold 50k books from doing XYZ" and many get duped into paying for the book or believing its exaggerated premises. We hear about promotional newsletters and other publicity, but from my experience the ones that don't release helpful figures (number of subscribers per genre) are most apt to be scams or grossly unhelpful. Amazon protects their statistics which is of course a problem for anyone who wants to do the math. The message is always about providing a means of getting anyone published, which is great, but it's not the whole story. Offering lots of free books from authors and having a million authors pulling friends to buy vanity publications mostly helps sales of Kindle readers and indirectly some other low cost titles. I am encouraged by Amazon's Kindle Unlimited if they continue to pay some stable percentage to authors for borrowed or bought books. - Leon