As a self-published author, it’s on you to promote and sell your book. You don’t have an agent promoting your work, and you don’t benefit from a PR department at a publishing house pushing your books into the market.
In the past, self-published writers had a tough time marketing their work. They’d struggle with selling enough copies to make a living, leading to few people choosing this option as a career path and more aspiring authors chasing that elusive book deal.
The internet changed everything, making self-publishing a viable option. As social media grew and online buying started to overtake bookstore sales, platforms like Amazon became indispensable to self-publishers, allowing them to leverage its marketing tools.
The result was a leveling of the playing field and thousands of new self-published authors entering the space. Amazon advertising works, provided you take the time to study how to use the platform properly to market your work.
Authors spend their days writing books, and many don’t have the foggiest idea of strategies for marketing their work; they’re writers, not marketers. That’s understandable, and it makes sense why many new self-publishers cringe at the thought of marketing their work themselves. In reality, using Amazon ads to sell your books isn’t that challenging.
We all fear the unknown, but when we understand how Amazon ads work, that fear dissipates, and suddenly, you’re selling hundreds or thousands of copies of your latest release. If that sounds comforting, you’re in for a treat.
We’ll discuss why you shouldn’t be afraid of Amazon Ads and why it’s such an effective tool for marketing your work.
Creating an Amazon Ads Campaign is Easier than You Think
Comparing Facebook Ads and Amazon Ads, the Amazons Ads platform is much easier to use and monitor. You have three simple steps to setting up and executing your campaigns. Choose the ad model you want to use, write your marketing copy, and select your cover, and that’s it; you’re ready to start selling.
Amazon Ad Campaigns Give Your Thousands of Free Impressions
Unlike traditional marketing, Amazon Ads doesn’t charge you for impressions generated by your target market. Your ads can accumulate thousands of impressions, and you won’t have to pay for them. This model assists with building author brand awareness and discovery without paying for the privilege.
Amazon Ads Work on Pay-Per-Click
If the prospective reader sees your ad presented to them by Amazon, you don’t pay for that impression. You only pay when they click on it to view the listing. This Pay-Per-Click model is cost-effective for authors, resulting in a lower cost of sales for your marketing campaign.
Amazon Ads Help You Stretch Your Budget
Amazon Ads are far more cost-effective than Google Ads and Facebook Ads campaigns. You get more bang for your marketing buck, and your advertising budget lasts longer than it does with Google or FB Ads campaigns.
Amazon Ads are Affordable
If you have a conservative budget for marketing your self-published book, Amazon lets you buy ads for your campaigns with a budget as low as $1 to $5 per day. Research suggests that spending just $10 per day on your campaign produces decent results.
Self-Published Authors Underutilize Amazon Ads
Amazon Ads for authors is a rather new marketing tool available to self-published authors. It started around the second half of 2016, and many self-published authors still don’t bother implementing it in their marketing strategy. So, there’s room for you to use it and get ahead of the competition in your genre.
Amazon Ad Campaigns are Easy to Monitor
Amazon Ads campaign management tools include advanced, user-friendly features that are simple to set up, such as choosing and setting low-competition keywords. Narrow your focus within your target market, optimize your ad spend and reach qualified buyers searching for titles in your genre.
Amazon Sponsored Product Ad campaigns yield effective and profitable results for self-published authors. A 2016 study shows authors using this model experienced an average sales increase of close to 13% over those avoiding using this campaign tool in their marketing mix.
US authors implementing a strategy involving exact-match keywords in their Sponsored Products Ad campaigns experienced nearly a 10% increase in sales over authors avoiding it. While it’s been a few years since this data was released, the results remain consistent, showing the importance of using the right campaign tools to market your work on the platform.
Amazon Ads Don’t Require Much Involvement
Managing your Amazon Ads campaigns is less stressful and requires less involvement compared to other marketing methods. Unlike FB Ads, where you have to keep an eye on your campaign progress, Amazon Ads don’t require much management. You’ll set your campaign priorities and give it two to four weeks before making any adjustments based on the data you collect in the Ad manager.
Review your campaign performance from your Ads dashboard using the reports tab or the campaign manager interface. You’ll see campaign progress and what you need to optimize for better results with your ads. Checking your Ad campaign is easy, and you don’t need to do it often to get results.
Check on it once a week and create five ads simultaneously to test; you don’t need to spend much; just $0.30 per day is all you need for your campaign to become profitable. You’ll see results with the right keywords with low competition. Keep your analysis consistent and turn off any ads that don’t generate sales in a month from launching them.
Is there a Catch with Amazon Ads?
Amazon Ads recently allowed published authors to start advertising using its Ads model. So, you can expect more competition to steadily build on the platform in the coming years.
Chances are publishing authorities have a larger budget to throw at their campaigns, so you’ll need to check up on your ad campaign performance and compare it with other leading publishers.
Competition for keywords could increase, leading to higher costs for your ad campaigns. So, those opportunities for finding low-cost keywords might start to dimmish. However, they’ll still be plenty of opportunity in the space; get smart with running your campaigns, and you’ll see results.