Amazon Ads for Authors

Alexa Bigwarfe, author coach, publisher, and book marketing expert, shares some advice on Amazon Ads for Authors.

I started running Amazon ads to my first book Sunshine After the Storm: A Survival Guide for the Grieving Mother probably about 8 years ago. It wasn’t terribly difficult to set them up, and I went through a course and made sure I knew the basics, so I didn’t spend all my money on silly mistakes.

It has been a good, hands off marketing tool for me to run these ads to a book I am not doing any marketing, speaking, or other engagement around.

AMS ads are one of the BEST ways to ensure people actually see your book on Amazon. There are so many books on Amazon, and unless your book is selling regularly and winding up at the top of search results for categories and keywords, it’s truly difficult to be found.

Unless you’re coming up as a top search result or a suggested book because of an ad.

This is what AMS (Amazon) ads can do for you. Put you at the top of the results, giving you a higher likelihood of getting clicks and sales. And if your ebook is on KU, you have a really high chance of people getting your book for “free” and giving it a try.

What are some things to know about AMS Ads?

• You should know and understand how to set up the ads so they perform well and don’t waste all your money!
   Save 50% off our AMS Workshop – get it for $12.50!
• The experts will say you should have 50 reviews before starting to run ads. It increases the likelihood of conversion.
• You should have a good cover.
• Your book blurb should be catchy and intriguing. (See last week’s email on that topic!)

Are these ads worth it?

If your ads are set up properly they can be very low budget and still send a good bit of traffic. I do absolutely zero marketing for Sunshine After the Storm, beyond the low budget Amazon Ads. I spend on average $$100-$125/month in ads. About $4/day. I consistently sell between 25-30 print copies per month and a handful of ebooks. I earn $4.44 in royalties per each print and about $4 in ebook. So at 30 sales per month, I’m earning roughly $130.

You might say – you’re barely breaking even! And you’re correct. However… some months are more, some months are less, both on ad spend and sales. And, it’s keeping my book relevant and selling. The book has consistently sold on average 30 books per month since 2013. That’s 3,000+ books. With zero marketing beyond the ad spend.

To me, it’s worth it.

Imagine the results of a combined marketing approach. If I was speaking or doing anything in the grief world anymore, I imagine these results would be multiplied tremendously.

I like AMS ads for this very reason. It allows those of us who aren’t actively marketing our book to still see sales and results. And for anyone who wants to get in there and really work the system – the results are much, much, much larger. Especially if you have a backlist and other books you’re promoting.

I strongly encourage you to learn as much as you can about AMS ads, so you can make an educated decision to determine if this is a good marketing strategy for you or not.

We hosted a workshop with AMS Expert Brian Berni recently, Amazon Ads for Authors. It’s a power punched workshop and includes everything you need to know to get started with AMS Ads. You can get the workshop for $12.50 (50% off) through this link and get started immediately.