Self-Publishing: Amazon Ads

A few words about my Amazon Ad campaigns. I had seven running for over two months, and now it is time to recap how much they cost me and what was the gain and what ads I should continue making. Fun, eh?

Before I go to the ads, I’ll share what is going on with me and my book. I have been working on my second novel (BON), you might have noticed its character and place sheets I have been posting. I’m beyond that. I’m editing chapter 11/30. So I’m getting there, but slowly. The process is slower than I did with the first book, but I’m trying a new tactic with the editing. Lesser rounds and more tuned text straight away which makes me need more rest. Tonight I have my first writers’ group meeting, and they will criticize my first chapter, yikes! I fear what they’ll say, but it is nice to have a fresh perspective. We’ll see what will entail.

My first book isn’t doing that well. I haven’t sold a single copy almost in a month since my free campaign. That is my fault. I should advertise more, and put the Amazon ads rolling once again. I’m making a print version from the book. When I get that done, I must get back on to gaining visibility for the book. First I have to go over the text once again to see it is print ready. My artist finished my print cover three days ago.

Now to the ads. Kraken shit! Or crit like in my previous book. I’m feeling bad how I have neglected them and how I need to fit them onto my marketing schedule. But now I know which ads to use and which not. I had seven ads running. Five of them are still going on feebly. I had two Product Display Ads and five Sponsored Product Ads. The latter are ineffective. I had two dollars daily spending limit, but Amazon has only shown the five ads eleven times together in a two-and-a-half month. No one has clicked on them. They target specific books and categories.

Product Display Ads are more useful. I had two going on for the same period as the others with a 100 dollar budget for each. The one which targeted specific books (I chose) got only one impression and yielded nothing. This is a guess, but I think too many authors are targeting those same books for my book to gain visibility. As this ad didn’t cost me anything, no harm.

The most effective ad was Product Display targeting specific categories. It had a 100 dollar budget. It got 7634 impressions and 16 clicks, costing me 0,22 dollar per click ($3.54) and one person bought the book which made the ad ineffective with earnings, but most effective of the ads.

Next step is to make three to five ad campaigns with the same specs and test different marketing text to see what works and what doesn’t. But where the crit I get the time to do that? I can see the appeal of a publicist and using other professional and not forgetting going through the traditional publishing route. But I want to be an indie writer, Kraken only knows why.

I hope this gave you some insight and thank you for reading!