Which Ad On Amazon Works Best?

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Sponsored Products ads work best for books, in my experience, and I run them as separate campaigns for the ebook and the paperback. Start with an automatic campaign at a low bid, then add a big list of keywords found with a tool such as Publisher Rocket, and shut off ads that spend without selling. Below: the ad types, why I split ebook and paperback ads, my starting settings and my stop rules.

Which ad type should I use?

KDP lets you choose between Sponsored Products, which appear in shopping results and on product detail pages and send shoppers to your book’s page, or Sponsored Brands, and it recommends starting with Sponsored Products (KDP: advertise your book). That matches what I found: in my own testing, Sponsored Products are the best ad type for ebooks and paperbacks. Amazon’s ad options change from time to time, so check what is available in your account.

You pay per click: you choose a bid and set a budget. Amazon’s guide for authors says ads can show in shopping results and on book pages across Amazon, Kindle and Goodreads (Amazon Ads: authors’ guide to Sponsored Products). If you worry about spend, see Is It Expensive To Run Ads?

Why separate ads for ebooks and paperbacks?

Because the profit differs. With an ebook at $3, I make about $2 a sale, since the 70% royalty applies from $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com (KDP royalty options). A paperback earns a percentage of the list price minus the printing cost, and KDP’s example is 60% of a $15 list price minus $5.00 printing cost, or $4.00 (KDP paperback royalties). In my experience paperbacks can earn $5 to $10 a book, so I can afford a higher cost per click on them without losing money.

So I keep the campaigns apart. The ebook ad targets the ASIN and the paperback ad targets the ISBN, so I know which profit margin I am working with (more on ISBNs in Where To Get An ISBN Number?). Sometimes a break-even ad is still worth it, because a reader may come back later and buy, and Amazon does not credit that sale to the ad. The comparison between formats is in More Money With Paperbacks Or eBooks?

Should I use automatic or manual targeting?

Both have a place. Amazon says automatic targeting is based on details about your book, such as its genre, and “can help you learn as you go” if you are new. Manual targeting lets you pick the keywords or books you want to target. For bids, Amazon offers dynamic bids down only, dynamic bids up and down (up to a 100% increase for top-of-page placements), and fixed bids (Amazon Ads guide).

When I started I used automatic, and I would say that if you are getting started, set it to automatic. But it can cost you a lot if you set the price too high or never check it. I choose dynamic bids that bid downward and do not let Amazon raise my bids, because the increases can eat your money without a return.

How do I find the keywords?

This is the part I rely on most. A tool such as Publisher Rocket finds keywords, categories and Amazon Ads keywords (Publisher Rocket, one-time payment). I aim for about a thousand keywords per book and keep them in an Excel file. It finds terms I would never think of: names, books, phrases I have never heard of, yet people search and click on them. There is low competition, and I pay one or two cents a click and make sales. You can also find related keywords for free by typing words into Google or Amazon and seeing what they suggest.

What are negative keywords?

They are words or books you tell Amazon not to show your ad for. Amazon’s guide for authors calls this negative targeting: it “allows you to specify which keywords or books you don’t want to trigger your ads.” Its example is an urban fantasy author adding “high fantasy” or “epic fantasy” as negative keywords, so the ad doesn’t reach readers searching for medieval settings (Amazon Ads: authors’ guide to Sponsored Products).

My advice: once an automatic campaign has run for a while, look at the searches that cost you clicks and brought no sales, and add the clearly wrong ones as negatives. Then you stop paying for readers who were never going to buy.

How do I read the search term report?

The search term report lists the searches shoppers actually typed before they clicked your ad, with clicks, spend and sales for each. Amazon’s own FAQ says it shows “what keywords are generating clicks and sales” (Amazon Ads: FAQ).

To get it, open the Amazon Ads console and go to Reports, then Create report, then Sponsored Products, then Search term. In my view, pick a date range of a few weeks or more, so one or two clicks don’t decide anything for you.

My advice: sort the list by spend and look at two groups. The first is terms that have cost you money and sold nothing. Those are your candidates for negatives, as in the section above. The second is terms that did sell. Those are candidates for a manual campaign of their own, where you can bid on them on purpose.

I’m building a tool that reads this report and gives you both lists. It is not open yet, and you can join the Ads Coach waitlist free.

Should I pay someone to run my Amazon ads?

First, find out whether your ads are really losing money. The ads account only shows sales attributed to your ads, meaning clicks within 14 days. KDP shows every sale, whatever led to it (KDP: Advertising for KDP books). So the fair test, for you or for anyone running your ads, is your KDP royalties against your ad spend over the same weeks.

My advice, and it is my own view, not Amazon’s:

1. Learn one campaign yourself first. Set up and read a single campaign, so you can tell whether someone else is doing better than you.
2. Ask before you hire. What will they change, and what will they report to you each month?
3. Keep the ads account in your own name. Then the account and its history stay yours.
4. Be careful with anyone who messages you first offering to fix your ads.

Help with this is what the group below is for.

What are my starting settings and stop rules?

These are my own rules, not Amazon’s:

1. Bid. I start at $0.15 (or the same in euros or pounds), then raise it if sales come, or lower it if I lose money.
2. Budget. You can set $10 a day to start. I set mine at $100 a day and have never spent that much, because the low bids limit the spend. Amazon has suggested $50 a day, which can lose you money if you don’t watch the ads.
3. Stop rule. If an ad has spent about $2 with no sales, I turn it off. Ads take a little time to show whether they will earn.
4. Check them. Groom your ads every day. Unwatched ads are where the money is lost.

If you haven’t started with ads, get a Sponsored Products campaign set up this week. For my wider approach, read Known Ways To Run Amazon Ads That Win. If you want help setting up your first campaigns, join group coaching: $47 a month, cancel any time, with a 7-day money-back guarantee.

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