AMAZON ADVERTISING
- Daniella DeChristopher
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
I’ve been using Amazon ads to promote my book for the past eight years — and I’ve learned a lot along the way.
Working with Amazon Book Ad Campaigns
My book has generated approximately 6,000,000 Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP), sold more than 25,000 copies, and reached over 5,000 audiobook listeners. The insights below come from seven years of studying my own Amazon advertising data.
Amazon ads did generate sales — but they weren’t cheap. I often went over budget because my primary goal wasn’t profit; it was visibility. I wanted to put my book in front of as many readers as possible, believing that if enough people saw it, the sales would eventually follow.
Along the way, I learned many lessons — some the hard way — and made my share of costly mistakes. I only wish I had known then what it took me years of trial and error to understand.
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Setting Up an Amazon Campaign
Keep in mind that Amazon wants you to make sales. When your book sells, they profit as well, so their tools are designed with that goal in mind. Over the years, I’ve watched countless companies and individuals claim to have a “magic formula” for Amazon ads. I’ve tried more of them than I can count.
After years of experience, I’ve learned this: no one understands how to run Amazon ad campaigns better than Amazon itself.
If you plan to advertise, I strongly recommend starting with the Amazon Advertising Academy for Authors. It’s free, it’s straightforward, and it comes directly from the people who built the platform. Listen, learn, and let Amazon guide you through the foundations before setting up your first campaign.
Amazon Advertising Academy
I hope the breakdown below will be helpful after you’ve completed the Amazon Advertising Academy course.
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Select the Relevant Categories for Your Book
Before you publish or advertise, it’s important to choose the categories that most accurately reflect your book. Categories influence visibility, ranking, and how Amazon recommends your title to readers.
Amazon Tutorial — KDP Category Selection
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Bidding
I recommend always starting with Amazon’s suggested bids. These suggestions are based on real-time competition and give you the safest, most accurate starting point. They reflect what other advertisers are currently paying, which helps ensure your ads gain visibility without overspending.
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Select Search Words for a Campaign
I no longer believe that the number of search words is nearly as important as their relevancy to your book. A smaller list of highly relevant keywords will almost always outperform a long list of loosely connected ones. Relevance drives visibility, accuracy, and ultimately conversions.
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Finding Search Words
Create a List of Relevant Search Words
Type each search word or phrase into the Amazon search bar. For example, I began with the phrase “true story books.” When I typed it in, Amazon automatically suggested several variations such as: true story books based on real life, true story books best sellers, and true story books for adults.
Choose the suggestions that are most appropriate and relevant to your book, and add those to your campaign.
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Amazon Suggested Search Words
In your campaign, go to Add Keywords → Suggested. Amazon will populate a list of keywords, and each one will include an IS and IR rating.
Understanding IS and IR
IR (Influence Rating): 1 is optimal. A low IR means the keyword is strongly connected to your book.
IS (Impression Score): 100 is optimal. A high IS means Amazon is actively showing your book for that keyword.
What the Numbers Mean
Keywords showing 0s are ones Amazon does not consider relevant to your book.
Keywords with poor ratings have a much lower chance of showing your book in search results.
Keywords with strong IS and IR ratings are the ones Amazon believes are the best match.
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For Search Words, Go to Your Amazon Book Display Page
One simple method for finding relevant keywords is to include book titles that appear on the same Amazon page as your book. For example, on my product page, Silent Sisters appears under “Frequently Bought Together.” I added Silent Sisters to my keyword list, along with several variations of the title—such as Silent Sisters by Joanne Lee, Books by Joanne Lee, and Silent Sisters: A True Story.
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Click on the Search Terms in Your Campaign
Click on Search Terms, then the Orders tab. You may need to click twice until you see a list of search terms that have generated a sale.
Make sure each search term is profitable before adding it to your campaign. For my book, that means: ACOS is below 65% and spend is below $8.40.
If a search term meets those requirements, add it as Broad, Phrase, and Exact using Amazon’s Suggested Bid. Keep in mind that suggested bids will change periodically.
For example, autobiography was a profitable keyword for me. I expanded it into related search terms such as autobiographies, best-selling autobiographies, and top-selling autobiographies.
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Maintain Copies of Monthly Campaign Reports
Old ad reports can be valuable, so don’t discard them. My reports showed that Real Life Stories Book, Paperback Books Best Sellers, and Behind Closed Door were my best-performing and most profitable keywords. When you find profitable keywords, expand them. For example: Stories Based on Real Life, Best Selling Paperback, Behind Closed Doors Books, etc.
The keyword True Story also generated sales and was profitable. Expand profitable keywords by creating relevant variations such as: Books Based on True Stories, True Story Books Based on Real Life, or True Stories about Child Neglect, Child Abuse, Family Relationships, Spousal Abuse, and Alcoholism.
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Negative Keywords:
Read through all of the Search Terms that have been used for your ad. Any irrelevant terms should be added to your Negative Search Words.
For example, if someone is searching for fiction, that is not relevant to an autobiography or a true story—so add fiction as a negative keyword. The same applies to unrelated searches like alcoholism, murder, civil war, crime, or hippies. Add any irrelevant terms to your Negative Search Words list.
You don’t want to pay for clicks from readers who are not looking for a book like yours.
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Add the Top 100 Book Titles in Your Genre:
Add the top-selling book titles in your genre. These are usually strong, highly relevant search terms because readers browsing those books may also be interested in yours.
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Additional Search Word Resources:
KDP Rocket provides suggested keywords for your book.
Keyword Multiplier Tool: https://cleverclicksdigital.com/au/keyword-multiplier-tool-for-seo-ppc/
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Add about 20 search words to each campaign and create a budget for each ad. Use Amazon’s suggested bids; the bid amounts will adjust periodically.
I only allowed Amazon to adjust my bids downward — other options can be costly.
Check your ads daily and optimize them, preferably at the same time each morning. Be patient; it takes the algorithms time to acknowledge your search words. Add only five new search words to each campaign per week. Adding too many at once can raise costs quickly and may result in spending more money than you earn in sales.
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Broad, Phrase, Exact Match:
I use Broad, Phrase, and Exact match types for all search words. Once a search word begins getting impressions in one match type, I pause the match types that are not performing. For example, if Broad is generating impressions or sales and Phrase is not, I pause Phrase.
I only archive search words that have proven not to be profitable, because I don’t want to risk unpausing them later.
An evaluation of my seven years of data showed that 30% of my sales came from Phrase and Exact, and the remainder came from Broad—though Broad only generated slightly more than the other two.
Phrase and Exact match search words are often less expensive than Broad. However, if Broad is the only match type generating impressions, use the ACOS to decide whether to keep it active. If it isn’t profitable, archive it.
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Archive or pause a keyword when:
It generates sales but isn’t profitable.
It has more than 1,000 impressions and no clicks.
It has more than 5,000 impressions and no sales.
Its CPC is over $1.00 — too expensive and will drain your budget.
Its ACOS is higher than 65% (your ideal percentage may differ).
It has 26 clicks or more without generating a sale.
You’ve spent $8.40 (your book’s break-even number) without a sale.
Your specific ACOS and spend limits will vary based on the advertising costs of your book.
If Amazon does not offer a suggested bid, start with $0.50 until you receive enough clicks to see the actual CPC. Then adjust your bid by adding $0.10 to the CPC.Example: If CPC is $0.30, lower your bid from $0.50 to $0.40.
Top of Search has never been valuable for my book. Most profitable sales came from placements with less than 5% Top of Search.
I only use CTR when I need to lower my ACOS. I pause keywords with the lowest CTR until my ACOS drops back to 65%, then add them back in later.
At the end of three weeks:
Archive any keyword that has not generated a sale.
Archive any keyword with a CTR below 0.125.
Archive any keyword with 1,000 impressions and a CTR of 0.10.
Replace archived keywords with new ones.
Alphabetize your keywords.
Before closing your campaign, click on the Search Words tab. Grouping similar keywords tends to increase impressions because it helps the algorithms.
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Summary:
Amazon ad campaigns are expensive, and it helps to know how not to waste money. Amazon charges your credit card directly and keeps it on file for all advertising costs. Bids have increased significantly over the past few years. While I can’t guarantee that the tips above will generate sales, I am confident that if you follow the steps carefully, they will help reduce your ad spend.
If you have suggestions or comments about the information above, please feel free to reach out to me through my website.
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