Without advertising, most books only sell to the author’s friends and neighbors. People across the country or across town may never hear about your book. Amazon ads can help you reach beyond your social bubble.
One myth about advertising is that you need a series to make ads work. That’s not true. You can succeed with just a single book. I recently spoke with author Scott LaPierre, who has profitably advertised a single book on Amazon. He now has more than one published book, but like all authors, he started with just one.
How did you get started with Amazon advertising?
Scott: The simple answer is I wrote a book and wanted people to buy it. It was self-published, but it wasn’t selling on its own. I looked into various marketing efforts, and early on in 2017 and 2018, I read about someone who spent $10,000 on Amazon ads for just $2,000 in sales. That gave me a very negative view of Amazon ads. I thought, “I’ll try anything but that.”
I explored other resources, including Mark Dawson’s courses. He was succeeding with Facebook ads at the time. I watched his courses, listened to his podcast, and got a lot of good information, but for some reason, I couldn’t replicate his success. In addition, also tried Google ads, Twitter ads, and Facebook ads. I made plenty of mistakes and wasted a lot of money. Success didn’t come on day one; there was a lot of learning involved.
Why do Amazon ads fail?
Thomas: That’s really common. Almost no one succeeds with advertising right away. It takes time to find your audience, refine your messaging, and learn how the platform works. Unlike other marketing techniques, advertising costs money with every click. Many authors spend $100 or $500, lose that money, and conclude that advertising doesn’t work, but that’s objectively false. The truth is that advertising can work, but it’s not working for you yet.
The question is, “Why isn’t it working yet?”
Maybe your book doesn’t appeal to readers. Perhaps the cover, description, or category isn’t right, making the book unappealing. That’s actually the most common reason, though authors are often reluctant to accept it. That’s why I developed the Ad Suitability Scanner, one of the Patron Toolbox tools. The tool allows you to upload your cover and analyzes whether it’s suitable for advertising.
Maybe your ads aren’t working because you haven’t mastered ads yet. Taking a course like Mark Dawson’s can help, but nothing beats experimenting to figure out what works for your book and your audience.
Scott: Absolutely. What works for one person might not work for another. I suspect Mark’s success was due to him getting in early when there was little competition. Those hose he was up against likely weren’t targeting books like his. Over time, the market became saturated, and others struggled to match his results.
I also tried BookBub ads, but nothing worked well for me. That doesn’t mean these platforms won’t work for others, but as you said, I’d recommend mastering one platform rather than being mediocre at several.
Thomas: I have a theory about why Facebook and BookBub didn’t work for you. Your audience is particularly conservative, and I’m not sure how active they are on those platforms, especially after the purges of conservative voices on Facebook over the years. Many conversations have moved to Discord, Signal, Telegram, or other channels. If you’re targeting conservative readers, they might not be on Facebook anymore, whereas Mark Dawson’s readers are. You might have seen better results on X, Truth Social, MeWe, or Parler.
Advertising isn’t just about how to do it but where to do it. Different readers hang out in different places. Facebook used to be a microcosm of the internet, but now, few people spend much time there on a daily basis.
Scott: That’s a great point. Some approaches work better for fiction versus nonfiction or for authors with a series. Authors with series can afford to lose money on the first book or give it away free to hook readers into buying subsequent books. But with just one book, you can’t do that.
I pivoted to Amazon ads and immediately saw better results compared to the money I’d been losing elsewhere. One advantage of Amazon ads is that people are on Amazon to buy. On Facebook, they’re socializing, but on Amazon, they’re ready to purchase without leaving the site. I dove in, tweaking ads, taking courses, and learning.
One person who caught my attention was Dave Chesson. I appreciated his work with Publisher Rocket and his free Amazon ads course, which I found really beneficial.
Interestingly, Dave is a huge fan of manual targeting over auto targeting. For those unfamiliar, auto targeting uses Amazon’s algorithms to advertise your book, leveraging their vast buyer data. It works surprisingly well and better than you’d expect. I’ve heard some people criticize it, but I’ve struggled to match the success of auto targeting with manual targeting.
I’m the kind of person who believes harder work yields better results, so I was skeptical that auto targeting could outperform manual. I watched Dave’s courses, used Publisher Rocket to find keywords, and tried hard, but manual targeting never worked as well for me. I’ve probably spent $20,000 to $30,000 on manual targeting before realizing auto targeting was easier and more effective for me.
Thomas: Some listeners might be shocked to hear you say you spent $20,000. To clarify, you were still profitable. When you spent $20,000, you earned that back plus more, but you found greater success with auto targeting than manual. You didn’t lose $20,000; you got it back through sales.
Scott: Correct. Looking at my dashboard, I’ve run about 750 campaigns. Many are turned off because they weren’t performing well. Maybe a third are manual. No ad completely lost money, but the average cost of sale was often too high for my goals. When I compared ads, the best performers were auto-targeted.
I read an Amazon course by Ricardo on Reedsy, and he suggested auto targeting works better for nonfiction than fiction. Since I write nonfiction, that might explain my success with it. For fiction writers, manual targeting might be worth trying, and I’d recommend Dave’s Amazon ads course for that. Auto targeting is easier and leverages Amazon’s algorithms, which are hard to beat.
Thomas: I’ve done several episodes with Dave Chesson about Amazon page optimization. I encourage listeners to check those out and consider Publisher Rocket if you’re advertising on Amazon. The first $50 you spend should be on Publisher Rocket. It’s inexpensive compared to ad costs. Sometimes, it comes with a free Amazon marketing course during their promos, which we occasionally feature on AuthorMedia.social. Publisher Rocket is a great deal.
Scott: Even if I weren’t using it for ads, I’d use Publisher Rocket for categories, keywords, and SEO. It’s been invaluable for that, even though I’ve shifted away from using it for Amazon ads.
Thomas: When you lack a tool for category and market data, it’s like being blind. Publisher Rocket is like your left eye, and k-lytics is like your right. Whichever tool you use first tends to be your favorite because it cures your blindness, but having both gives depth perception. I like both, but Publisher Rocket is cheaper, so it’s the best starting point for curing marketing blindness.
Scott: To build on my last episode about my traditional publishing experience, I think Harvest House picked me up because they saw my self-published sales and thought, “If he’s doing this well as an indie author, imagine what he can do with us.” They likely compared me to authors with large platforms, big names, or lots of conferences, which I don’t have. Most people probably haven’t heard of me. What Harvest House didn’t know was that most of my sales came from Amazon ads.
When I signed with them, I had to unpublish my first book, Marriage God’s Way (affiliate link), which was selling about $2,000 to $2,500 a month. Harvest House wanted to republish it as Your Marriage God’s Way. Unpublishing it was painful; I lost that income, and the republished book started with no reviews, no traction, and my ads turned off. That was my introduction to traditional publishing. I thought it would sell itself or skyrocket, but that didn’t happen.
Thomas: Publishers rarely buy ads for their author’s books. When they do, the ads are often unsophisticated. A savvy indie author is usually better at advertising than a typical publishing executive, which surprises many. People think, “I’m with professionals now,” but often, it’s an English major with minimal ad training, not someone as experienced as an author who’s been tweaking ads for years.
The Root Cause of a Successful Ad
Scott: It’s important to point out that no matter how well you master ads, they won’t work if your Amazon book page—description, cover, categories—isn’t strong. I’ve seen mediocre descriptions from large publishers. They don’t seem to prioritize keywords or SEO, which isn’t their focus as brick-and-mortar businesses. My indie descriptions are packed with keywords without stuffing.
I’d urge listeners not to start ads until their cover, description, categories, and title are optimized. If someone clicks your ad but the page doesn’t convert, you’ve wasted that click.
Thomas: The most common realization for authors starting ads is that their book isn’t as appealing as they thought. First-time authors often choose a cover and description based on personal preference. Advertising forces you to prioritize what readers want. If readers love your cover and keep clicking and buying, that’s great, even if you hate it. On the other hand, if you love your cover but readers don’t click, that’s a problem.
If you’re wondering whether your cover thrills your readers, check out the tools in my patrons tool box for authors.
This is a business about thrilling readers. Once you do, word spreads, and you can profit.
Advertising tests whether your book’s promise appeals to readers. Advertising is not about writing quality; it’s about the presentation of your cover, description, and categories. The only link to your writing is Amazon reviews, which are just one piece of the puzzle.
How does the Amazon algorithm help authors?
Scott: Amazon’s A+ content has made things more complex. When Harvest House republished my marriage book, they used a contemporary cover of a couple in a car watching a sunset. It didn’t resonate with my conservative audience. People told me they preferred my original cover, so I reverted to it.
One benefit of Amazon ads is that if you invest and succeed, Amazon starts selling your book for you. Unlike Facebook, which just wants to spend your budget, Amazon wants buyers to have a good experience. If your book sells when shown, Amazon shows it to more people, boosting your click-through rate and sales. I haven’t achieved this with all my books, but when it happens, you see a real shift.
Do you recommend using dynamic bidding?
Scott: Another lesson I learned the hard way is that Amazon’s dashboard pushes dynamic bidding up and down, but it never worked well for me. I lost money with it. Now, I only use dynamic bidding down. It’s one of my top tips.
Thomas: Ad prices depend on supply and demand. On high-traffic days like Black Friday or Amazon Day, demand spikes, especially when courses flood Amazon with new authors bidding high. Dynamic bidding up can make your costs soar, turning profitable ads unprofitable. Setting a max bid of 30 cents per click (if that’s your profitable threshold) keeps you disciplined. Those 20-cent differences add up across many clicks and can eat your profit margin if you’re not careful.
Scott: That’s a great point. Until you mentioned it, I hadn’t realized that’s what was happening, but it makes sense. I’ve noticed some days perform much better (or worse) than others. It’s often because you’re competing with a flood of new books launching in your niche. To compete, you need a high cost per click, which can be tough.
How profitable do you have to be to continue advertising?
Scott: One challenge with traditional publishing is that if you’re earning only 80 cents per book, a cost-per-click of 10 to 15 cents makes it nearly impossible to make a profit. But as an indie author, if you’re earning $4 or $5, you can afford a 40- or 50-cent cost per click and still make money. That’s why I recommend closely monitoring your cost per click to ensure your ads remain profitable. I’ve always adjusted my bids upward to maximize reach without losing money. Everyone knows if you could spend $1,000 and make $1,001, you’d keep doing it. So, you’re constantly tweaking to find that sweet spot.
Thomas: Some people wonder, “Why would I spend $1,000 to make just $1,001?” The answer is that you’re acquiring readers. Some will read your book, love it, and become advocates for your work. That’s how you build a movement behind your writing. You need readers, and if you can acquire them profitably (even if you only profit one dollar), it’s like a perpetual motion machine. You recover your $1,000, reinvest it to gain more readers, and repeat the cycle to grow your audience.
But if you’re losing money with every $1,000 spent, the machine grinds to a halt. Each cycle leaves you with less money. The goal of any advertising is to make it profitable so you can keep going.
I interviewed Connor Boyack, who spends millions annually on Facebook ads because he does it profitably. He invests a million dollars and earns more than a million back, turning The Tuttle Twins into a titan in his niche.
The key isn’t copying specific techniques, like his Amazon ad setup or choosing Amazon over Facebook. It’s adopting an experimental mindset to find what works for you. Test ideas and see what sticks. Testing can mean the difference between reaching millions of readers or staying unknown.
Writing for Profit or Satisfaction or Both?
Scott: Most of us don’t write strictly, or even primarily, for financial gain. We write because we love knowing people are reading our work. Many authors would be happy to sell lots of copies even if they just break even because it means their message is reaching people. Think of bloggers who spend hours writing for free.
For example, I’ve spoken at homeschool conferences and met three types of speakers: workshop speakers, featured speakers, and keynote speakers. I’m in the middle tier of featured speakers. Workshop speakers often lose money. They pay for flights, hotels, car rentals, and booth setups, and their talks may not be well attended. Keynote speakers earn large honorariums of $10,000 or $20,000. I basically cover my expenses. At these conferences, I’ve seen people with booths that barely attract visitors. I’ve asked how their sales are going, and they’ll admit they’ve sold almost nothing. When I ask how they cover costs, they say they don’t.
People want so badly for others to discover their work that they’ll lose money to make it happen. They’ll spend thousands on travel to sell a few hundred dollars’ worth of books. There is satisfaction in knowing people are buying your books. Even if you run Amazon ads, sell hundreds of copies, and just break even, that can be fulfilling. I’ve never been the most profit-driven guy. As soon as I see my ads performing well, I increase the budget until I’m nearly breaking even.
Thomas: That’s exactly what Amazon wants you to do. Amazon ads are designed to keep most of the profit. It’s cynical, but the authors who spend the most on ads reach the most readers. The more profit you’re willing to share with Amazon, the more copies you sell.
Scott: For me, it’s satisfying. I write Christian books based on my sermons, and I believe God uses them to draw people closer to Christ, strengthen marriages, or help with stewardship. That’s a blessing. If I had to live off my author income, it’d be tough.
Where do you like to see your Advertising Cost of Sales (ACOS)?
Scott: Advertising Cost of Sales is an important metric, and I aim to keep it below 40%, ideally around 35%. If an ad’s ACOS is higher, I turn it off or pause parts of it.
Thomas: For those new to Amazon ads, you don’t need to calculate ACOS yourself. Amazon provides it in your reports, making it an easy way to track performance.
Scott: With manual targeting, you used to manage up to 1,000 keywords per campaign. That’s where Publisher Rocket was invaluable because it generated those keywords. But in Dave Chesson’s recent Amazon ads course, he says that’s outdated. Now, the approach is to use about 20 closely related keywords per ad group. For my finance book, I might have 20 keywords about stewardship, 20 about giving, 20 about spending, or 20 about paying off debt. Grouping keywords this way makes ads easier to manage.
What is the difference between a Custom Text ad and a Standard ad?
Scott: When you create an ad, you choose between custom text or a standard ad. Custom text lets you write a 150-character blurb about your book. Standard ads have no blurb.
With custom text, you can only advertise different formats of the same book, like the paperback, hardcover, or ebook of my marriage book. You can’t include related titles, like my marriage workbook or conference handout.
With standard ads, there’s no blurb, but you can advertise multiple books as long as they’re closely related. For example, I’ll advertise my marriage book and workbook together. If I had a space trilogy, I’d use standard ads to promote all three books in one campaign. But if your books are unrelated—like one on space and another on fantasy or military—you shouldn’t advertise them together, as it confuses Amazon’s algorithm.
I’ve also learned that standard ads are just as effective as custom text, if not better. You’d think custom text would perform better since you’re working harder and crafting a blurb. But I don’t believe custom text significantly impacts the ad’s performance. The book title, subtitle, and description feed into Amazon’s algorithm, but I’m not convinced the custom text does.
If someone asked whether to spend time writing custom text or creating more standard ads, I’d recommend standard ads.
Thomas: That’s smart, next-best-alternative thinking, which is how marketers should approach decisions. Don’t ask, “Will this work?” Holding a cardboard sign on a street corner can sell books, but that’s the wrong question. Instead, ask, “How does this compare to my next best alternative?” Standing on a corner for eight hours might sell six copies, but what else could you do to sell more? That mindset leads to better strategies.
With custom text, the question isn’t whether it works but whether it’s worth the effort. To make custom text effective, you need strong copywriting skills. Copywriting is a science, not an art, with decades of data from direct mail campaigns in the 1960s to today’s digital ads. It’s entirely different from writing a novel or nonfiction. If you’re not trained in copywriting, AI can outperform an untrained human, though a skilled copywriter is still better. Poor copy is worse than no copy. A strong book cover in a standard ad is often safer, especially if your cover is compelling.
Scott: Even with good custom text, I don’t think it boosts performance much. I’ve run ads with great copy and others with poor copy, and the better-performing ads weren’t tied to better text. I’ve spent $60,000 to $70,000 on Amazon ads, so I have some experience here. I haven’t found custom text outperforms standard ads, nor does better copy outperform weaker copy.
What makes an ad successful?
Scott: It sometimes feels random, like it depends on what Amazon promotes. You might create 50 ads, and 40 won’t even go live. Amazon won’t spend money on them, no matter how high you set the cost per click. Out of 20 ads, maybe five will spend. That’s why you need to create many ads, see which ones work, turn off the underperformers, and refine the winners. Amazon ads aren’t a set-it-and-forget-it system. You need to check in regularly.
With manual targeting, you’re managing every keyword, which is a lot of work. You’re constantly deciding whether to turn off a keyword or let it run, wondering if a sale is just around the corner.
With auto targeting, you only monitor four groups:
- loose match
- close match
- substitutes
- complements
You can see each group’s bid and performance. If one’s doing well, let it run; if it’s not, turn it off. But be cautious about turning off an entire campaign. It’s rare for a whole campaign to be bad.
For manual campaigns, turn off underperforming keywords, not the whole campaign. For auto targeting, just turn off the poorly performing group, like loose match, which often spends the most and loses money. Close match usually performs best because it’s tightly aligned with your book. If you’re worried about spending, keep the ad running but disable loose match, substitutes, and complements, letting close match continue. After some spending, you’ll see which groups work best, and you can refine from there.
What are your thoughts on defensive ads?
Thomas: I’ve noticed that when I search for a traditionally published author, an indie author sometimes ranks above them for their own name. For example, if I type “John Smith,” an indie author named John Jones, who writes similar books, might have bought the “John Smith” ad. Since John Smith is traditionally published, his publisher rarely buys ads for his name unless he’s a top-tier author. But John Jones, being indie, might.
Some authors buy ads for their own name defensively. I searched for “Scott LaPierre” and noticed you’re sponsoring your own name. Your book Your Marriage God’s Way appears as the top three results (different versions of it) through ads.
Scott: When I run manual ads, I include my name as a keyword. It comes down to cost. If bidding on my name was expensive, I probably wouldn’t do it, assuming people can find my books easily. But for keywords with my name, the ACOS is low because I’m spending so little per click.
Relevancy is a major factor in ad success. Amazon wants to show products that match what people are searching for. That’s why people love Amazon. You search for camping equipment and don’t get laptops in your search results. In the book world, if someone searches for a Christian theology book, they don’t want to see paranormal fantasy.
Amazon prioritizes relevancy, placing relevant books or products in front of searchers. Many don’t realize Amazon isn’t just a bookstore; it’s a search engine. In fact, it’s the second largest search engine behind Google, tied with YouTube. Once you treat Amazon as a search engine, you can use SEO to optimize sales. Since “Scott LaPierre” is highly relevant to me, that keyword is only about 2 cents per click. It’s worth bidding on my name to prevent someone else from capturing a click meant for me and selling their book instead.
Thomas: Defensive ads protect your sales. I’ve made purchases on Amazon where I searched for a specific product, like a non-caffeinated version of something, but I got caffeinated versions because I didn’t read the page carefully. We assume Amazon’s search is better than it is. Hopefully, Rufus, Amazon’s AI-powered search, will improve things soon, but as of now, it’s not helping much. Amazon’s search engine feels like Google circa 2006 and is somewhat unsophisticated.
For most authors, bidding on their own name is worthwhile, if only to block competitors. This is called defensive advertising. It’s like Coca-Cola sponsoring a Little League stadium just to keep Pepsi out. It’s not always about profit but about preventing competitors like Pepsi or Dr. Pepper from gaining ground.
Scott: It’s so cheap to bid on your own name. If you used “Thomas Umstattd” as a keyword, you’d likely pay 3 cents per click versus 40 cents for others. It gives you the high ground. Why not take the click when it’s that affordable?
Thomas: If you don’t bid on your name, someone else might. If they bid enough, their book could appear when someone searches for you, potentially stealing your sale.
Scott: That’s a classic Amazon ads strategy taught in courses: find authors with similar books and bid on their names.
Without defensive ads, you could lose sales, especially in genre fiction, where readers aren’t always discerning. If the covers look similar, readers might not scroll down or notice the different author names.
This is also a way to evaluate traditional publishers. Search for their recently published authors, beyond their top five or six, and see if they rank for their own names or if competitors outbid them. Some publishers excel at defensive advertising; others don’t.
How do you set your cost per click?
Thomas: When it comes to bidding, how do you set your cost per click?
Scott: That’s another instance where the easier approach is often better. Amazon’s dashboard offers a suggested bid, and I think that’s the best option. Amazon knows what you need to bid to compete for a keyword or targeting category. For example, if Amazon suggests $1.25 and you bid only 40 cents, you won’t get clicks. I use the suggested bid because it ensures I’m competitive. If I can’t profit at that price, I turn the ad off. But I won’t know unless I bid high enough to test it.
Thomas: You’re right, but it frustrates me. Amazon encourages higher bids, nudging everyone to spend more. If all authors capped bids at 10 cents, that’s all we’d pay. But competition drives prices up.
In most publishing contexts, marketing benefits everyone; it excites readers and promotes genres. Our real competition is Netflix. But with Amazon ads, it’s zero-sum. Only one book ranks number one for a keyword. If it’s not you, it’s someone else. You must bid to stay on top, but you need discipline to avoid bidding yourself into losses, especially against authors willing to lose money to gain exposure.
What are the options when bidding for clicks?
Scott: There are three bidding options: dynamic up, dynamic down, or fixed bids. I’ve never used fixed bids, where you pay a set amount, like 40 or 50 cents per click. With dynamic down, if you bid 50 cents, Amazon might charge only 20 or 25 cents—or even 4 or 5 cents for your name. If your book is highly relevant to the search, you’ll likely pay less than the suggested bid. But if you bid too low, Amazon won’t spend your budget, and you’ll wonder why your ads aren’t running. Without spending, you can’t refine or adjust because there’s no data to evaluate.
Also, the dashboard is often a day or more behind. If your ads look unprofitable today, check tomorrow; sales may appear as they catch up.
Thomas: You’ll see the delay, especially with regard to paperbacks. Amazon doesn’t count a sale until the book ships from the warehouse, while ad clicks are charged instantly. This creates a lag where it’s unclear if it’s a sale until the book ships. I’m not sure if ebooks have the same delay; it might just be a reporting issue.
Real-time data is expensive, and with computing costs soaring due to AI demand, Amazon is likely to delay reports to save resources. AI is impacting the internet, with every spare server cycle powering large language models.
How do you advertise audiobooks on Amazon?
Scott: I stumbled into it. When I was with a traditional publisher, Harvest House controlled my books, so I couldn’t advertise them through the KDP dashboard. But I wanted to keep advertising, so I set up an account on advertising.amazon.com, which lets you advertise any product by entering its ASIN. I realized I could advertise my audiobooks this way. Even after regaining control of my books and advertising through KDP, I’ve kept the advertising.amazon.com account open to advertise my audiobooks. I track a separate ACOS for them based on audiobook royalties.
Thomas: So, it’s an Advertising.Amazon.com account, not a KDP one. We’ll link to it in the show notes. Many authors don’t know about this advertising engine. There are actually three ad platforms on Amazon: KDP, Advertising.Amazon.com, and one through the Author Central dashboard. Most authors use KDP, but Advertising.Amazon.com covers all products—books, USB cables, diapers, wine, cars, everything. Amazon started with books, but now they’re a small part of their business. This platform connects you to a broader world of advertising specialists beyond authors.
What encouragement or advice would you offer to someone who has spent $200 on ads, had poor results, and concluded that ads don’t work?
Scott: First, I’d ask how many ads and campaigns they ran. One or two ads aren’t enough, and $100 to $200 is too little. I’d suggest creating 10 to 20 ads and spending a few hundred dollars more. Check them daily, turning off unprofitable ads, categories, or keywords to save your budget.
Keep at it. It can be discouraging at first. We pour our hearts into our books and want people to read them. Amazon ads are one of the best ways to get your book in front of readers.
Connect with Scott LaPierre
- ScottLaPierre.org
- Your Marriage God’s Way (affiliate link)
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