In this episode we are going to talk about everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask … about Amazon Book Ads! And to help us with that is our special guest, Brian Berni …
Show Notes
- Brian is a former Vatican Secret Archives employee, and is now a bestselling author under multiple pen-names. He blogs for writers and self-publishers at AuthorsTech and is the co-founder of BookAds, an agency that helps authors advertise their books through AMS (which stands for Amazon Marketing Services) and BookBub Ads.
Questions:
- What are Amazon ads?
- Similar to FB ads
- Big difference … on Amazon people are primed to buy
- Why are they so popular right now?
- New updates have happened that shows Amazon believes in this program and they’ve given people better tools to work with
- Walk us through the process of creating our first ad …
- Advertising.amazon.com
- What are some of the best practices when it comes to creating amazon ads?
- Experiment, have a scientist mindset, you’re testing and discovering what works
- Don’t limit yourself to too few keywords. Use lots!
- Use auto targeting- improved lately. Try it.
- What are realistic expectations on how well an ad will work?
- Tough to answer, but we see trends. Fiction and nonfiction is difference. Non-fiction tends to do better. New books tend to do better
- Start small. $2 or $3 per day. But run as many ads as you can with your budget
- Four hundred to five hundred percent return is not unusual
- What tools make advertising on Amazon easier? What do you use for keyword research, that sort of thing.
- Words in reviews
- Be creative with your keywords
- KDP Rocket
- What are some common mistakes you see authors makes on their ads?
- The ads are NOT set and forget
- At least 3 – 4 times per week, go in and check so you can adjust
- They don’t use all the tools available
- Experiment with them
- They don’t have the fundamentals in place
- Cover
- Number of reviews, 10+
- 150 character book blurb
- The ads are NOT set and forget
- Negative keywords are key.
- What other changes have you seen in book ads over the last year or so?
- Getting more competitive, yes, but probably no more than 10% of indie authors are using Amazon ads
- Consumers are starting to trust these ads, good time to dive in
- Before we go, tell us about the Indie Author Summit.
- Online event aimed at those who have never written or finished their novel.
- Step by step from A – Z.
- Where can our listeners find out more about you and what you do, Brian? AuthorsTech and at BookAds.
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