ADVERTISING on AMAZON & Meta
Advertising on Amazon is recommended if that’s your selling platform. If it’s not, alternatives such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram) are great options. BUT, Meta can be very expensive, depending on your genre and audience targeting. The platform is finicky and takes some persistence with trial and error.
For all advertising, start your budget low, think $5 - $10 a day and evaluate what is working for you.
We keep this advertising guide online as the best methods change daily, and we often will re-direct you to other sources that have great results.
AMAZON ADS
Below is a straightforward initial approach to setting up Amazon ads. You should monitor this daily to see what’s working and what’s not (feel free to tweak it over time!)
1. Sign in to http://kdp.amazon.com/
2. Select the book you want to advertise from your KDP bookshelf.
3. Click “promote and advertise”
4. Under “Run an ad campaign,” choose a marketplace (the region you are targeting) and click “Create an ad campaign.”
5. You will need to add information about setting up your payment methods the first time you run an ad campaign
6. Select ‘Sponsored Products’ which will engage readers looking for a particular genre or theme
7. Select ‘Standard ad’
8. Select ‘Manual targeting’
9. Select ‘Keyword targeting’
10. Under Keyword targeting choose ‘Enter list’
The advertisement will work by bidding on keywords which trigger your ad to appear in search results. It’s therefore very important that you choose the most relevant keywords for your campaign. Don’t forget to include the titles and authors of books similar to yours (your compares) and the keywords you identified when researching your compares.
Remember throughout your marketing we have been collecting keywords that resonate with your target audience. If you need more, try Amazon’s Own Search Bar.
Go to Amazon.com, switch to the Books or Kindle Store category.
Start typing a genre, trope, or theme — Amazon will auto-suggest popular searches.
Example: type romantic suspense and you might see “romantic suspense mystery,” “romantic suspense clean,” etc.
These suggestions are real reader searches!
Next go to the Book Pages
Visit competitor or your compare book pages.
Check the “Customers who bought this also bought” section for related titles and authors.
Scroll down to the categories for keyword ideas (e.g., “Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense”).
Also use author names and series names from these sections as potential targeting keywords.
Cut and paste from your list into the keyword option space.
11. Select ‘filter by’ option of Broad, Phrase or Exact
Broad – Your ad can show if the search term contains all parts of your keyword, in any order, and may include additional words.
Phrase – Amazon shows the ad if the search term contains your exact keyword phrase in the same order, but can include additional words before or after.
Exact – Your ad shows only if the search term exactly matches your keyword, with minor variations like plurals or misspellings.
Each match has its own advantages - Broad Match is great for expanding reach and discovering new keywords, while Exact Match ensures high relevance and conversion rates.
Our preference is Exact match if you have a healthy list of keywords.
Amazon also makes suggested keywords which you can add to your list of keywords.
12. Under ‘Negative keywords’ add in Free book and Free eBook
13. Set your bids – we suggest you start by leaving your settings on Amazon’s default bids as a starting point. These are based on historical data and competition, then you can adjust based on performance. By regularly monitoring your ad, you can adjust bids based on what’s working, increasing bids for high-performing keywords and decreasing or pausing bids for underperforming ones
14. Set your timeframe and daily budget, for example $5/day for 2 weeks
Monitor your results and tweak as you go. It will take time to learn what keywords are effective and what language to use in your ads.
Meta Ads
1. Set up your campaign
In Ads Manager, start a new campaign.
Choose your objective based on your end goal.
If sending readers to Amazon or another store you can’t track with the Pixel, choose Traffic.
If you can track purchases on your own site, use Sales/Conversions.
Set a daily budget— we recommend $10 to start.
Turn on Advantage Campaign Budget so Meta shifts more budget to the best-performing ad sets.
2. Choose your audience strategy
Start with broad targeting—don’t over-narrow by stacking too many interests.
Let Facebook’s algorithm find the buyers.
If you want to refine, test audiences like:
Readers of similar authors or genres
Lookalike audiences from your email list or website visitors
Avoid tiny audiences; aim for at least a few million people.
3. Pick your placements
Uncheck placements you don’t want.
Start with Facebook News Feed and optionally Instagram Feed—these are proven to get the most clicks for book ads.
Skip Audience Network and Messenger for most book campaigns.
4. Create the ad
Use an eye-catching image or short video (book cover, lifestyle image, or teaser graphic).
Keep the headline short and benefit-driven—make the genre, hook, or unique selling point clear.
Write primary text that:
Hooks attention in the first sentence
Teases the story or benefit
Ends with a simple call to action (e.g., “Start reading today”).
Include a link that goes directly to the book’s sales page.
5. Test and improve
Run multiple versions of your ad (different images, headlines, or text).
Let the ads run for a few days before making changes—Meta’s learning phase needs data.
Pause low-performing ads and shift budget to the winners.
6. Scale up
Once you have a proven ad, increase budget gradually (no more than 20–30% every few days).
You can also duplicate winning ads into new campaigns or test them with new audiences to expand reach.
If you would like a detailed guide with visuals, we recommend Kindlepreneurs page Facebook Ads for Authors: A Complete Guide for 2024
