Daffyjkl's questions about advertising

Hands down I would say Amazon, (the 'sponsored pruducts' ads, not so much the 'product display' ones) and that's just my personal limited experience. Goodreads is great for exposure, but there are fewer users clicking on ads, and it's impossible to know whether you're getting any return on that investment. The one good thing about Goodreads however, like other social media, is that you can set the parameters for who sees your ads; on Amazon, you don't get that control. Goodreads ads are great for when you're doing a Goodreads giveaway.

Goodreads users generally are looking for the word-of-mouth books, and money doesn't buy that well. It seems that Amazon is where people are looking to actually make a purchase. Interesting as well, you don't actually need a single review to sell books. I know this because I sold around 20 copies without one (not to say it wouldn't help a bunch), but what you do need is an absolutely killer blurb, one that just hits people in the face, and of course, a mind-blowing cover and sample chapters.

Keep in mind, I wouldn't expect any positive return on ads regardless. Success is basically if you make your money back. Good luck!

For me - I rely on Goodreads to find new books (even though I pretty much buy them all from Amazon, if I'm purchasing online). I use the Goodreads recommendations (heavily aided by user reviews) and would be more inclined to click on an ad that was related to the type of book I was seeking out on that website. However, I am not in a position to speak for anyone else, and Justin has some pretty solid logic for why Amazon might be a better option.

As this is about book promotion I'm going to move it from Self Publishing to the appropriate room. Daffyjkl, I'd be grateful if you'd ask your questions about promotion in the right place in future. Thanks.

Justin K said:

Hands down I would say Amazon, (the 'sponsored pruducts' ads, not so much the 'product display' ones) and that's just my personal limited experience.

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Absolutely. I spent around 8 months testing various Goodreads ad campaigns, and none of them made any statistically significant differences to my sales.

Keep in mind, I wouldn't expect any positive return on ads regardless. Success is basically if you make your money back. Good luck!

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I optimize my AMS campaigns so that they're always profitable. It takes time, and you have to be ruthless: kill keywords that aren't working and boost ones that are. The one problem with AMS is that the reports are delayed (by days for impressions and weeks for sales) so you can't react in real time. Still, I like to have my average cost of sales (ACoS) at less than 30%.

Doesn't amazon have a Terms of Use page for associates?

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/agreement

I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, or pretend to be one online. That said, based on a cursory reading of the above I see no legal problems with you promoting your own work on your own site that you are selling through Amazon. After all, why wouldn't you be able to do that?

As to payout rates, I have no idea as I did not see the payout schedules listed above.

Daffyjkl said:

Thanks for the response. Is there a minimum/maximum Cost per click bid that you recommend?

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It really depends a lot on genre and individual keywords. However, this time of the year is probably the worst to start a new campaign, because bids can be ridiculously inflated by the holiday rush.

In any case, what I do is start at or close to the minimum, check back in a week (due to the reporting lag), increase the bid a bit, rinse and repeat. It takes time, but it avoids blowing your budget overnight.

You can take commissions on your own products for sure. I've been doing it for a while. Every post I make on FB and my website has an affiliate link in it. It's also a great way to see if your links are being followed.

Sadly, all of AMS is US only, and has been for a while.

Daffyjkl said:

Thanks. Does that indirectly help UK sales?

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I doubt it, unless they're UK residents purchasing something from the .com store.

Daffy, I wonder if it might be better for you to have just one thread where you can ask all your questions about the various advertising choices ahead of you. Here are some of the other threads you've started on the subject, just for reference:

[h=3]Amazon Sponsored Product advertising[/h][h=3]Amazon Associates[/h][h=3]Kindle vs Goodreads advertising[/h]
While I understand that you've asked different questions in each of these threads they're all about the same sort of thing, and it might work out more useful for you and everyone else if they were merged. Just a thought.

Daffyjkl said:

Hi Old Hack,

I am happy to merge these threads if it will benefit the AW community. How do I 'merge' the posts?

I realise I am asking a lot of questions at the moment, but I am learning quite a bit about Amazon Advertising and I hope to be able to post some helpful information for the group in the next week or so. Goodreads and Facebook Advertising is on my radar and I will post feedback on those results too.

I apologise if I am not following protocol, but I do search before I post to see if my question has already been answered.

Thanks for the advice.

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You don't merge the posts. I do.

It's fine that you're asking a lot of questions. I like that! But because one question tends to follow on from previous answers it would probably make for a more useful conversation if your threads were merged. Because otherwise our members will waste their time answering questions which have already been answered.

I'll merge them now.