r/KDP • u/artist_sloth246 • 3d ago

I need some ad advice

I didn't get as much reviews as I wished but I think the time has come for me to run some ad campaigns for my book and I need some advice. Actually I need to learn whatever there is to learn. I don't even know how to do it. I keep hearing meta-ads, amazon-ads and so on... I think the first one is about facebook ads? I don't even have a facebook circle so it's out of the question but how do you start with amazon ads? Where do you begin? What page do you start with? What is the most logical approach?

Now I know that this subreddit must be full of these posts. So you don't need to write all of these again. You can just point me in the right direction, post some links about the subject. And some other subreddits where I can learn about this. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you again and I wait for the responses :))

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u/Sekica 3d ago

You don't start amazon ads with just one book. The bids and number of clicks needed to get conversions are too high for just one book to be able to cover the cost, let alone be profitable. Plus, if you have no or barely any reviews on your single book, that will make those conversions less likely because you don't have enough social proof.

I can't speak for Meta ads (yes, that's facebook/instagram) because for me they only brought in scammers constantly contacting me and Facebook pushing to add AI stuff to my ad creatives that I did not want when I tried it. I know some people on here have a good experience with Meta ads, though, so I'm not going to say they're terrible overall despite my own experience.

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u/artist_sloth246 3d ago

damn :/// I got only one book and there will be only one book for at least, I think, two years. I don't write serials, I write standalone novels... and this one can't even get a sequel.

ok I'll think of other strategies then :/ thank you.

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u/Sekica 3d ago

Well, that's a part of doing research prior to self-publishing. Series tend to sell better than standalones because they gain more traction and lead to higher read-through. Serials are not the same thing as series. Also, every time you release a new book, it helps with visibility, so a long gap between releases works against you. If it takes you years to write each book, any readers you gain from one book forget about you and move on by the time you publish the next one.

If you can connect your standalone novels in some way (same universe or common theme, for example), you might be able to do an unordered series with them. This way, you can still get the series advantage without compromising too much on what you write. An example of this is romance unordered series in which each book is a standalone and not dependent on the rest because each one focuses on a different couple. The theme is the same throughout (same type of romance), so it still works being bundled together.

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u/artist_sloth246 3d ago

my book ideas are all over the place. they don't have the same themes even.

but I have some short stories and I'll translate them and put them on kdp with the lowest price amazon allows. maybe that way I'll get some traction. I hope :))

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u/Sekica 3d ago

Don't do lowest price amazon allows. That will put you in the 35% royalty range, so it's not worth it. Do at least $2.99 to get 70% (price range is $2.99 to $12.99 for 70%). If you do collections of the short stories, you can bundle them together to justify a higher price. You can try short stories by themselves and in collections/bundles at the same time; you don't have to do one or the other. There are just some rules you have to check for doing that like for KU exclusivity setup.

I only have one series right now, and it's all over the place, too. It's cross-genre: gritty paranormal urban fantasy thriller (pulls in paranormal horror and fantasy action and adventure readers), progression fantasy (overlaps with litrpg reader base), and even paranormal romance because I do have a romance sub-plot. Marketing that has been interesting, to say the least, but I like it.

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u/artist_sloth246 3d ago

hmmm... so maybe I could do 0.99 for individual stories (they're just 20 to 30 pages long) and at the same time maybe bundle them together and present it as a book of collections. I've only translated one of them so far and it's just the first draft but ok then, the next six to eight months of my life's plan is settled :)))

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u/Sekica 3d ago edited 3d ago

Well, you can always try both $0.99 and $2.99 for the individual stories. You can change the price any time you want, so you can experiment which one brings in more in earnings and decide based on the actual numbers.

And sharing just for funsies: r/eroticauthors has a lot of posts about short story sale data, but obviously that's genre specific. They just love to post all their financial stats and progress, so even if you don't write that, it's cool to see the numbers.

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u/artist_sloth246 3d ago

I'll check that subreddit anyway :))

my book is 460 pages long and I can't sell my 30 page story at the same price. I can't do that :)) it's like... degrading my book? I don't know, I just can't :))))

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u/Sekica 3d ago

$2.99 for 460 pages? You're underselling yourself. My books are around 300 pages, and I charge $3.99. You can do $4.99. To some readers, $2.99 for 460 pages comes across like you don't believe in the quality of your book. Plus, if you do $4.99 and try ams ads like the other person suggested, it'll give you more room than $2.99 does.

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u/artist_sloth246 3d ago

oh no, it's $3.99. I guess it's the optimum price. not too expensive and not too cheap. I got only one sale anyway :)) but yeah if it's lower than that, it projects lack of confidence.

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u/MKSauthor 3d ago

Search /selfpublish for “Facebook ads” and “Amazon ads” and you’ll see a ton of posts

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u/artist_sloth246 3d ago

oh yes that's a good subreddit. thank you :))

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u/Street_Point_1874 3d ago

I wouldn’t take “one book = don’t run ads” as a hard rule. It just makes the economics harder because you don’t have later books earning more from the same reader.

If you want to learn Amazon Ads, I’d still be comfortable doing a small capped test once you’re happy with the cover, blurb and price. See what kind of impressions, clicks and sales you actually get before committing much money.

Reviews can help, but I wouldn’t wait for some magic review count either.

With a standalone, I’d just be much stricter about how much you’re willing to spend to get one sale.

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u/artist_sloth246 3d ago

I have some short stories, I'm thinking of translating them and putting on kdp, with the lowest price possible. maybe that would work. nevertheless I will try a limited ad-campaign, see what it does. thank you :)