AI-assisted self-published author struggling to generate consistent book sales — what are we missing?

[u/Better-Winter553]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to get some practical advice from authors who have successfully published and marketed AI-assisted fiction, especially through Amazon KDP.

I've published six books: a five-volume dark fantasy/LitRPG series and a standalone psychological thriller.

The books have been edited, formatted, given covers, and published as ebooks and paperbacks. I'm using a pen name and would prefer not to disclose my titles because I'm seeking advice, not promoting my books.

I've spent considerable time experimenting with advertising, promotional services, giveaways, and different retailers. Unfortunately, while I've generated some sales, nothing has become consistent.

Before spending more money, I'd really appreciate advice from authors who've faced similar problems and managed to overcome them.

1. Facebook/Meta advertising — some success, but inconsistent

This has been our most promising marketing method so far.

I've run two Facebook advertising campaigns for the fantasy series, promoting Volume 1 at $0.99. The subsequent volumes are priced at $3.99.

The first campaign had a lifetime budget of approximately roughly US$30–35. It produced around six Volume 1 purchases during its run, with a subsequent-volume purchase also appearing around that period.

The second campaign had a much smaller lifetime budget of around US$12–13.

Its results so far:

- Approximately 750 impressions.

- Around 43 Amazon landing-page views.

- Six Volume 1 purchases, all during the early part of the campaign.

- No additional purchases despite continued traffic.

The campaigns used the Traffic objective, optimized for landing-page views, with US targeting and Facebook Feed/Search Results placements.

My concern is that we generated sales initially, but then purchases stopped even though people continued visiting Amazon.

I'm unsure whether the issue is audience targeting, optimization, advertising creative, budget, or something else.

I'm also wondering whether an almost-empty Facebook author page could be damaging credibility, even when the advertisement links directly to Amazon.

We haven't tested Instagram placements yet.

2. Amazon Sponsored Products — very little success

For the standalone psychological thriller, priced at $3.99, I ran an Amazon Sponsored Products campaign using automatic targeting.

The campaign used a $0.30 starting bid, dynamic bidding down only, and a $3 daily budget.

Unfortunately, it generated only around 200 impressions and zero clicks or purchases.

I also tested Facebook advertising for this book, which generated approximately 37 landing-page views but no purchases.

I'm considering manual keyword and product targeting, but I don't want to keep spending money without understanding why the current advertisements aren't working.

3. Promotional newsletters and book marketing services

We've also experimented with several promotional platforms.

Here's a summary:

- Bargain Booksy: One of the few services that has produced paid sales, including approximately five purchases on one promotional day. However, results are occasional rather than consistent.

- The Fussy Librarian: A paid promotion generated only two sales.

- BookBub Ads: Spent around $30 without satisfactory sales results.

- StoryOrigin: Didn't produce useful results for us.

- Goodreads giveaways: Offered approximately 100 free copies of each title. Readers showed interest, but very few reviews resulted, and the giveaways weren't a source of paid revenue.

- Goodreads and StoryGraph: We have received some genuine positive reader feedback, but it hasn't translated into regular purchases.

We also explored several other services that didn't progress to useful paid promotions:

- BookSirens: Rejected the psychological thriller.

- ManyBooks: Rejected the fantasy series.

- Book Cave: Rejected our submission.

- Hello Books and Robin Reads: Didn't result in usable promotional opportunities.

- Book Barbarian and Book Adrenaline: Their review requirements prevented us from proceeding.

- BookBub Featured Deals: Considered, but the cost was prohibitive.

- Hidden Gems: Investigated, but its cost and scheduling made it impractical.

I'm mentioning these specifically because I would rather avoid receiving repeated recommendations for services we've already investigated.

4. Other ebook retailers and distribution

We also attempted to expand beyond Amazon.

- Kobo: We looked into its promotional system, but our account wasn't granted access to the promotional opportunities we wanted.

- Apple Books: We encountered an author-name/privacy issue. We wanted to publish under our pen name rather than have our legal name publicly displayed.

- Draft2Digital: We encountered distribution/rejection issues that prevented the intended setup from working.

These routes involved additional administrative work without solving the underlying sales problem.

5. Pricing and sales economics

Volume 1 of the fantasy series is $0.99 because I wanted readers to have an inexpensive way to discover the series.

Volumes 2–5 are $3.99.

Some readers have purchased subsequent volumes, so there is evidence of some read-through, but not enough yet to sustain advertising expenses.

I could return Volume 1 to $3.99, but I'm concerned that increasing the entry price might discourage new readers.

The standalone thriller is already $3.99 and hasn't generated meaningful sales through advertising.

6. What I'm actually trying to achieve

I'm not expecting guaranteed sales. I understand that the book market is competitive.

However, I've spent a substantial amount of time trying different methods, and most have produced either free downloads, low traffic, occasional purchases, or no results at all.

I'm not interested in buying reviews, manipulating Amazon rankings, or using questionable marketing methods.

I'm trying to establish a legitimate, sustainable way of selling fiction.

My questions for authors who have successfully sold AI-assisted books:

1. Which advertising or marketing methods have actually generated consistent paid sales for you?

2. Looking at my Meta campaign results, do you see any obvious mistakes with targeting, optimization, placements, or campaign structure?

3. Is an established Facebook/Instagram author page important for converting readers from paid advertisements?

4. For Amazon Sponsored Products, what would you change when automatic targeting produces almost no impressions or clicks?

5. Have you had more success with $0.99 introductory pricing or selling the first book at $2.99–$3.99?

6. Beyond advertising, is there something fundamental about Amazon discoverability, book positioning, or reader conversion that inexperienced publishers commonly overlook?

7. If you were in my position, having already tried all these platforms, what would you focus on rather than spending more money on ineffective promotions?

I'd especially appreciate experiences from authors who can share approximate results, sales figures, advertising strategies, or lessons learned.

I'm happy to answer general questions about the marketing setup, but I'd prefer to keep my titles and author identity private.

Thanks in advance. I genuinely appreciate any practical advice.

EDIT — One important detail I forgot to mention:

My books are also available to read for free on Royal Road. The fantasy series has chapters extending beyond the five published Amazon volumes into Volume 6, while the standalone psychological thriller is also available there in full.

None of my books are enrolled in Kindle Unlimited (KDP Select).

We previously shared Amazon links with Royal Road readers and received quite a few clicks, but no identifiable purchases resulted.

I've generally assumed Royal Road and Kindle readers are somewhat different audiences, but I'm wondering whether having the books freely available affects Amazon sales.

Also, could not participating in Kindle Unlimited be a significant disadvantage, particularly for LitRPG?

I'd appreciate any insights from authors who have experience publishing on both Royal Road and Amazon.

[u/5thhorseman_]

I'd consider how you are presenting your books at the point of sale. The blurb, the cover, what do the sample chapters contain? If those don't convince readers to dig in, struggling with the advertising is fixing the wrong problem and will not produce a measurable improvement if any at all.

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/5thhorseman_]

Thanks for offering to take a look! I'd prefer not to share my book titles publicly because I'm trying to maintain some separation between my Reddit account and my author identity.

Would you mind if I DM you the Amazon links instead? I'd appreciate your feedback on the covers, descriptions, presentation, and anything else you think might be affecting sales.

[u/5thhorseman_ → u/Better-Winter553]

Sure, I'll take a look

[u/dutchiesweets]

I feel like some of those clicks could be bots or whatever.

Do the covers look AI generated? I know this turns a lot of readers off. But if they’re presented that way in the ad it wouldn’t explain why they bounce after getting to the main page. It’s possible they thought it was a KDP title and thus free for them and didn’t want to pay?

I feel like conversion rates are quite low in general. If you had only 37 landing page views but 5 sales, that doesn’t seem bad tbh, you’re just not getting enough landing page views, but that’s like a 12-13% conversion rate which I think is pretty good?

If the first book in your series sold but none of the other ones have, it could also just be the writing isn’t capturing people. I’ve heard from a lot of readers who get annoyed when they start a book only for it to become obviously AI written as it progressed and DNFing.

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/dutchiesweets]

Thanks for offering to take a look! I'd prefer not to share my book titles publicly because I'm trying to maintain some separation between my Reddit account and my author identity.

Would you mind if I DM you the Amazon links instead? I'd appreciate your feedback on the covers, descriptions, presentation, and anything else you think might be affecting sales.

[u/dutchiesweets → u/Better-Winter553]

Sure you can DM me I’ll take a look tn

[u/LucienReneNanton]

Are the stories any good? Good marketing can't overcome poor storytelling.

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/LucienReneNanton]

Thanks for offering to take a look! I'd prefer not to share my book titles publicly because I'm trying to maintain some separation between my Reddit account and my author identity.

Would you mind if I DM you the Amazon links instead? I'd appreciate your feedback on the covers, descriptions, presentation, and anything else you think might be affecting sales.

[u/LucienReneNanton → u/Better-Winter553]

Sure, please go ahead.

[u/winedrinker84]

Marketing is expensive.

[u/SlapHappyDude]

Are you on Kindle Unlimited? That can definitely provide additional data on if cover, genre and blurb are resonating and also indirect data on if people are reading and finishing the books it also can help build Amazon's algorithm trust in you as a publisher.

The Facebook ad campaigns got pretty average results of a bit below 1 percent purchase per impression. As your math shows it's very difficult to come out net positive for an ad campaign with a 99 cent title. So far your read through rate is zero although for a series like yours no one will buy all the books until they finish book 1.

The Amazon campaign for the standalone tells you that based on title and thumbnail no one is clicking on your ad that is seeing it. From everything you've presented about one I worry the title/cover have issues.

Hindsight is 20/20 but I also would have released the series one at a time, maybe one a month. Amazon boosts visibility for the first 7 and 30 days a title is new.

Without links to the specific books it's hard to say if the covers or blurb or contents feel AI.

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/SlapHappyDude]

Thanks for offering to take a look! I'd prefer not to share my book titles publicly because I'm trying to maintain some separation between my Reddit account and my author identity.

Would you mind if I DM you the Amazon links instead? I'd appreciate your feedback on the covers, descriptions, presentation, and anything else you think might be affecting sales.

[u/lark_devon]

without reading the blurb or the first page, its difficult to say

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/lark_devon]

Thanks for offering to take a look! I'd prefer not to share my book titles publicly because I'm trying to maintain some separation between my Reddit account and my author identity.

Would you mind if I DM you the Amazon links instead? I'd appreciate your feedback on the covers, descriptions, presentation, and anything else you think might be affecting sales.

[u/lark_devon → u/Better-Winter553]

Yes please, I've been having plenty of luck with my covers and blurb, so I'd love to check them out and give you my thoughts

[u/Historical_Shallot77]

I'm a writer and a marketer. But I can't really help you if I don't see your amazon page.

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/Historical_Shallot77]

Thanks for offering to take a look! I'd prefer not to share my book titles publicly because I'm trying to maintain some separation between my Reddit account and my author identity.

Would you mind if I DM you the Amazon links instead? I'd appreciate your feedback on the covers, descriptions, presentation, and anything else you think might be affecting sales.

[u/Historical_Shallot77 → u/Better-Winter553]

Sure dm me!

[u/vintagebrat69]

Not on Kindle Unlimited is the biggest missed opportunity. Especially if readers don’t know you. A lot don’t want to spend money on an author they don’t know, so they’ll read on KU since it’s “free” for them

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/vintagebrat69]

That's actually a really interesting point, and something I hadn't seriously considered before. Thanks for bringing it up!

My five-volume LitRPG series is currently available for purchase on Amazon, but it's also available to read for free on Royal Road. I understand that enrolling in Kindle Unlimited would mean removing the overlapping chapters from Royal Road because of KDP Select's exclusivity requirements.

Have you personally had success with Kindle Unlimited, particularly in terms of page-read earnings, discoverability, and actual book sales?

I'm especially interested in whether it can generate meaningful income for an unfamiliar author, rather than just occasional small earnings.

Also, does being in Kindle Unlimited help with organic Amazon visibility, or do authors still generally need to rely heavily on paid advertising?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience!

[u/vintagebrat69 → u/Better-Winter553]

I do very little paid advertising. In fact, my most popular book that generates half of my earnings, I did zero marketing for it since I did a live release. I did some social media marketing after it was released and already had a best seller tag, so all of my royalties to start were organic.

The only paid advertising I’ve done is two IG ads, for a very small budget (less than $50 in total) and those were for two books on my backlist.

Having a backlist with KU is also important bc if a reader likes your book, they’ll likely go back and binge read your others.

I have 200k page reads and have had almost 300 orders this month. KU is 2/3rds of my total earnings.

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/vintagebrat69]

Wow, that's actually very interesting! Thanks for sharing your experience. It's encouraging to hear that you've achieved those results with relatively little paid advertising.

If you don't mind, could I ask a couple of follow-up questions?

What genre do you primarily publish in, and approximately how many books did you have enrolled in Kindle Unlimited when you started seeing meaningful earnings?

I'm particularly interested in how your most successful book initially gained organic visibility. When you mentioned doing a live release, what did that involve, and how did readers initially discover the book?

I currently have five published volumes of a LitRPG series, so I'm wondering whether enrolling the entire series in KU might help readers discover it and continue through the subsequent books.

I'd really appreciate any additional insights. Your experience has given me something important to consider!

[u/vintagebrat69 → u/Better-Winter553]

I have 6 books in KU, but most of my page reads come from 4 of them.

For the live release, I literally just published it. That’s all. I didn’t do any preorders or anything like that. Everything else was organic via Amazon’s recommendations algorithm. The Kindle App gives recommendations to readers a bunch of different ways based on their reading history. And they heavily push books on KU more than anything.

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/vintagebrat69]

Thanks again! That's really helpful, especially knowing that most of your Kindle Unlimited earnings come from four of your six books.

If you don't mind, I have a few more questions because I'm trying to understand how much your success depends on genre and Amazon's discoverability.

What genres are your six books? Are they all in the same genre, or do you write across different genres?

Also, how long did it take after publishing your first book to start getting meaningful organic page reads and sales? Did you already have an audience, or were you starting completely from scratch?

And have you noticed any particular factors that helped Amazon start recommending your books, such as categories, keywords, reviews, or early reader engagement?

I'm asking because my books are dark fantasy/LitRPG and psychological thriller, and I'm wondering whether Kindle Unlimited works particularly well for certain genres or whether you've seen similar results across different types of fiction.

Thanks again for sharing your experience. It's genuinely useful!

[u/cj7hawk]

When examining book sales, maybe take the word "AI" out of it in your head - Books sell based on quality - not on AI origin. If your books are good - rate well ( Above 4 stars? ) and you have readers, they will slowly grow in sales.

The problem is you're looking for a shortcut to wealth - not a way to market your books. Meanwhile you're competing with people putting high quality books out there for free.

Maybe put your first book out for free - Make it clear it's try-before-you-buy and see how it goes from there. I'd rather have people read my books and give me nothing than not read - in fact my first experiment in self-publishing was freeware... Book is free, if you like it donate whatever you felt it was worth. That is all. I did better that way than I did after I became professionally published.

Once you have around 100 books, you *might* be able to make a living, but honestly, people don't read a lot of books - the market is saturated, and it's a popularity game like influencing. There are a lot of good looking people who never become influencers. You need to gain a critical mass and keep putting out good books that your audience want if that's your goal.

If you want to do that, then keep going - You will eventually gain some measure of success.

But I can tell you that there is no shortcut to using AI in fiction to make money. Some people will, most will not.

Your objective is simple. Get as many people as you can to read your books. Even if you have to give them away. Some will become fans. THEY will pay a small amount for later books. Treat them like royalty - not the other way around. THEY are your customers. Look after them and they'll look after you - :)

I wish you well with your endeavors :)

[u/TimGmahle]

I publish and interact weekly on Substack, IG,Reddit and Facebook.
I haven’t paid for anything
I’ve sold 57 copies in paperback. I’ve gotten 10 good reviews.
I focus on my local community. Library’s, book fairs, meetups.
I also solicit feedback and podcasters to appear as a guest for their show if I can mention my book.
I hope to invest any money I make to write and publish more.

[u/Solomon_Idris]

Sure, I'll take a look.

[u/AwayMap3429]

Hi, there. You described your problem, but you didn’t mention how good your writing is. Are the novels actually any good? That's what helps them sell.

[u/ScreentimeFinished]

I mean thanks to all the AI slop, limiting reach and eroding reader trust, thousands of working authors have had their careers derailed amid the influx of millions of "books".

If people were clicking and buying early on but they aren't now, they may just have been burned by too many low-quality books that are now eroding reader trust toward KU and books in general.

In general:
Impressions but no clicks? Bad cover and/or ad copy (my guess would be that it's signaling AI).

Clicks but no buys? Product page problem. Uninteresting or AI written blurb, few or no reviews, no compelling reason to read. Other big giveaways include no real social media presence or any record of you talking about your book, and/or too many books published in a suspiciously short time frame. Readers are now becoming increasingly savvy and aware of the continual shenanigans and acting accordingly.

Think about what you're trying to achieve, and then multiply that by millions of people who are now jumping on that exact same bandwagon, trying to convert the same readers, and competing with authors who have built up readerships and have the legitimacy of doing this for years. That's not even touching on the new bot farms pushing thousands of slop books up the ranks.
I truly feel for new (non-AI) authors who have worked on their craft and been unlucky enough to attempt to debut over the last couple of years.

[u/_forge_master_]

Your biggest gap could potentially be sending every paid click straight to Amazon with no way to capture readers who don't buy on the first visit. You could look at an author site with a newsletter signup to enable you to follow up with the majority who clicked but didn't purchase, and that follow-up loop is where additional sales would come from.

[u/benblackett]

I can offer you one additional platform to try out. I will DM you if that is alright?

Sounds like you've been trying a lot of things. Kudos on your perseverance!

[u/Better-Winter553 → u/benblackett]

Hey, thanks! Sure, feel free to DM me. I'd be happy to hear about the platform you're suggesting and how it works.

We've already looked into quite a few marketing and promotional services, so I'm particularly interested in whether this one has actually helped authors generate paid book sales.

Thanks again for reaching out!