Amazon Ads for Authors: A Step by Step Guide to Profitable Book Campaigns

Amazon Ads puts your book in front of readers while they browse Amazon search results and book pages. For most authors, Sponsored Products does the heavy lifting. Amazon also offers Sponsored Brands for authors who meet eligibility rules through Author Central.

Getting Ready Before You Spend Money

Amazon Ads sends readers to a product page. Your product page must sell the book.

Use this checklist before launching ads:

• Cover thumbnail reads fast in your genre

• Subtitle includes genre terms readers type into Amazon

• First two lines of the description hook fast

• Series info stays consistent across all books

• Look Inside formatting looks clean

• Categories and keywords match your subgenre

If you publish through KDP, Amazon’s KDP help center recommends preparing the detail page and meeting book ad policy requirements before campaign launch.

The Metrics Authors Need

Amazon reports many numbers. Track five.

1. Impressions: ad views

2. Clicks: visits from ads

3. CTR: clicks divided by impressions

4. Sales: revenue attributed to ads

5. ACoS: ad spend divided by ad sales, shown as a percent

ACoS formula: ACoS = (ad spend ÷ ad sales) × 100

ROAS equals the inverse: ROAS = ad sales ÷ ad spend

Break Even ACoS for Authors

ACoS uses revenue, not profit. Break even depends on royalty per sale.

A simple rule:
Break even ACoS percent ≈ (royalty per sale ÷ price) × 100

Example table for fast planning:

Price | Royalty | Break Even ACoS
$2.99 | $2.09 | 70%
$3.99 | $2.79 | 70%
$4.99 | $3.49 | 70%
$0.99 | $0.35 | 35%

Your First Three Campaigns

Start with three Sponsored Products campaigns. This structure keeps data clean and speeds learning.

• Campaign 1: Sponsored Products Auto for discovery

• Campaign 2: Sponsored Products Manual Keywords for control

• Campaign 3: Sponsored Products Product Targeting for book to book placement

Amazon’s Sponsored Products guide outlines campaign creation and targeting options inside the campaign builder.

Step by Step: Sponsored Products Auto Campaign

Auto campaigns mine Amazon shopper behavior for targets. Use auto to collect search terms, then move winners into manual.

1. Open Campaign Manager in Amazon Ads and select Create campaign, then Sponsored Products.

2. Name the campaign with a repeatable pattern.
   Example: SP Auto | US | Series Name | Book 1 | 2025 12 17

3. Set a daily budget you feel fine holding for seven days.

4. Choose automatic targeting.
   Amazon auto-targeting uses targeting groups, including options such as close match and loose match, as well as related product behavior.

5. Pick a bidding strategy and set default bids.

6. Launch the campaign.
   Amazon’s Sponsored Products setup flow lists these steps inside the campaign builder.

Step by Step: Manual Keyword Campaign

Manual keywords give direct control over search terms and match types.

1. Create a new Sponsored Products campaign.

2. Choose Manual targeting, then Keyword targeting.

3. Add keywords across match types.

Amazon defines three keyword match types for Sponsored Products: broad, phrase, and exact.

A simple keyword structure:

• Exact match for high intent terms

• Phrase match for controlled expansion

• Broad match for discovery
  

  Start with 20 to 40 keywords pulled from:

  your subtitle and description terms
  comparable authors
  comparable titles and series names

  subgenre tropes
  

  Set bids by match type.
  Amazon notes that different match types behave differently, so bid rules often differ across broad, phrase, and exact.

Step by Step: Product Targeting Campaign

Product targeting places your book on other product detail pages. Authors often use product targeting to show Book 1 on similar Book 1 pages.

1. Create a new Sponsored Products campaign.

2. Choose Manual targeting, then Product targeting.

3. Add targets:

   comparable books in your niche
   similar price range
   similar format, ebook versus paperback

Bids, Placements, and Match Types

Match Types in Plain English

Broad match reaches the widest set of searches. Amazon notes that broad match can include variations, synonyms, and related terms, based on meaning and context.

Phrase match requires the phrase in order, with extra words before or after, based on Amazon match type rules.

Exact match stays tight. Amazon describes an exact match as a close version of the keyword sequence, including close variants.

Negative keywords stop waste

Sponsored Products supports negative targeting, including negative keyword options. Use negatives after the search term data appears.

Placements

Sponsored Products placements include areas such as top of search and product pages. Amazon supports placement controls and bid adjustments tied to placements.

A simple placement rule:

• Raise the top of the search only after ACoS stays under break even for seven days

• Keep product page placements running for discovery

Weekly Optimization Routine

Run this routine once per week. Keep changes small, then let data settle.

Step 1: Pull search term data
Look for search terms from auto campaigns and broad or phrase keywords.

Step 2: Promote winners
If a search term produces orders, add the term to the manual as an exact match, then lower auto bids slightly to reduce duplicate bidding.

Step 3: Add negatives
If a search term produces clicks with no sales and poor relevance, add a negative phrase or a negative exact.

Step 4: Adjust bids
Raise bids on terms with stable orders and healthy ACoS.
Lower bids on terms with high spend and weak returns.

ACoS remains the simplest efficiency metric inside Amazon Ads, defined as spend divided by ad sales.

Scaling Rules

Once campaigns show stable results, scale with rules, not mood.

• Rule 1: Scale budgets after conversion proves stable
  Increase the daily budget by 10 to 20 percent once per week on winning campaigns.

• Rule 2: Split campaigns by goal
  Discovery campaigns: auto, broad, product targeting.
  Control campaigns: exact match winners.

• Rule 3: Add a defensive campaign for author name terms
  Bid on your author name and series name to protect branded searches.
  
  

Common Problems and Fixes

Problem: Clicks with no orders
Fix path:

• Tighten targeting by moving broad terms into phrase or exact

• Check price and cover signal against your niche

• Rewrite the first two lines of the description for a stronger hook
  

Problem: Spend stays near zero
Fix path:

• Raise bids until impressions arrive

• Add more targets in product targeting

• Confirm book availability in the target marketplace

Amazon notes that books must be available in the country where ads run, and books must appear in Author Central for author advertising guides.

Problem: High ACoS on Book 1

Fix path:
Track series read-through. Book 2 and Book 3 revenue often pay back Book 1 spend.
Keep exact-match winners; cut weak discovery terms.

Sponsored Brands for Authors

Sponsored Brands offers additional placements for authors. Amazon’s author-focused Sponsored Brands guide lists a common requirement: three or more eligible titles under the same author name, with those titles present in Author Central.

KDP’s help page for advertising also states that creating a Sponsored Brands campaign requires at least one pen name with three unique titles in Author Central.

Add Sponsored Brands after Sponsored Products shows stable winners. Use keywords already proven in Sponsored Products.