Amazon Ads: Taking the Leap

By Melissa Maygrove

Have you ever put off doing something because of fear then, when you finally got the nerve to give it a try, you wished you’d done it sooner?

That was me and Amazon ads. I thought it would be complicated—and paying per-click without guaranteed sales was downright terrifying—so I put it off. Talk about regret... I wasted a lot of years not making nearly the money I could have.

Let me pause to give some caveats.

1. I’ve been running Amazon ads for a few years, but I am by no means an expert. The purpose of this article is to encourage you to try it and offer some basic instructions for setting one up.

2. Ads don’t work the same for everyone. There are a lot of variables. But they are worth trying, and they’re surprisingly $afe, so long as you set reasonable bids, daily limits, and keep an eye on your ad dashboard.

3. I’m located in the United States, so I’m writing from that perspective.

Some things to consider before setting up Amazon ads:

• Does your book have a professional cover and an enticing blurb? You’ll pay for ad clicks whether the customer buys the book or not, so you want the elements of the retail page to shine and entice them to buy.

• How long ago was your book published and how many reviews does it have? If it’s a new release, Amazon won’t have much to go on if you choose to auto-target. It’s probably best to run one or more manual-target ads first, so Amazon can gather data.

• Is the book first in a series? If so, you’ll get more bang for your advertising buck in the way of read-through if each book’s back matter links to the next book.

Things I wish I’d figured out sooner:

• For ads run in the US (.com), you can add a short bit of custom text to entice the customer to click on the ad. Below are two of mine.

• I wish I’d run ads in other English-speaking countries sooner (UK, Canada, Australia). I recently began getting organic sales in Germany. Since Germans are voracious readers, and many speak English, I decided to run an ad there. (At the time of the writing of this article, it’s too soon to know if it will be profitable.)

• I wish I’d run ads for the paperback version of my books. Just because I buy mostly e-books doesn’t mean everyone shops that way. I heard a best-selling author say he always attaches both the e-book and paperback versions of his books to his ads. I tried that, and my paperback sales began to increase.

How to set up ads:

There are many ad gurus out there to choose from. I found this video by the Kindlepreneur guy that gives good, step-by-step instructions for setting up ads. If you’re uber-visual, like me, you’ll love it.



Final thoughts:

It takes time for Amazon to gather data on a new ad and for that ad to start showing impressions. Don’t give up too soon. I let mine run for a month or so before deciding if it’s going to be a profitable ad.

You don’t have to set your bids high or at the amount Amazon suggests. Start low. You can go back and increase them later.

If you forget to add the paperback version of the book, you can edit the ad to include it without starting a new ad. (This was one of the reasons I put it off; I thought I’d have to create all new ads. LOL)

If Amazon has an event with greatly increased site traffic (e.g. Cyber Monday), or if you run a sale on a book attached to an ad, it can affect the number of clicks and thus your cost. Keep a closer eye on your dashboard during these times.

Most of all, don’t be afraid to try Amazon ads. You set the daily limit on ad spending (which Amazon almost never reaches), and you can adjust that limit anytime you wish. You can also turn an ad off immediately with the flip of a cyber switch.

You are in control.

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Native Texan Melissa Maygrove is a mother, nurse, freelance editor, and romance author. When she's not busy caring for her tiny NICU patients, she's hunched over her laptop, complicating the lives of her imaginary friends and playing matchmaker. Melissa loves books with unpretentious characters and unforgettable romance, and she strives to create those same kinds of stories for her readers.

You can find Melissa here: website and blog.

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, Articles, and Links

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month and encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the June 4 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis!

The June 4 question - What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

We had some great guests and articles here this month -

Playing to Your Audience

You Get What You Pay For (with book publicity)

Balancing Heavy Topics with Humor


And don’t forget to connect with us elsewhere –

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What books impacted you?

Balancing Heavy Topics with Humor

 

By CL Montblanc

For some, it might seem blasphemous for me to suggest that heavy topics can coexist alongside humor, but I would even argue that comedy can easily enhance the delivery of these topics. Especially when dealing with young readers. Incorporating moments of levity into a darker narrative can accomplish many things; it can heighten emotional resonance, make deeper themes more digestible, and most of all, reflect a more authentic human experience. However, this can also be a delicate balance to manage—with some dire consequences if done wrong. Here, I’ll be sharing my personal viewpoints and strategies as someone who wrote a young adult dark comedy novel that tackles violence, bullying, homophobia, and more.

Why a dark story might not always pair best with dark themes

There are a few potential drawbacks to going all-out with darkness in a narrative. For one, too much negativity at once with little reprieve can be taxing for readers. Oftentimes people pick up a book for the purpose of escapism, hoping to relax and enjoy themselves, which means they might be less likely to pick something up that promises to be bleak the whole way through. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but I think it’s particularly true with kidlit—that audience tends to seek entertainment over, say, trying to expand their worldview or process difficult emotions. That being said, there’s still a need to have certain tough conversations with kids and teens. It may just be easier in some cases to mix those topics into something they’re more eager to consume, as one might hide veggies in other foods.

Making heavy topics digestible

I personally believe that the best way to get through to YA readers is to capture a genuine teen voice and experience. How to write authentically for teens as an adult is an entirely different discussion, but one relevant point here is that they more than any other age demographic already tend to combine their humor with darkness. It’s tough to grow up in a world like ours, and to temper the darker part is only natural. Life is so absurd, and that’s especially true for some of its worst attributes. You’ll see plenty of examples of this on social media sites like TikTok—half of my feed consists of young adults telling stories about traumatic events in their lives in a humorous fashion. We laugh so that we don’t cry, right? Or maybe a little of both at once…

Identifying opportunities for humor

The simplest, easiest way to infuse humor into a story is through dialogue. That’s because no matter what horrors might be happening within the plot, there’s always a smart-ass character or two who might want to crack a joke about it. Of course, the solution here isn’t to just add in an arbitrary comic relief character to one’s story—though I do have quite a fondness for those! What makes dialogue comedic isn’t pure wit, but rather, having characters that clash, contrast, and play off of one another.

For example, many romance novels utilize tropes like “grumpy x sunshine” because those two opposite archetypes—neither comedic in nature on their own—lead to some fun dynamics, and thus good banter. There’s also situational humor, which might be more difficult to incorporate into a heavier book, but is certainly also a staple. A classic example of this one would be a cold, hard-ass character being forced to take care of a baby. Again, the plot really has to allow for humorous situations in the first place, which is why I chose to go with mystery as my debut novel’s main genre. Mystery-solving involves a lot of snooping and potential antics, which I thought would be an ideal medium for a dark comedy. This notion is supported by “cozy mystery” being a staple genre, with similar blends seen in other popular media like Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building.

Why timing is everything

One important thing to be wary of when infusing humor into a more dramatic scene is causing tonal whiplash. A poorly timed joke might dampen the emotional impact of a scene, or put the resonance of your message at risk. I dialed way back on humor around the “dark night of the soul” section of my novel, when the darkness was starting to hit its emotional peak. The main character’s situation was not funny at all, and so the only humor she could muster consisted of taking a jab at herself with self-deprecating jokes rather than being fueled by joy. On the opposite end of this, humor can serve as a strong punctuation mark when used at the perfect moment. For example, it might help us transition from a difficult scene back into a more tonally neutral portion of a story, lifting us out of the fog with an indication that things might become okay again.

In summary, heavy topics, while important, can often weigh on readers, which is why humor has the potential to help balance them out. (And of course, to avoid this combination going south, a lot of strategy and thoughtfulness is required.) But humor can be such a strong bridge that allows young readers to engage with complex themes, and because of this, I’ve personally chosen to take on an unorthodox blend of genres and tones. I’ve also been hearing that many teens are looking for lighter, more “fun” books lately, so perhaps we can meet that demand without abandoning these authentic—often tough—stories that we are so passionate to share.

CL Montblanc is a writer, producer, and escape room enthusiast. Despite hailing from Texas, CL is intimidated by both horses and very large hats. If you have any leads on where to acquire buried treasure, or a decent bagel, you can find CL on social media. Pride or Die is their debut novel. You can learn more at CL Montblanc website.