Running ads for your KDP books can help you reach new customers. With Amazon Advertising, you can create custom ads for readers likely to be interested in books like yours. You set the budget you want to spend and the maximum amount you're willing to pay when a customer clicks your ad. You're only charged when your ad is clicked.
Getting started guide
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Check eligibility requirements
You can create ads for KDP books that are available on Amazon.com and meet these requirements:
Currently, you can only run ads on Amazon.com. You can advertise books written in languages other than English, but all language in the ad must match the language of the Amazon site where the ad's running. For example, if you want to advertise a book written in Japanese on Amazon.com, the ad must be in English. Also, book titles must clearly state if the book isn't in the language of the Amazon site where the ad's running.
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Get your detail page ready
Customers who click your ad will be taken to your book's product detail page, and a strong detail page can help convert the click into a sale. Make sure your detail page has:
- An accurate, descriptive title
- High-quality images
- Relevant and useful information
- Support for any claims made in your ads
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Create an Amazon Advertising account
- Choose the KDP book you want to advertise from your Bookshelf.
- Click Promote and Advertise under KINDLE EBOOK ACTIONS or PAPERBACK ACTIONS.
- Under "Run an Ad Campaign," click Create an Ad Campaign. If you haven't set up an Amazon Advertising account, this will create your account and sign you in.
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Choose an ad type
You have two options for advertising your KDP books: Sponsored Products and Product Display Ads. You can create Sponsored Products ads for your eBooks and paperbacks. Only eBooks are supported for Product Display ads.
- Sponsored Products (eBook and paperback) promote individual titles to readers as they search for books. Sponsored Products are targeted by keywords, appearing within search results and on product detail pages across desktop and mobile. With a simple campaign creation process, Sponsored Products is the recommended way to get started advertising.
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- Product Display Ads (eBook only) appear on product detail pages and Kindle E-readers (where eligible), reaching readers as they browse specific titles or genres. Ads can be targeted to individual products (even outside of books), product categories, or reader interests, like genre.
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Not sure which type to choose? See this comparison chart.
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Create your ad
| Sponsored Products | Product Display ads |
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- Choose a campaign type. On your Campaign Dashboard, click Sponsored Products.
- Enter your campaign name. We recommend choosing a unique name and keeping the default time and date stamp. This way you can easily identify different campaigns. Once you submit your ad, you won't be able to change the campaign name.
- Set the duration. You can run your campaign without an end date or set a specific date range. We recommend running campaigns for a minimum of two weeks to make sure they get traction.
- Set your daily budget. The minimum daily budget is $1, and you'll only be charged when a customer clicks your ad. The daily budget is an average over the duration of your campaign. That means some days may exceed your daily budget, while other days won't. At the end of the campaign, the average daily spend won't exceed your daily budget.
- Choose a targeting type. You have two options:
- Automatic. Amazon targets your ads to relevant customer searches based on your book information. This is a great place to start if you don't know which keywords to use.
- Manual. Add your own keywords based on your book's content, genre, and similar authors. You can also use suggested keywords from the ad builder. We recommend a minimum of 100 keywords for each campaign. We've created a keyword strategy guide to help you get started building your keyword list.
- Choose an ad format. You have two options: Custom or Standard. Include your own ad copy with Custom Ads to provide readers with context for your book. You can also choose to launch a campaign quickly without custom text by using Standard Ads.
- Choose your book. If you started from your KDP Bookshelf, the book will already be automatically selected. If you are choosing your book, make sure it's the format (eBook or paperback) you want to advertise.
- Set your bid. You decide how much you want to spend. Enable the Bid+ feature to increase the opportunity for your ad to show in the top of search results. When Bid+ is turned on, Amazon will increase the bids for your eligible ads by up to 50%. When setting up manually targeted campaigns, apply suggested bids to help increase your chances of winning the auction.
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- Choose a campaign type. On your Campaign Dashboard, click Product Display Ads.
- Target your ad. You have two options:
- By product. These ads can appear on Amazon.com when a reader browses for the products or categories you select to target, as well as similar products.
- By interest. Choose reader interests to display your ads to customers browsing in the genres you choose. Interest-based ads can also appear on Kindle E-readers.
- Enter your campaign name. We recommend choosing a unique name and keeping the default time and date stamp to be able to easily identify your different campaigns. Once you submit your ad, you won't be able to change the campaign name.
- Enter your Cost-per-Click bid. This is the maximum you're willing to pay each time a customer clicks your ad. We'll never charge you more than your maximum bid.
- Set your campaign budget. Your budget is the maximum amount you're willing to spend for the entire ad campaign. Product Display Ads require a minimum total budget of $100, but you're only charged when a customer clicks your ad.
- Set the duration. Enter a start and end date for your campaign. We recommend a minimum of 4 weeks to make sure your ads get traction.
- Decide how you want to pace your campaign. You have two options:
- Quickly. Deliver ad impressions as quickly as possible to the first customers who might be interested.
- Smoothly. Spread campaign delivery over the duration of the campaign.
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Customize your ad
You need to add customized text to your ad, which can help entice readers. Make sure the text is:
- Relevant to your book
- Spelled correctly
- Free of grammatical errors
Note: The language of the ad must match the language of the Amazon site. For example, if you're running an ad for a book written in Japanese on Amazon.com, the ad must be in English. For details on requirements, see our policies and guidelines.
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Preview your ad
You can preview your ads during campaign setup. Previews show what ads looks like with custom text, but they may not exactly represent all the elements in live ads.
Your ad will contain your book cover image, book title, author name, current star rating (if you've received at least 15 reviews and they average 3.5 stars or higher) and, in some placements, the list price. With some placements, the ad will update the star rating and list price daily to correspond with your current Amazon.com detail page.
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Submit your campaign for review
We review ads within 72 hours after submission to ensure they meet our requirements. Here are the three most common reasons we reject ads:
- Grammatical errors
- Unsubstantiated claims (e.g., #1 Bestseller)
- Images not appropriate for all audiences
For details, see the Amazon Creative Acceptance Policy and the Amazon Book Ads Creative Acceptance Policies.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost?
| Sponsored Products (eBook and paperback) | Product Display ads (eBook only) |
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- You control your spend by setting your bids and daily budget
- You're only charged when customers click on your ad
- Minimum average daily budget of $1
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- You control your spend by setting your bids and total campaign budget
- You're only charged when customers click on your ad
- Minimum total campaign budget of $100
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Have my ads converted to sales?
For ads to be credited with a sale on the campaign dashboard, a customer must click an ad and buy the book within 14 days of clicking. Your KDP sales reports show only the final sales numbers and royalties you earned from books published in your KDP account.
How do I restart my ad after having a billing issue?
If your ad was stopped due to a billing issue, it will restart automatically once you update your credit card details. If your campaign is already past the end date you set and you've updated your credit card, you can submit a new ad.
I noticed my campaign was paused and that I have a billing error.
Ads can be paused if your bank declines your credit card. A charge can fail for a variety of reasons, many of which may not be related to the validity of the credit/debit card or available balance. A few steps you can take:
- Verify that the payment information for the ad is correct (expiration date, etc.).
- Make sure the billing address and phone number in your Amazon Advertising account match those associated with your credit card.
- Contact your bank to ask about their restrictions regarding electronic or Internet purchases, or if the card has been updated recently.
- Update your payment method. Go to your Amazon Advertising account and check the paused ad. You'll see an alert about the billing error, and you can change or update your payment details
Your ad will restart automatically once your credit card details are processed and verified. This can take up to 72 hours. If your campaign is already past the end date you set and you've updated your credit card, you can submit a new ad.
How do I troubleshoot ad performance?
If your ads aren't performing the way you expected, there are a few things to check to make sure your ads have the best chance possible of succeeding:
- Campaign budget pacing. If "spread campaign evenly over its duration" is selected or if the system predicts that the budget will run out by the end of the campaign (based on the predicted amount of clicks and Cost-per-Click), the budget will be spread evenly, but performance may be sporadic. This means the ad may not show to everyone who's viewing relevant pages, because the campaign must continue serving ads until the last day.
- Relevance. The less relevant or related your book is to your targeting, the less likely it is your ad will perform. Make sure your targeting is relevant to your title, because once the auction market has enough competition, better-performing ads will push out less relevant ones. The more customers click on an ad, the more relevant it becomes.
- Targeting. Choosing too few keywords, products, or interests may limit the reach of the campaign to a smaller audience. You can add up to 1,000 keywords or products and as many interests as you want. We recommend targeting at least 100 keywords to get started.
- Duration. If you choose a duration that's too short, the campaign may not run to full potential. We recommend setting Sponsored Products campaigns to run for a minimum of two weeks and Product Display ad campaign for a minimum of four weeks. You can run your campaign with no end date and terminate or pause it at any time. Keep in mind that ads may still run for 24 hours after you have terminated or paused them and you may continue to accrue impressions, clicks, charges, and sales for 14 days). Remember to match your duration with a healthy budget. Too small of a budget may impact the ad campaign performance.
- Bids. If you set a Cost-per-Click bid lower than other live ads, your ad may not be shown. Consider increasing your bid to the maximum amount you are willing to pay when a customer clicks your ad. To get started, look for the suggested bid range in the campaign builder. You'll only be charged when a customer clicks your ad.
Can I edit my campaign while it's running?
As long as your ad is running, you can edit the budget, bids, and the duration (the end date for a running campaign can be edited to shorten or extend a campaign). To edit your campaign settings:
- Sign in to your Amazon Advertising account with your KDP credentials.
- Choose the campaign you want to edit by clicking the name.
- Click the Campaign Settings tab and make your changes.
- Click Save.
Your new campaign settings will update immediately. However, ad data such as clicks, impressions, and sales may take up to 14 days to show in your reports.
Where can I see my ad's status?
Sign in to your
Amazon Advertising account and click
Advertising Campaigns. Here you'll see your campaign name, status, and performance metrics.
How do I terminate my ad?
- Go to your Amazon Advertising account.
- Click Advertising Campaigns.
- Click the Running tab next to your campaign name in the Status column.
- Choose Terminate.
Note: Campaign metrics (data about your ad) may continue to update for up to 24 hours after termination.
Why was my ad rejected?
The three most common reasons ads are rejected:
- Grammatical errors
- Unsubstantiated claims
- Provocative images
For more information on our guidelines, please check the
Amazon Creative Acceptance Policy and the
Amazon Book Ads Creative Acceptance Policies.
Where on Amazon can I see my ad?
There's no guaranteed way to see where your ad displays. Ads are displayed based on the keywords, categories, or products targeted. With so many users and so many ads in the system at once, your ad could be displayed in multiple places. You can track your ad's performance by signing in to your
Amazon Advertising account. You'll see the number of impressions, clicks, and estimated total sales resulting from your ads. If impression data is increasing, then your ad is being seen.
How often is campaign data updated in my reports?
There are validation processes that affect the impression and click totals on your dashboard. Sponsored Products data is updated within 1 day, Product Display Ad data within 14 days. You can find the most accurate data in your downloadable campaign performance report. To download a report, click the download symbol. It's above the right side of the campaign dashboard.
Where I can see my ad campaign data?
To see your ad campaign performance history, go to your
campaign dashboard. On your dashboard, you'll see your campaign name, ad type, start and end dates, impressions, clicks, Cost-per-Click (CPC) bid, budget, average CPC bid, the amount you've spent from your budget and estimated total sales.
How do I update my payment information?
- Go to your amazon.com account.
- Sign in with your email and password.
- Click the Accounts & Lists drop-down under your name.
- Choose Your Account.
- Choose Payment options.
- Click the credit card you would like to edit.
- Click Edit and update the information.
- Click Save.
Once you've updated your payment information, log into Amazon Advertising and click the
Payment Settings tab. Your updated payment information should be appear there.
I'm having issues with the website. Do you have troubleshooting tips?
Try these suggestions:
- Check ad blockers. Open your browser's settings and disable any ad blockers you may have installed.
- Reload the page. If the site is taking a long time to respond, or if a page is timing out, try reloading.
- Clear your cache. Clearing your cache deletes temporary copies of pages and makes room for new ones.
- Update your browser. Most websites work best with the most current version of your browser. You should be able to upgrade to the newest version of your browser by going to the website responsible for your browser.
Still need help?
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