Advertising for KDP Books

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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.

See frequently asked questions.

Getting started guide

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.

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

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.

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.
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.

Not sure which type to choose? See this comparison chart.

Create your ad

Sponsored Products

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.

Product Display ads

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.

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.

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.

Frequently asked questions

Have my ads converted to sales?

How do I restart my ad after having a billing issue?

I noticed my campaign was paused and that I have a billing error.

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?

Where can I see my ad's status?

How do I terminate my ad?