Fix the listing before you buy a click

An ad buys attention to a page. If the cover, title and blurb do not convert that attention, you are paying to prove it.

Test the page for free first: does the cover read at thumbnail size, does the first line of the blurb create a question, do the opening pages hold?

A series with a next book converts advertising far better than a standalone, because one bought reader can be worth several sales.

The campaigns worth running

Sponsored Products, manual keyword targeting: bid on the phrases readers of your genre actually search. Start 20 to 40 keywords, $0.25 to $0.45.

Sponsored Products, product targeting: bid on specific comparable titles. Precise, and usually the cheapest genuine reader.

Automatic targeting at a low bid as a discovery tool — harvest what converts into your manual campaigns, then keep it small.

The only arithmetic that matters

Know your royalty per sale. On a $4.99 ebook at 70%, roughly $3.40. If a sale costs more than that in clicks, the campaign loses money on that book alone.

ACOS is ad spend divided by sales revenue. Under 70% is usually healthy for a standalone; a strong series can profit well above 100% because of read-through.

Judge nothing before 1,000 impressions per keyword. Below that, you are reading noise and cutting winners.

Where ads stop and reach begins

Advertising rents attention. Content earns it. A performed edition — audio, or a film book — gives you something to post, cut and syndicate for years, which advertising never does.

The Herald here is sold as effort and reach: a stated volume of produced content pushed to social platforms, audio channels and radio. It is not sold as rankings or reviews, because nobody honest can promise those.

Run both if you can afford both. If you can afford one, own an asset before you rent a click.

Asked and answered

What should my starting bid be?

$0.25 to $0.45 on keywords, lower on automatic campaigns. Raise only what converts.

How much should I budget?

$5 to $10 a day is enough to gather real data on one book. Anything less takes months to read.

Do ads work for audiobooks?

Indirectly. Advertise the ebook and let the ebook page sell the audio edition; the storefront links them for you.