The Flywheel
According to eMarketer, over 60% of US shoppers start their product search on Amazon. With Goodreads reviews baked into Amazon detail pages, book customers have little reason to look elsewhere. Just like on Google, what results a customer gets when they type a query into the Amazon search bar is dictated by the A9 algorithm, which weighs a complicated mix of factors.
While the exact mix is proprietary and Amazon hasn’t shared any details publicly, it is known to include sales velocity and conversion rate. Increasing those factors through advertising, publicity, or design and SEO optimizations, helps jumpstart what is known as the Amazon “flywheel.” More advertising and promotion lead to more sales, which improves your search optimization. Increasing your search optimization improves how high you show up in best seller ranks and search result pages and in turn improves organic sales.
The issue for publishers is often that, while the book promotion cycle can be short, the Amazon algorithm, flywheel, and advertising campaigns reward sustained effort. It can be tempting to put all your budget into a condensed timeframe starting with the book’s release but limiting advertising to a few weeks or months will not generate strong return on investment. For books with a large enough marketing budget, consider starting advertising at least a few weeks ahead of release date to generate awareness and preorders. Once the flywheel has gained momentum, it should take a proportionally smaller investment to keep it turning, so for strong performers, consider continuing to run always-on advertising after the titles have moved to the back list.
Publisher Branding
Because authors are often better-known brands than publishers and Amazon product detail pages drive to Author Central rather than a publisher’s brand store, most publishers aren’t yet engaging with Amazon’s content offerings. However, for publishers that want to sell successfully on Amazon that is going to need to change.
In recent years, Amazon has increased their focus on brand and lifestyle content offerings. Brands can now create custom brand stores, social media-esque lifestyle posts, and brand stories to drive brand awareness, loyalty, and followers. While product detail pages for books may not link to the publisher’s brand store, Sponsored Brand ads can. Designing a brand store that is a strong representation of your brand, and running Sponsored Brand ads featuring a curated selection of titles that link to it, can help develop followers and brand awareness that will keep your sales strong across your catalog, even when your new blockbuster title has fallen off the best-seller list.
Author Advertising
In 2022 Amazon began allowing traditionally published authors to run Amazon Ads for their titles, an option that was previously open only to publishers and self-published authors. This move allows authors with digital marketing savvy or their own publicists more direct control over advertising.
For publishers who run Amazon Ads for their titles, the opening of advertising to authors presents new challenges and opportunities. Publishers with authors that are, or anticipate, running Amazon Ads for their own titles, should work closely with those authors or their publicists to avoid duplication of advertising efforts that may cannibalize results. Instead, publishers and authors should focus on complementary advertising that helps the flywheel gain momentum.
For example, when launching a new release: the publisher could run Sponsored Brand advertisements featuring the title alongside other complementary titles from their catalog while the author could run Sponsored Product advertisements, promoting the title directly on search result and product detail pages.
Navigating Sensitive Content
Amazon has a robust restricted content policy designed to keep sensitive content that customers might find objectionable or harmful from appearing in ads. Restricted content includes content that revolves around highly debased social topics, erotica, and content that claims to diagnose or cure a disease.
A lot of titles can fall into a grey area for sensitive topics — think a romance novel with a racy cover, a self-help workbook for a mental health challenge, or a new social studies book about a topical issue. The good news is that while most advertisements on Amazon are moderated by automation, advertisements for books are moderated by a team of Amazon employees. The bad news is that which advertisements are approved, and which are rejected, can sometimes feel arbitrary. When submitting a support ticket to appeal a rejection, remember to include all pertinent information — including similar campaigns that have been approved if possible — and if you have an Amazon Account Executive consider working directly with them, or with an agency (like Code3!) that has experience with Amazon Ad rejection appeals.
Unique Products
Automated, set-it and forget-it, one-size fits all advertising doesn’t work for publishers. Books are unique and each one requires a bespoke advertising solution to succeed. Want help creating strategies that will drive success for your titles? Contact us today to learn more!