A 77-Year-Old Author Learns the Real Mechanics of Amazon Advertising (So You Don’t Have To)
After our conversation yesterday about whether Amazon ads actually work for ebook marketing, I found myself staring at my coffee this morning with a nagging thought: if I’m serious about this bestseller quest, maybe I need to understand exactly how these advertising campaigns work, even if I haven’t decided to try them yet.
So I cornered Claude again with a more specific request: “Assume I’ve decided to test Amazon advertising with a small budget. Walk me through exactly how to set this up, what to test first, and how to tell if it’s working or just making Amazon richer.”
What followed was probably the most practical education in digital advertising I’ve ever received. Here’s what Claude taught me about the actual mechanics of creating and testing Amazon ebook ads.
The Setup Conversation
Chet: Alright, Claude, let’s say I’ve decided to test Amazon advertising with one of my Lost Pages books. I’ve got zero experience with this stuff. Where exactly do I start?
Claude: First, let me be clear about what I’m working with here: I can research current best practices and analyze successful case studies, but I haven’t personally run Amazon ad campaigns. What I can give you is a synthesis of what the successful authors are actually doing, based on available data and documented strategies.
Let me search for the most current step-by-step processes…
[Claude searches for recent Amazon advertising tutorials and case studies]
Okay, here’s what I found about the actual setup process. The first thing you need to know is that Amazon offers three main types of book advertising campaigns, but as a beginner, you should start with just one: Sponsored Products campaigns.
Chet: Why just Sponsored Products? What are the other options?
Claude: The other options are Sponsored Brands (which requires multiple books and brand registry) and Sponsored Display (retargeting ads that are more advanced). Sponsored Products is where every successful author I researched started because it’s the most straightforward and gives you the clearest data about what works.
Here’s the step-by-step for getting your first campaign running:
Step 1: Accessing Amazon Advertising
Claude: You’ll log into your KDP account and look for “Promote and Advertise” in the main menu. If you don’t see it, your book needs to be live for at least 72 hours first.
Once you’re in the advertising dashboard, you’ll create a new Sponsored Products campaign. Amazon will walk you through a setup wizard, but here’s where most authors make their first mistake: they accept Amazon’s suggested settings, which are designed to spend your budget quickly, not efficiently.
Chet: What settings should I actually use instead of their suggestions?
Claude: Based on the successful case studies I found, here’s what experienced authors recommend for a first campaign:
- Campaign Type: Sponsored Products
- Campaign Name: Something descriptive like “October-Testimonies-Test-Jan2026” (include the date so you can track it later)
- Budget: Start with $5 per day, not the $10-20 Amazon suggests
- Duration: Set it to run indefinitely—you’ll pause it manually when needed
- Targeting: This is where it gets interesting…
Step 2: The Three-Campaign Strategy
Claude: Here’s something I found that surprised me: successful authors don’t start with just one campaign. They start with three different campaigns that test different approaches simultaneously. This gives you better data faster.
A Campaign: Automatic Targeting
- Let Amazon’s algorithm find your audience
- Budget: $5 per day
- Purpose: Market research—discover what actually works
B Campaign: Product Targeting
- Target specific competing books
- Budget: $3-5 per day
- Purpose: Steal readers from successful similar books
Campaign: Keyword Targeting
- Target specific search terms
- Budget: $5 per day
- Purpose: Capture people actively searching for your type of book
Chet: That sounds like $13-15 per day total. Is that realistic for a first test?
Claude: The authors who succeed treat this as business education. They budget $300-400 for the first month across all campaigns, knowing they’ll probably lose money while learning. If that’s outside your comfort zone, start with just the automatic campaign at $5 per day and add the others once you see what kind of data you’re getting.
Step 3: Setting Up Your First Automatic Campaign
Claude: Let me walk through the automatic campaign setup because it’s your best starting point for market research.
Targeting Settings:
- Choose “Automatic targeting”
- Select “Close match” rather than “Loose match” (this focuses on more relevant traffic)
- Leave “Negative keywords” blank for now
Bidding:
- Set your default bid at $0.30 (Amazon will suggest higher, ignore them)
- This bid applies to all automatic targeting, you can adjust specific placements later
Ad Creative:
- Amazon will use your book cover automatically
- You can add custom headline text (50 characters max)
- Example: “Edgar Allan Poe’s Final Mystery Revealed”
Chet: How do I know if $0.30 is the right bid?
Claude: You don’t, initially. That’s why it’s called testing. The research suggests starting conservatively and increasing bids if you’re not getting impressions (people aren’t seeing your ads). If you’re getting clicks but no sales, the problem might be your book presentation, not your bid amount.
Step 4: Product Targeting Strategy
Claude: For the product targeting campaign, you need to identify books that compete directly with yours. Here’s the research process successful authors use:
Finding Competitor Books:
- Search Amazon for books similar to yours
- Look for books with sales rank under 100,000 in Kindle Store
- Focus on books with 50+ reviews (indicates active readership)
- Choose books with professional presentation that yours can reasonably compete against
For your October Testimonies, you’d search for Edgar Allan Poe mysteries, Gothic historical fiction, literary mysteries about famous authors.
Campaign Setup:
- Choose “Manual targeting” then “Product targeting”
- Add the ASINs (Amazon product IDs) of 10-15 competing books
- Set bids at $0.35-0.50 (product targeting typically costs more than keywords)
- Use the same ad creative as your automatic campaign
Chet: How do I find these ASIN numbers?
Claude: Each book’s ASIN is in its Amazon URL. For example, if the URL is amazon.com/book-title/dp/B08XYZ123/, then B08XYZ123 is the ASIN. Just copy those into your campaign setup.
Step 5: Keyword Research and Targeting
Claude: This is where many authors either overthink it or under-think it. Let me share what the successful case studies reveal about keyword strategy.
Start with obvious keywords:
- Your main topic (Edgar Allan Poe)
- Your genre (gothic mystery, historical fiction)
- Your theme (literary mystery, famous author death)
Use Amazon’s search suggestions:
- Type your main keywords into Amazon’s search bar
- Note the auto-complete suggestions
- These represent actual searches people are making
Research competing books:
- Look at categories and keywords in successful competing books
- Check their titles and descriptions for keyword ideas
Think like your reader:
- What would someone type if they wanted exactly your book?
- “Books about Edgar Allan Poe death”
- “Victorian gothic mystery”
- “Historical literary mystery”
Chet: How many keywords should I start with?
Claude: Based on the research, start with 15-25 keywords divided into these categories:
- 5-7 broad genre terms (“gothic fiction,” “historical mystery”)
- 5-7 specific theme terms (“Edgar Allan Poe mystery,” “Victorian gothic”)
- 5-7 author names (competitors, if not trademarked)
- 3-5 long-tail specific phrases (“books about famous author deaths”)
Match Types:
- Use “Broad match” for most keywords (captures variations)
- Use “Exact match” for your most specific, high-intent terms
- Avoid “Phrase match” initially—it’s more complex to manage
Step 6: The Critical First Week Monitoring
Claude: Here’s where I found the biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful campaigns: monitoring and adjustment in the first week.
Daily Check-in (takes 5 minutes):
- Review total spend vs. budget
- Check impressions (are people seeing your ads?)
- Note click-through rates
- Monitor for any red flags
What You’re Looking For:
- Impressions: If zero after 48 hours, your bids are too low
- Click-through rate: Aim for 0.3% or higher
- Cost per click: Should be reasonable for your profit margins
- Conversions: Even one sale in the first week indicates potential
Red Flags:
- Zero impressions (increase bids by 25-50%)
- High clicks but no sales (book presentation problem)
- Extremely expensive clicks ($2+ for most fiction)
- Budget spending too quickly (lower bids or daily budget)
Chet: What if I’m getting impressions but no clicks?
Claude: That usually indicates a weak ad or poor book presentation. Your cover might not stand out, your title might not be compelling, or your price might be too high compared to similar books. This is valuable data—it tells you to work on presentation before spending more on advertising.
Step 7: Week Two Optimization
Claude: After a week of data collection, successful authors make their first optimizations. Here’s the systematic approach they use:
In Your Automatic Campaign:
- Download the “Search Terms” report
- Add high-performing search terms as exact match keywords in your keyword campaign
- Add irrelevant search terms as negative keywords
Your Product Targeting Campaign:
- Pause any book targets that generated clicks but no sales
- Increase bids on book targets that converted
- Add similar books to your successful targets
In Your Keyword Campaign:
- Pause keywords with high spend but no conversions
- Increase bids on keywords that generated sales
- Add variations of successful keywords
The Negative Keywords List: This is crucial but often ignored. Add negative keywords for:
- Irrelevant genres (“romance,” “children’s” if not applicable)
- Free content seekers (“free,” “pdf”)
- Different formats (“audiobook,” “paperback” if you’re ebook-only)
Chet: How do I know what’s “high spend” without sales?
Claude: The rule of thumb from successful campaigns: if a keyword or target has spent more than 3x your book’s profit without generating a sale, pause it. So if you earn $3.50 per book sale, pause anything that’s spent more than $10.50 without converting.
Step 8: Long-term Optimization Strategy
Claude: The authors who build profitable advertising businesses think in monthly cycles. Here’s their typical optimization schedule:
Weekly Tasks (30 minutes):
- Review search terms, add negatives
- Adjust bids on high-performing keywords
- Pause underperforming targets
- Update budget allocations
Monthly Tasks (1-2 hours):
- Comprehensive performance review
- Test new keyword groups
- Launch campaigns for new books
- Analyze competitor changes
Quarterly Tasks:
- Major strategy adjustments
- Genre or audience pivots if needed
- Budget reallocation across campaigns
The Money Reality Check
Chet: Let’s talk brass tacks. What should I realistically expect to spend and earn in those first few months?
Claude: Based on the case study data I found, here are realistic projections for a bootstrap author testing Amazon ads:
Month 1 Reality:
- Spend: $150-200
- Direct sales: $60-120
- Learning value: Understanding what keywords and audiences respond to your book
Second Month Expectations:
- Spend: $150-200
- Direct sales: $100-160
- Optimization: Better targeting based on month one data
Month 3 Goals:
- Spend: $125-175
- Direct sales: $125-200
- Target: Breaking even or slight profit
Month 4+ Success:
- Spend: $100-150
- Direct sales: $150-250
- Sustainable: 150-200% return on ad spend
Chet: And if I’m not hitting those milestones?
Claude: The honest assessment from successful advertisers: if you’re still seeing less than 70% return on ad spend after three months, you probably need to pause and reassess your book presentation, pricing, or genre fit before spending more money.
The most common reasons for failure aren’t bad advertising technique—they’re problems with the product being advertised.
Advanced Strategies Worth Understanding
Claude: Once you’ve got basic campaigns running profitably, there are some advanced techniques that successful authors use:
Time-of-Day Targeting: Different genres perform better at different times. Romance often converts better in evenings, business books during commute hours.
Seasonal Adjustments: Your Poe book might perform better in October, historical fiction often does well in fall/winter.
Price Coordination: Strategic price drops coordinated with increased ad spend can push books onto bestseller lists.
Cross-Campaign Learning: Use automatic campaign data to inform manual campaigns, use successful manual campaigns to create lookalike automatic campaigns.
The Tools Question
Chet: Do I need special software or tools for this, or can I manage everything through Amazon’s interface?
Claude: For testing and learning, Amazon’s native tools are sufficient. You can download reports, track performance, and make adjustments all within their system.
Free tools that help:
- Excel or Google Sheets for tracking ROI across campaigns
- Amazon’s mobile app for quick daily check-ins
- Amazon’s search suggestion tool for keyword research
Paid tools to consider later:
- Book Beam ($47/month) for automated bid management
- Kindle Spy ($9.97/month) for keyword research
- Ad Badger (starts at $59/month) for campaign automation
But don’t invest in paid tools until you’re consistently profitable with manual management.
My Biggest Takeaway
Chet: After all this, what’s your assessment of whether I should actually try this?
Claude: Here’s what strikes me after researching all this: Amazon advertising isn’t magic, but it’s not mysterious either. It’s a systematic business skill that rewards patience, testing, and optimization over wishful thinking.
For your specific situation—multiple books planned, systematic mindset, three-year timeline—it could be valuable if you approach it as business education rather than immediate profit generation.
The question isn’t whether Amazon ads work (they do, for authors who master them), but whether learning this skill is the best use of your time and money compared to alternatives like content marketing, building your Substack audience, or just writing more books.
My honest recommendation: Try one small test campaign when you publish your next Lost Pages book. Set a strict $150 budget for the first month, track everything obsessively, and see if the data suggests it’s worth pursuing further.
If the numbers look promising, gradually scale up. If not, you’ve spent $150 to learn that your marketing energy is better invested elsewhere.
The Questions This Raises for Me
This deep dive into Amazon advertising mechanics has been enlightening, but it’s also raised some bigger strategic questions about my bestseller quest.
On one hand, the systematic approach appeals to me. I like the idea of gathering real data about what resonates with readers, which keywords convert, what pricing strategies work. That information could be valuable regardless of whether the ads themselves are profitable.
On the other hand, Claude’s point about the learning curve investment is significant. Every month spent mastering advertising is a month not spent writing the next Lost Pages book. And I’m not getting any younger here.
I think my next conversation with Claude might need to focus on the bigger picture: how does advertising fit into an overall marketing strategy for someone chasing bestseller status on a bootstrap budget? There might be better ways to spend that same time and money.
But at least now I understand exactly what I’d be getting into if I decide to test the waters.
Want to follow along as I decide whether to dive into Amazon advertising or focus on other strategies for this crazy bestseller quest? Subscribe to The Bestseller Quest for real-time decision-making from a 77-year-old trying to figure out modern book marketing.