Amazon Advertising for KDP Authors in 2019 – By Chris McMullen

Chris McMullen published a very useful and educational blog post about advertising for KDP authors. Thank you very much for the information, Chris!

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AMAZON ADVERTISING VIA KDP

As of 2019, Amazon modified how their advertising campaigns work, so this seems like a good time for a new article about how to use it.

I started using Amazon’s advertising feature several years ago, when it was first introduced to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

Since then, my ads have generated over 100 million impressions. So I have a little experience with how this works.

Advertising is one of many marketing tools. Like most marketing tools, you probably won’t blindly achieve instant success.

And like any paid marketing tool, advertising carries risk. If you aren’t careful, you can spend a lot of money quickly, and you might not recover your investment.

Advertising probably isn’t the solution for a book that isn’t selling on its own. It works better for some books than others, and for some authors than others. The success of the ad depends on a variety of factors.

One big problem is that there are many variables to consider:

How much should you bid?
How do you target your ads?
Is your custom text helping or hurting?
Does your cover draw your target audience in effectively?
Does your product page sell effectively?

Continue reading here

 

How To Publish A Book The Right Way To Reach More Readers – By Derek Haines

Derek Haines informs us about how to publish a book the right way to reach more readers. Thank you very much for all your information, Derek.

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Are you ready to publish your new book?

Stop for a moment before you jump into publishing your new title on Amazon Direct Publishing (KDP), Draft2Digital or Smashwords.

Check that you know how to publish a book correctly and how to give it a boost from launch day.

Can you answer yes to all the questions in the following 10 point checklist?

1. Is your manuscript perfect?

2. Did you check your title and sub-title against existing books?

3. Is your ebook cover the right size and high-resolution?

To continue reading the entire post, go to:

https://justpublishingadvice.com/how-to-publish-a-book-the-right-way-to-reach-more-readers/

Amazon Reviews, An Update – Written By Nicholas Rossis

Thank you for your insight on Amazon Reviews, Nicholas. Your knowledge is helping us all a lot! We really appreciate your hard work!

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I often write about Amazon reviews, as it is one of the most important aspects of marketing for many people and Amazon seems to keep changing the rules!

Now, Amy Collins of The Book Designer published an update in the form of Frequently Asked Questions. I’m sharing here the most common ones:
Can Anyone post a review on Amazon?

To contribute to Customer Reviews, you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com using a valid credit or debit card in the past 12 months. Promotional discounts don’t qualify towards the $50 minimum.

 

To read the entire article, please go to:

https://nicholasrossis.wordpress.com/2018/11/07/amazon-reviews-an-update/

 

You need to double your Amazon security

Jean M. Cogdell provides us with valuable information, hints and tipps about amazon security. Thank you very much Jean.

Jean's Writing

You heard right.

Time to double security and protect your books on Amazon. 

Now, not only do I need to work on this year’s taxes, but looks as if I may need to work on my Amazon account.

What the hell? Hackers are now invading Amazon? You’ve got to be kidding me.

I feel as if I’m playing Wack-a-Mole trying to avoid hackers and stupid people. This is getting ridiculous. I change my passwords from time to time, but now I’ve got to do more to keep these crooked jerks out.

Thanks to Janice Hardy over at Fiction University for the warning.

Here’s what I learned today about Amazon Security…

• Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) accounts are linked to my regular Amazon account.
• Hackers attempt to break into customer Amazon accounts every single day.
• If a Hacker gains access to my Amazon account they have access to my KDP.
• A Hacker will…

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CreateSpace Discontinues Paid Author Services

Thank you very much for this valuable information on CreateSpace, Nicholas Rossis!

Nicholas C. Rossis

Following the closure of CreateSpace’s eStore, Amazon has now delivered a further blow to the company. This makes it all more likely that all of CreateSpace operations will eventually be rolled into KDP Print.

In a surprising statement, Amazon announced its decision to move CreateSpace out of paid author services such as professional design and editing:

After a thorough review of our service offerings, we’ve made the decision to discontinue Createspace’s paid professional editing, design, and marketing services. We will work closely with impacted employees through this transition to help them find new roles within the company or assist them with pursuing opportunities outside the company.

Amazon Statement

Even though most Indie authors I know prefer to use their own resources for such services, CreateSpace’s design and editing services were in direct competition to book publishers such as BookBaby and IngramSparks. Still, Amazon says the latest round of layoffs…

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Amazon Steps Up Its Antifraud Efforts

Nicholas Rossis has been busy and informs us about Amazon stepping up its antifraud efforts. Thank you very much Nicholas. This is quite interesting!

Nicholas C. Rossis

Image: frostmediasolutions.com

Since 2015, Amazon has been actively trying to stomp out scammers exploiting authors. As I first reported in 2015, foremost among these were fake reviews, but a couple of months ago it upped the ante by filing arbitration complaints against five individuals who it says offered services to KDP author and publishers aimed at helping them manipulate the reading platform for financial gain. Amazon is demanding a combination of injunctive relief, account termination and, in some cases, triple damages.

As Publishers Weekly reports, Amazon alleges that five people used a number of prohibited strategies to manipulate customers reviews and worked to inflate sales and royalties. Amazon essentially charges that a handful of individuals worked to create fake reviews for their books and others’ in addition to attempts to manipulate Amazon systems that count book sales and the royalties paid to authors via its subscription reading service.

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