Developer/author looking to scale

[MaxT]

Hi guys !

I'm a developer and author, I've already published more than 4 apps that have exceeded 100,000 downloads.

Besides that I wrote a book, which sells 2 to 3 copies a day.

Currently, everything runs automatically: the sales of applications and books.

I would like to have a mentor, because I want to go further. Increase my sales and downloads.

I am Maxime, and I am a 26 year old Frenchman, it would be a pleasure to have someone among you to discuss and help each other.

Thanks in advance guys!

 

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[Andy Black]

Hi guys !
I'm a developer and author, I've already published more than 4 apps that have exceeded 100,000 downloads.
Besides that I wrote a book, which sells 2 to 3 copies a day.
Currently, everything runs automatically: the sales of applications and books.
I would like to have a mentor, because I want to go further. Increase my sales and downloads.
I am Maxime, and I am a 26 year old Frenchman, it would be a pleasure to have someone among you to discuss and help each other.
Thanks in advance guys!

Maybe make this a progress thread and you’ll get other forum members popping in to help?

 

[MaxT]

Maybe make this a progress thread and you’ll get other forum members popping in to help?

I think it's a good idea. I will do that on a new post now

 

[Private Witt]

What is your book about?

 

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[MaxT]

What is your book about?

This is a book to learn skateboarding from begginer to an advanced level. Everything is detailed on the practice as well as around skateboarding: history, anatomy of skateboarding, glossary of technical terms, philosophy and vision... all in 200 pages sprinkled with humor. That's why I also decided to call it The Skateboarding Bible haha. I've been a skateboarder for 10 years now so I wrote it from the heart. I worked hard for 1 year with the desire to create the best book I could have given myself when I was a beginner in the practice .
If you want to see what it looks like: The skateboarding bible: Learn about the world of skateboarding, it's history, how to progress and innovate.: Tant, Maxime: 9781700192240: Books

 

[heavy_industry]

This is a book to learn skateboarding from begginer to an advanced level. Everything is detailed on the practice as well as around skateboarding: history, anatomy of skateboarding, glossary of technical terms, philosophy and vision... all in 200 pages sprinkled with humor. That's why I also decided to call it The Skateboarding Bible haha. I've been a skateboarder for 10 years now so I wrote it from the heart. I worked hard for 1 year with the desire to create the best book I could have given myself when I was a beginner in the practice .
If you want to see what it looks like: The skateboarding bible: Learn about the world of skateboarding, it's history, how to progress and innovate.: Tant, Maxime: 9781700192240: Books

Nice, congratulations on the book!

How much money (percentage) do you get from each copy sold?

 

[Andy Black]

Looks like this thread is turning into a progress thread. I moved it to that area and renamed it.

Well done getting your book written and getting 2-3 sales a day.

Well done launching 4 apps and getting 100,000 downloads too!

If you had to focus on one thing to scale then what would it be?

 

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[MaxT]

Nice, congratulations on the book!

How much money (percentage) do you get from each copy sold?

Thank you Between 9 and 10€ on each copy

 

[MaxT]

Looks like this thread is turning into a progress thread. I moved it to that area and renamed it.

Well done getting your book written and getting 2-3 sales a day.

Well done launching 4 apps and getting 100,000 downloads too!

If you had to focus on one thing to scale then what would it be?

Thank you for the change, it's nice of you .
Thanks, that's nice. I'm already super happy with it, now I'm working on promotion to make even more sales.
I think I'll focus on promoting the different projects, and of course improving the apps at the same time.
Also, I continue to train myself in marketing because it is my weak point.
On the site of my company I start to write blog articles to improve the referencing of my applications

 

[Cameraman]

This is a book to learn skateboarding from begginer to an advanced level. Everything is detailed on the practice as well as around skateboarding: history, anatomy of skateboarding, glossary of technical terms, philosophy and vision... all in 200 pages sprinkled with humor. That's why I also decided to call it The Skateboarding Bible haha. I've been a skateboarder for 10 years now so I wrote it from the heart. I worked hard for 1 year with the desire to create the best book I could have given myself when I was a beginner in the practice .
If you want to see what it looks like: The skateboarding bible: Learn about the world of skateboarding, it's history, how to progress and innovate.: Tant, Maxime: 9781700192240: Books

Well done on the app and book. It's great to see someone getting into this area. I can't give you any advice about the app but I do publish my own books.

I noticed that you have the Kindle version of the book enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. I would advise you to check how much you receive for each of the pages read. I did this with some of my own books and found that people could read the entire book for a fraction of the money I would earn if they bought it (the price to buy my books is quite low so this isn't good).

There is though a benefit from using Kindle Unlimited in that it can boost your book in the sales ranking. Amazon awards points for pages read. When your book rises in the sales rankings they start to promote it through their email list which also boosts your sales. So before you decide to remove it from KDP consider if you see any benefit from the page views.

Do you do any Amazon advertising? If not, consider it. I use Amazon Ads for all my books and it accounts for around 60% of sales. It also keeps the sales regular and steady throughout the year. The ads are very good value if you run them correctly.

If you do decide to withdraw the book from Kindle Unlimited, consider also publishing it on the likes of Google Play, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble etc. Those channels together bring in around 20% of my Amazon sales but I receive about twice the commission.

Do you have a website or a following on Facebook? If yes then you might also want to consider selling through those channels if you don't already. I use the Shopify Lite plan. I can use this to add a Buy Button for my books on any webpage where I can add JavaScript. They designed it for Facebook but it works in all kinds of places. I usually need to sell one book a month to cover the cost of the monthly fee and it looks like you would also from the figures.

I hope this gives you some more ideas to pursue. I would love to see your progress over the coming months.

 

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[MaxT]

Well done on the app and book. It's great to see someone getting into this area. I can't give you any advice about the app but I do publish my own books.

I noticed that you have the Kindle version of the book enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. I would advise you to check how much you receive for each of the pages read. I did this with some of my own books and found that people could read the entire book for a fraction of the money I would earn if they bought it (the price to buy my books is quite low so this isn't good).

There is though a benefit from using Kindle Unlimited in that it can boost your book in the sales ranking. Amazon awards points for pages read. When your book rises in the sales rankings they start to promote it through their email list which also boosts your sales. So before you decide to remove it from KDP consider if you see any benefit from the page views.

Do you do any Amazon advertising? If not, consider it. I use Amazon Ads for all my books and it accounts for around 60% of sales. It also keeps the sales regular and steady throughout the year. The ads are very good value if you run them correctly.

If you do decide to withdraw the book from Kindle Unlimited, consider also publishing it on the likes of Google Play, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble etc. Those channels together bring in around 20% of my Amazon sales but I receive about twice the commission.

Do you have a website or a following on Facebook? If yes then you might also want to consider selling through those channels if you don't already. I use the Shopify Lite plan. I can use this to add a Buy Button for my books on any webpage where I can add JavaScript. They designed it for Facebook but it works in all kinds of places. I usually need to sell one book a month to cover the cost of the monthly fee and it looks like you would also from the figures.

I hope this gives you some more ideas to pursue. I would love to see your progress over the coming months.

Thanks a lot for your message .
Kindle Unlimited really doesn't pay anything it's crazy, I think I'll take it off for a while you're right. This may bring me additional sales. If I see the sales drop, I will put it back .

I started on Amazon Ads, for the moment it's only been 7 days and I haven't recorded a single sale for around $7 spent. So I created a second ad, but automatically this time, without target keywords. What method do you use by the way?
Indeed it is very interesting to sell through other channels but currently I cannot via KDP. I'll see that to change it later, the advantage is that Amazon manages everything from start to finish, I just have to promote that's what I like haha.

Do you use a blog/site, where you create articles to promote your book(s)? I think it would be a good idea to set up for me, and for both markets (French and English). Maybe a Youtube channel too?

Now that Andy has dedicated this post to my progress, I'm going to post my progress. As a kind of social network, in order to have more things to say I think I will do an "Evolution" type post every weekend. I will share my results here

 

[Cameraman]

It's good to hear that you will be updating this thread with progress and I'm looking forward to reading more. You've also asked some good questions so I will answer them from my experience.

I started on Amazon Ads, for the moment it's only been 7 days and I haven't recorded a single sale for around $7 spent. So I created a second ad, but automatically this time, without target keywords. What method do you use by the way?
Indeed it is very interesting to sell through other channels but currently I cannot via KDP.

If you're new to Amazon Ads and don't have a lot of experience with keyword selection I would recommend starting with the Automatic Sponsored Product ads. Run one of these for a month and allow Amazon to work out how best to advertise your book.

To figure out who to show the ad to, Amazon uses a combination of buyer history, keywords it identifies in your book title and description, and the keywords you created when you uploaded your book for sale. Be sure to check the keywords you set are relevant and that you use all seven. You can change them at any time but it takes a few days for the effect to filter through. Also, remember that the sales data on Amazon ads often lags by a few days. You could have been making sales but you won't know it. I tend to leave most of my changes for around a month to test them.

After running the Auto ad for a month, check the Search History in the Ad. You'll find that in the Campaign Manager for your ad. This will tell you the search terms people are using to find and buy your book - it's an eye-opener. Use this to build a keyword list so you can create a second ad using Keywords rather than Auto. You then have much more control over who sees it and how the ad is priced.

It's also important when checking the search history of ads to find searches where the ad was shown but you wouldn't want it to be. For example, I have a book on using the Affinity Photo software but Amazon shows the ad to people interested in Affinity Designer which is completely different and wastes my money. By setting Affinity Designer as a negative search term I can prevent this.

You should also use negative search terms on your keyword-based ads to make them as well-targeted as possible. Keep in mind that Amazon has learned from YouTube. It only wants to show your ad to people who it thinks will be interested. The better it can target your ad the more likely it is to show it. I also have a suspicion from what I see that you can end up paying less for a well-targeted ad.

Check your ads every month going forward to see if you can improve the keywords, negative search terms and bid prices. Don't leave them unchecked or your performance will suffer. Be sure not to overbid for a keyword. The suggested bid prices Amazon makes often seem very high. I keep more of my bids to around 20p until I have enough data to change them.

There is a lot you can do around this but the key is to watch your ACOS%. This tells you if you are paying more for the ad than the income it generates; remember, this is not the same as profit. an ACOS of 100% means you paid the same for the ads as the price of your book. I've seen a lot of gurus selling courses and advice where they say an ACOS of 300% or more is fine. Generally it isn't and you should aim for an ACOS of below 50%. I try to keep mine below 20% and whilst they vary over time and from country to country they trend around 15%. Incidentally, I've had some of these gurus tell me 15% is impossible which shows me they don't know what they are talking about.

If your book is in English, be sure to set up ads in the different English speaking countries. My main ad sales come from the US, UK and AU. There is a separate Campaign Manager for each country and the ads you set up in one won't be shown in another country/region.

OK. That's a lot of info to get you started but it's more than worth the effort.

I'll see that to change it later, the advantage is that Amazon manages everything from start to finish, I just have to promote that's what I like haha.

If you like Amazon doing everything for you, consider using a distributor like SmashWords. I use Smashwords to distribute my books on some of the other platforms like Apple, Barnes and Noble, Scribd etc. They also do Google Play and Amazon but I set my books not to go to them because I have direct relationships. You are in control of where it goes and you only have to set the book up in their catalogue once. They do everything else but they do take a commission. I think I pay 6% of sales but I really can't remember. I just know that it more than justifies the cost.

Do you use a blog/site, where you create articles to promote your book(s)? I think it would be a good idea to set up for me, and for both markets (French and English). Maybe a Youtube channel too?

Yes, I have a website where I publish tutorials and sell my books, and build a mailing list with a monthly newsletter. I don't have big traffic numbers and there are people on this forum who have a larger presence. My site achieves anywhere between 1,500 and 4,000 unique visitors a day. I have around 12k email subscribers who are very engaged, which is great when it comes to launching a new book. I can usually hit the number 1 position for my niche on a new book launch. I would recommend building something similar for yourself if you want to scale your book publishing activities. Just remember, it takes time to grow this in a quality way.

YouTube is another good option and will help gain publicity for you and your book. If you have a website you could publish the videos there also. I publish weekly YouTube videos and have done for a few years. My channel only grows slowly but it does help new people find me all the time.

I hope some of this helps you and I look forward to reading about your progress.

PS I have to ask why you have a pic of Vince Gironda for your profile? I didn't think many people knew of him these days.

 

[MaxT]

It's good to hear that you will be updating this thread with progress and I'm looking forward to reading more. You've also asked some good questions so I will answer them from my experience.


If you're new to Amazon Ads and don't have a lot of experience with keyword selection I would recommend starting with the Automatic Sponsored Product ads. Run one of these for a month and allow Amazon to work out how best to advertise your book.

To figure out who to show the ad to, Amazon uses a combination of buyer history, keywords it identifies in your book title and description, and the keywords you created when you uploaded your book for sale. Be sure to check the keywords you set are relevant and that you use all seven. You can change them at any time but it takes a few days for the effect to filter through. Also, remember that the sales data on Amazon ads often lags by a few days. You could have been making sales but you won't know it. I tend to leave most of my changes for around a month to test them.

After running the Auto ad for a month, check the Search History in the Ad. You'll find that in the Campaign Manager for your ad. This will tell you the search terms people are using to find and buy your book - it's an eye-opener. Use this to build a keyword list so you can create a second ad using Keywords rather than Auto. You then have much more control over who sees it and how the ad is priced.

It's also important when checking the search history of ads to find searches where the ad was shown but you wouldn't want it to be. For example, I have a book on using the Affinity Photo software but Amazon shows the ad to people interested in Affinity Designer which is completely different and wastes my money. By setting Affinity Designer as a negative search term I can prevent this.

You should also use negative search terms on your keyword-based ads to make them as well-targeted as possible. Keep in mind that Amazon has learned from YouTube. It only wants to show your ad to people who it thinks will be interested. The better it can target your ad the more likely it is to show it. I also have a suspicion from what I see that you can end up paying less for a well-targeted ad.

Check your ads every month going forward to see if you can improve the keywords, negative search terms and bid prices. Don't leave them unchecked or your performance will suffer. Be sure not to overbid for a keyword. The suggested bid prices Amazon makes often seem very high. I keep more of my bids to around 20p until I have enough data to change them.

There is a lot you can do around this but the key is to watch your ACOS%. This tells you if you are paying more for the ad than the income it generates; remember, this is not the same as profit. an ACOS of 100% means you paid the same for the ads as the price of your book. I've seen a lot of gurus selling courses and advice where they say an ACOS of 300% or more is fine. Generally it isn't and you should aim for an ACOS of below 50%. I try to keep mine below 20% and whilst they vary over time and from country to country they trend around 15%. Incidentally, I've had some of these gurus tell me 15% is impossible which shows me they don't know what they are talking about.

If your book is in English, be sure to set up ads in the different English speaking countries. My main ad sales come from the US, UK and AU. There is a separate Campaign Manager for each country and the ads you set up in one won't be shown in another country/region.

OK. That's a lot of info to get you started but it's more than worth the effort.



If you like Amazon doing everything for you, consider using a distributor like SmashWords. I use Smashwords to distribute my books on some of the other platforms like Apple, Barnes and Noble, Scribd etc. They also do Google Play and Amazon but I set my books not to go to them because I have direct relationships. You are in control of where it goes and you only have to set the book up in their catalogue once. They do everything else but they do take a commission. I think I pay 6% of sales but I really can't remember. I just know that it more than justifies the cost.


Yes, I have a website where I publish tutorials and sell my books, and build a mailing list with a monthly newsletter. I don't have big traffic numbers and there are people on this forum who have a larger presence. My site achieves anywhere between 1,500 and 4,000 unique visitors a day. I have around 12k email subscribers who are very engaged, which is great when it comes to launching a new book. I can usually hit the number 1 position for my niche on a new book launch. I would recommend building something similar for yourself if you want to scale your book publishing activities. Just remember, it takes time to grow this in a quality way.

YouTube is another good option and will help gain publicity for you and your book. If you have a website you could publish the videos there also. I publish weekly YouTube videos and have done for a few years. My channel only grows slowly but it does help new people find me all the time.

I hope some of this helps you and I look forward to reading about your progress.

PS I have to ask why you have a pic of Vince Gironda for your profile? I didn't think many people knew of him these days.

Thank you very much for your help, it's very kind!
I'm going to let the automatic run and deactivate the other in a month so I'll have lots of keywords
I have never used the negative keywords either, I will add them too.
It's noted for all Anglo-Saxon countries too, I'm going to do that today
As for Smashwords, Amazon Kdp did not send you an email asking you to stop broadcasting on other platforms? . Because for my part just the fact that it is on Apple Books I had received an email from them and I had to remove it. It's because I have to be on kdp select I think.

As for the site, that's what I thought. Congratulations on your project by the way . I think that the site/blog + newsletter is one of the best approaches these days, even more so if it's coupled with social networks.

In this case I think to try YouTube, it can be another good support to attract future customers .

Thank you for your help, it motivates me even more! Do you live well on your side with your books? Just with these, how much income do you get per month? You don't have to answer if it's top indiscreet I could understand.

As for Vince Gironda, he's a bodybuilder that I really like, he represents the golden age of bodybuilding/bodybuilding. I've been doing it for 4 years at bodyweight and Vince is the ideal goal that I would like to achieve physically

 

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[Cameraman]

I'm pleased to hear that you will follow up on these suggestions. I hope they work out well for you. To answer your questions.

As for Smashwords, Amazon Kdp did not send you an email asking you to stop broadcasting on other platforms?

I only have one book which is part of Kindle Unlimited. This isn't one that would sell much so I use Kindle Unlimited to increase potential viewers of my work - I look at the lost revenue as being a marketing cost. The rest of my books are for sale on Amazon but not part of Kindle Unlimited which allows me to sell them through the other channels. After you remove a book from the Kindle Unlimited programme you need to wait until the end of that quarter on Amazon before you can sell it through other channels. The rules should be in the Amazon Help.

Do you live well on your side with your books? Just with these, how much income do you get per month?

I won't say how much I earn but will tell you that it pays the bills and holidays. I started it as a side business almost 10 years ago but then closed my other business around 5 years ago. I kept the publishing going more as a hobby although it gets demanding at times (even though I don't work anymore).

As for Vince Gironda, he's a bodybuilder that I really like, he represents the golden age of bodybuilding/bodybuilding.

Top marks and an excellent role model. I've been training for 40 years, pursuing a healthy approach rather than size. People still notice though, especially because I'm 50's and most people are fat at that age. Keep it up.

 

[MaxT]

I'm pleased to hear that you will follow up on these suggestions. I hope they work out well for you. To answer your questions.


I only have one book which is part of Kindle Unlimited. This isn't one that would sell much so I use Kindle Unlimited to increase potential viewers of my work - I look at the lost revenue as being a marketing cost. The rest of my books are for sale on Amazon but not part of Kindle Unlimited which allows me to sell them through the other channels. After you remove a book from the Kindle Unlimited programme you need to wait until the end of that quarter on Amazon before you can sell it through other channels. The rules should be in the Amazon Help.



I won't say how much I earn but will tell you that it pays the bills and holidays. I started it as a side business almost 10 years ago but then closed my other business around 5 years ago. I kept the publishing going more as a hobby although it gets demanding at times (even though I don't work anymore).



Top marks and an excellent role model. I've been training for 40 years, pursuing a healthy approach rather than size. People still notice though, especially because I'm 50's and most people are fat at that age. Keep it up.

Yes it will be with pleasure and it will motivate me at the same time so it's perfect .
I think it's the same for me and it helps users to form an opinion before buying so it's a great marketing tool.
It's already great then, it's also my case currently between the applications and the book so I'm happy. Now the goal is to go even further!
It's true that in their fifties, men are getting fatter and fatter, just like women. It's sad to see people who don't take care of themselves at all when it only takes a short time in the end if you have a good diet on the side. I hope that when I'm 50 I'll be like you

 

[MaxT]

A big decision that will change my whole life (and why not yours if you try too).

This week I made a big decision that will surely change my life forever. Since childhood I played video games and I loved it, for 2-3 years, I did not experience more pleasure than that to play. Only with my friends was still fun and it allows us to discuss. The problem is that it eats a lot of time, 2 to 3 hours a day for me! So I made a radical decision, got a game tower, and found a buyer. I will definitely cut games out of my life. I know it's radical, but the idea had been floating around in my head for several months already... I'm now 26 and when I see that on certain games I've exceeded 1300 hours, it makes me sad. imagine that I could have invested this time in learning the guitar better or doing paintings, skateboarding or bodybuilding (these are all my favorite hobbies). Especially since I already work on the screen from morning to night, so hello to my eye health haha. To conclude, there is good and bad in quitting video games. I think that in the long run, the benefits will outweigh them very much.

 

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[MaxT]

16/05/22 : Today was a good day

• Contact via email with several "Well-being / meditation" influencers to promote my Cardiac Coherence application. If you want take a look : Cardiac Coherence | Linktree
• Makeover of the design of my articles on the blog in order to publish them on a daily basis and to boost the visibility of the apps and the book. As a bonus I added a jQuery/JS module which allows my visitors to share the article. The module remains locked on the screen and remains constantly visible. Example of an article : DFMV - Trois raisons de se mettre au sport en 2022
• Publication of photographs on the royalty-free bank Unsplash: To further promote The Skateboard Bible. My Unsplash pics : DFMV Enterprise (@dfmv_tant_maxime) | Unsplash Photo Community
• Amazon Ads: self-created ad for the skate bible with all the keywords previously collected. Allocation of the daily budget to $10.
• Apple Ads: Paid promotion of Seven Workout and Brain booster (my two iOS apps that are struggling to take off, lack of promotion).
• Second attempt to contact a French computer magazine (01Net) in order to promote Cardiac Coherence or another application.
• 30min reading The Intelligent Investor
• listening to some podcasts on the stock market and crypto currencies with Google Podcasts
  
  The day ended with a good pull-up session: 9 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions in pronation for the most part.
  
  Don't give up and take care of yourself guys, the work always pays off.

 

[MaxT]

Good new of the day : First sale of my book with Amazon Ads
​

 

[Cameraman]

Good new of the day : First sale of my book with Amazon Ads
View attachment 43501​

Congratulations.

Now keep checking your bid cost weekly. You want to keep it low to maximise profit but still generate traffic. You can only do that by continually adjusting (weekly is probably as frequent as you can go) as other people also change their bid prices.

Monthly check your ACOS. You want that to stay below 20% if you can. As a general rule of thumb, you only get about 50% of the sale price of an ebook after tax and delivery fees have been taken, and that's on a 75% commission rate. You can check the exact figure using the books price page of your Amazon Bookshelf.

I hope the additional sales come rolling in for you.

 

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[Andy Black]

Good new of the day : First sale of my book with Amazon Ads
View attachment 43501​

Well done!

• MINDSET - Woohoo! One in a row!

 

[MaxT]

Congratulations.

Now keep checking your bid cost weekly. You want to keep it low to maximise profit but still generate traffic. You can only do that by continually adjusting (weekly is probably as frequent as you can go) as other people also change their bid prices.

Monthly check your ACOS. You want that to stay below 20% if you can. As a general rule of thumb, you only get about 50% of the sale price of an ebook after tax and delivery fees have been taken, and that's on a 75% commission rate. You can check the exact figure using the books price page of your Amazon Bookshelf.

I hope the additional sales come rolling in for you.

Ok noted, I'll keep an eye on it. How do I know if I can lower the bid on a keyword? Because to increase the bid I saw that Amazon presents it in the form of recommendations. Thank you very much for your help !

 

[Cameraman]

Ok noted, I'll keep an eye on it. How do I know if I can lower the bid on a keyword? Because to increase the bid I saw that Amazon presents it in the form of recommendations. Thank you very much for your help !

Amazon also recommends when it thinks you can reduce the bid price. If you look at the targeting section f an ad where your keywords are, they display a recommended bid range and bid. Do be careful with these though. Here's an example of a few keywords in one of my ads.



Notice that I'm bidding only $0.23 but the recommended bid is much higher. Only 2 weeks ago my bid was above the recommended bid range for most of these keywords. It fluctuates a lot through the seasons but also if someone launches a new book. They will often bid very high to gain traffic for a short while but then reduce their bids later. You get a feel for it when you check your ads weekly.

There are also a lot of new people getting into the market with Amazon ads and I see a lot of "gurus" recommending using the suggested bid or sometimes much higher. This is driving up the cost of the ads to unrealistic levels. If I were to bid $2.28 for the keyword "affinity photo manual" I would probably make a sale every 8 to 10 clicks. If it costs me $22.80 to sell a book where my gross profit margin (ignoring the cost of writing the book and taking it to market) is around $3, I'll quickly go bankrupt.

Don't be sucked in and feel you need to bid high. Watch the bids to understand the trends and try to be as targeted as possible. Also, use negative keywords to avoid wasting money. If your book will always show for a certain search term, there's no need to show an ad for that. You don't want your book in the search results and then your ad next to it. If they click on your ad then it's costing you money for a click you may have got anyway.

Remember, it takes time and effort to refine your ads but it's well worth it.

 

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[Andy Black]

I couldn’t help myself. Had to do a search.

Here’s the results in Ireland:



And just below the Google Shopping Ads:

 

[Cameraman]

Shame it's not me. Frank is one of my main competitors with Affinity Photo books.

 

[MaxT]

Amazon also recommends when it thinks you can reduce the bid price. If you look at the targeting section f an ad where your keywords are, they display a recommended bid range and bid. Do be careful with these though. Here's an example of a few keywords in one of my ads.

View attachment 43502

Notice that I'm bidding only $0.23 but the recommended bid is much higher. Only 2 weeks ago my bid was above the recommended bid range for most of these keywords. It fluctuates a lot through the seasons but also if someone launches a new book. They will often bid very high to gain traffic for a short while but then reduce their bids later. You get a feel for it when you check your ads weekly.

There are also a lot of new people getting into the market with Amazon ads and I see a lot of "gurus" recommending using the suggested bid or sometimes much higher. This is driving up the cost of the ads to unrealistic levels. If I were to bid $2.28 for the keyword "affinity photo manual" I would probably make a sale every 8 to 10 clicks. If it costs me $22.80 to sell a book where my gross profit margin (ignoring the cost of writing the book and taking it to market) is around $3, I'll quickly go bankrupt.

Don't be sucked in and feel you need to bid high. Watch the bids to understand the trends and try to be as targeted as possible. Also, use negative keywords to avoid wasting money. If your book will always show for a certain search term, there's no need to show an ad for that. You don't want your book in the search results and then your ad next to it. If they click on your ad then it's costing you money for a click you may have got anyway.

Remember, it takes time and effort to refine your ads but it's well worth it.

Wow thank you very much for these valuable tips, I see that I have a lot to learn. In the end, it's a good tool, you just have to watch it from time to time so as not to be overcharged.
Do you use upside bids only? Or do you prefer the others? For my part, I am on "lower" auctions

 

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[MaxT]

I couldn’t help myself. Had to do a search.

Here’s the results in Ireland:

View attachment 43503

And just below the Google Shopping Ads:

View attachment 43504

This allows you to see the prices of similar products, but not the bids on the keywords he uses?

 

[Cameraman]

Wow thank you very much for these valuable tips, I see that I have a lot to learn. In the end, it's a good tool, you just have to watch it from time to time so as not to be overcharged.
Do you use upside bids only? Or do you prefer the others? For my part, I am on "lower" auctions

I use the dynamic bid down option. I tried up and down but the costs became silly quite quickly.
The other option I use is Placement where you can increase your bid to get on the 1st page of search results. I've found this valuable because people are searching for a term directly relating to your book (if you have the right keywords). I'm happy to push these bids up by 100% as I tend to make a sale at least every three clicks in this section. I'm less convinced about the value of increasing bids for product placement searches.

Remember, don't change too many options in one go. You need to change one thing and then see how it works for you. Also, keep a spreadsheet because you will forget what you've done.

 

[Andy Black]

This allows you to see the prices of similar products, but not the bids on the keywords he uses?

You won’t know their bids, or CPCs. You can get estimates from the Google Keyword Planner. The best way to find out is to run a test campaign.

 

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[Andy Black]

Shame it's not me. Frank is one of my main competitors with Affinity Photo books.

Let’s assume he’s profitable running Google Ads. Can you replicate what he’s doing?

 

[Cameraman]

Let’s assume he’s profitable running Google Ads. Can you replicate what he’s doing?

Yes, I could do something similar, but I don't run Google ads at the moment for my Affinity books (for reasons that I can't make public yet). I do make daily sales through my website from "passing traffic" and well as from YouTube. I could probably do more if I put some effort in.