Ad bar gone entirely, clickable tags replacing, and only single ad on a page

[cuberoute]

Doing some ad tuning and noticed that the carousel of ads is gone for me. I'm just seeing "Explore Similar Books" which uses tags, "Customers who Read this also read", "Customers who Bought...", "Customers who viewed..."

There's just the single sponsored ad on the right side in the box. No custom text, so it looks like the Amazon auto sponsored ads I think. I checked a lot of titles across sci-fi, cozy and other genres and can't get an ad carousel to arrive, not even in incognito mode.

Am I just stuck in an Amazon test group of customers or has the ad carousel been removed for now?

[idontknowyet]

As a reader that would be amazing. True also boughts were the best way of finding good books

[Jeff Tanyard]

True also boughts were the best way of finding good books

 

[notthatamanda]

The first book I wrote, published in 2014 has two rows of related content, which is sponsored ads(?). The book I published this year and sold a cool dozen copies on only has the also boughts, not even a single automatic sponsored ad. (It did get a five star rating which I didn't know about until just now so thanks for the thread since it made me find that.)

Jeff Tanyard's book Hostile Planet has no also boughts, two rows of sponsored ads, and also read (Is that also boughts? I can't remember)

[LilyBLily]

My oldest western romance has the "Explore similar books" carousel, with helpful tags that seem to show the same western romances, and then goes to my A+ content. The second in the series only has "Customers who viewed this item also viewed" before the A+.

Checking my women's fiction, both carousels on one, only the "Customers who viewed" on another. My sole non-series romance only has "Books you may like."

Yes, whither Sponsored Ads?

[Anarchist]

Amazon conducts rolling tests across their servers. Unless they roll something into production, what you and I see will differ from what others see.

Also, an unpopular opinion...

I hope Amazon replaces also-boughts (in all its variations) with ads.

[angela]

Amazon conducts rolling tests across their servers. Unless they roll something into production, what you and I see will differ from what others see.

Also, an unpopular opinion...

I hope Amazon replaces also-boughts (in all its variations) with ads.

Doing so would certainly switch things up and redistribute sales. It would take away power from the digital imprints and anyone else who uses an immense mailing list to clump books together, creating a store within the store.

It would also kill any long tail from Bookbub featured deals.

I don't hate it, because it would likely benefit me.

It may be time for them to lose the alsobots. It was different when the alsobots better reflected readers' tastes and not just publishers' manipulations. (Assuming that was ever true in the first place.)

[TimothyEllis]

Also, an unpopular opinion...

I hope Amazon replaces also-boughts (in all its variations) with ads.

Definitely unpopular.

Also-boughts are the only way I go looking for new books to read.

The ad sliders never have anything on them I decide to read.

And from the author side, the moment the also-boughts gets removed, sales drop. Every time they try it.

If AMS wasn't the total joke it is now, and actually worked like it did in 2018, I'd maybe go along with you. But AMS failed when they changed it in 2019, and has only gotten worse.

[LilyBLily]

Also, an unpopular opinion...

I hope Amazon replaces also-boughts (in all its variations) with ads.

Definitely unpopular.

Also-boughts are the only way I go looking for new books to read.

The ad sliders never have anything on them I decide to read.

And from the author side, the moment the also-boughts gets removed, sales drop. Every time they try it.

If AMS wasn't the total joke it is now, and actually worked like it did in 2018, I'd maybe go along with you. But AMS failed when they changed it in 2019, and has only gotten worse.

I totally agree with that. AMS ads used to work very well for all my books. No more. Also boughts are much more reliable indicators of similar tastes than sponsored ads. "Books you may like" is okay, but it takes into account books you might have looked at and not bought, which is why also boughts are better.

[Anarchist]

Amazon conducts rolling tests across their servers. Unless they roll something into production, what you and I see will differ from what others see.

Also, an unpopular opinion...

I hope Amazon replaces also-boughts (in all its variations) with ads.

Doing so would certainly switch things up and redistribute sales. It would take away power from the digital imprints and anyone else who uses an immense mailing list to clump books together, creating a store within the store.

It would also kill any long tail from Bookbub featured deals.

I don't hate it, because it would likely benefit me.

It may be time for them to lose the alsobots. It was different when the alsobots better reflected readers' tastes and not just publishers' manipulations. (Assuming that was ever true in the first place.)

It would benefit me, too. I can more easily influence ad results than also-boughts.

All of us can influence also-boughts to an extent, but ads provide more stability, predictability, and granularity with metrics.

Moreover, if I'm smart, I'm targeting titles and authors that my audience enjoy anyway. If I'm advertising a home-brewing book to Christian romance fans, I'm doing it wrong. lol

[Marti Talbott]

Also, an unpopular opinion...

I hope Amazon replaces also-boughts (in all its variations) with ads.

Definitely unpopular.

Also-boughts are the only way I go looking for new books to read.
 

So, do you go back to the book you just read to look at the also-boughts? Or do you look according to genre?

[TimothyEllis]

So, do you go back to the book you just read to look at the also-boughts? Or do you look according to genre?

No, I start on my own books, since I read what I write.

So what my own fans are reading is where I start, then surf the ABs from there.

[Jeff Tanyard]

So, do you go back to the book you just read to look at the also-boughts? Or do you look according to genre?

No, I start on my own books, since I read what I write.

So what my own fans are reading is where I start, then surf the ABs from there.

I sometimes go to the pages of books I've enjoyed in the past and look at their also-boughts. 

Or I did, anyway, back in the day.