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Also Boughts now include sponsored ads

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alhawke:
Okay, I set a personal New Years resolution to be positive.  :shrug I'm trying. But I just read this article and had to share it with you cause it's pretty big. It's Hidden Gems' most recent blog. In a nutshell, it claims Amazon is now posting sponsored ads in the also bought section which totally disrupts organic growth sales. Have you seen this? I actually haven't. Your thoughts? I highly recommend you guys read this blog:

https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/amzs-latest-ad-change-goes-too-far/

I think this is pretty big stuff. You know, being wide, I see every retailer has its methods of discovery. For me, Apple has been pretty abysmal over the past year. Barnes and Noble has been down over the past month, but I've done okay. But I see huge differences in things like reviews. On B&N, I've sold thousands of books only to end up with a handful of reviews. Because the B&N culture of readers really doesn't do reviews like the Amazon . At least for me. My point is, every retailer works differently. But...

Amazon is an Indie writer's bread and butter. I know some have successfully left it and are independent selling direct, but the majority of us, me included, still rely on the retailer to earn sales over any other retailer. Thing is, this appears to be more and more in jeopardy. I don't think direct sales is the answer, because, how do you get enough visibility?--unless you already a large audience garnered.

I'm responding by churning out more books and grouping books into series. Series books, and boxed sets, have been selling better for my romance fantasy genre. I'm also producing audiobooks-- a pricey endeavor. And I carry on. Because I'm happy to know people are reading my stuff. That's huge for me. But I agree with the writer of the blog that these new changes, including changes with the Amazon carousel, hurt organic sales for Indie writers.

Anarchist:

alhawke:
Cute kid playing in the sand.  :icon_rofl:

Bill Hiatt:
I think it's possible Amazon is experimenting. I've checked several books, and not one of them showed an ad in the also bought section (which is now also bought or read, by the way). It's also back up above the related products carousel.

Maybe it's a gradual roll-out. But as of now, I can't see any evidence of it.

Certainly, Amazon does whatever it wants, and organic visibility has gotten worse. But the article makes a good point that an ad, even though it's marked as sponsored, in the also bought section could be construed as false advertising.

Remember when we were all lamenting the demise of the also bought section? That particular funeral proved premature. I'm going to wait to panic until it looks as if Amazon has really committed to this course of action. I will start trying to think of other things I can do, but that's a pretty short list. I've never had much luck wide. Newsletter promos are less and less effective. Social media is basically the corpse of what it once was, with organic engagement effectively strangled (and, uneconomical as they are, AMS ads move books in ways FB ads never did for me.) Direct sales are indeed unlikely to work without a huge fan base. Perhaps we're nearing the point at which I just write for my own enjoyment... 

alhawke:
Yes, it seems new news with Amazon tends to always be bad news. I think it's because Amazon has been such a gem for Indie writers over the years and that's going away. Amazon is becoming more and more like the other retailers which aren't as profitable.

--- Quote from: Bill Hiatt on January 11, 2025, 11:24:30 PM ---Direct sales are indeed unlikely to work without a huge fan base. Perhaps we're nearing the point at which I just write for my own enjoyment... 

--- End quote ---
Well, I'm not giving up yet. I'm grouping older books into series with the intention of selling a lead-in book. This has worked for me for years with my witch series and I have a hunch it will work again. It's the only way to advertise and make money back.

And I'm creating more professionally narrated audiobooks. My audios are selling well wide in libraries and retailers and are becoming a large part of my yearly revenue. The catch with audio is the overhead. They cost a lot of money to produce. AI could offset that, but I think my professionally performed audios are a better sell than AI audio and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't see nearly the profit.

I can do these things in 2025 because I have a large library of books written to play with. If I only had one or two books to sell, it'd be a much harder prospect. Hate to say it, but I also think our old writer advice of producing more and more books holds truer now more than ever in this biz. I literally feel like I'm not only indie writing, but running a publishing company. Whatever comes of it, as I keep saying here and to myself, I'm loving getting my stuff read.

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