Also Bought list question

[JRTomlin]

It is easy to find what is on our own also bought list but is there any way to figure out what AB lists our novels are on. I recall an app that *I think* used to do that, but doesn't work any more. Anyone know a way other than checking dozens of AB lists?

[Writer]

I used to use Yasiv, although it was never super reliable. Other than that, I used to click through from my Amazon page and check every book/author whose also boughts I suspected I was in, starting with the ones who were in mine, to confirm if I was in theirs. Sadly, I don't know a better way.

[JRTomlin]

Yasiv no longer works sadly. It was better than nothing. The click through hundreds of books doesn't seem like a good use of time, but it would be helpful for advertising targetting to know. Which I suppose is why Amazon makes sure it is so hard to find out.

[Lu Kudzoza]

You can google to see what pages on amazon that have your book listed. Then you can go to the page and see if you're listed in the also boughts. The google command is: "your book title" site:amazon.com

You could also use your author name if it is unique.

[JRTomlin]

Sounds like it should work but unfortunately, it didn't for me. Turned up a lot of pages on which the novel is not on the AB list. I have a feeling it is something that Amazon does not want us to be able to do although I have no clue why. (I think it might turn up the pages where my AMS ads for that novel appear. That's the only thing I can think of)

[RiverRun]

Having never used bookbub or AMS, (being too much of a coward to risk money on either, besides not having a series to promote), I'm inspired to ask: JR, do you think AMS is the way to go for a novel until you feel that you have more or less saturated your niche and need to reach out to a broader audience? I've dipped my toe into paid promotions, but AMS makes me nervous for some reason. It looks so much more complicated. But it seems more and more that this is the way things are skewing for the best use of advertising dollars. And out of curiosity, how would you decide when its a good idea to move out of AMS and start paid promotions?

These are all theoretical questions on my part. I've read a lot about these things but still can't seem to get my mind around how it all works.

With Bookbub, I wonder if your promotion happened alongside some other popular author promotion on BB? Maybe they all bought yours and then rushed out and bought some other things? The sales on my historical mystery are low enough that I can sometimes tell when someone buys my book because the also boughts change. I do think they are very sensitive to recent buyer purchases.

[JRTomlin]

The problem with Historical Fiction promotions is that it is an extremely broad category and even Bookbub doesn't really break it down to 'medieval fiction' for example so the promotion will be sent to people who normally buy WWII, etc and if it's free they may decide to pick it up anyway. Hence the mess in my AB list although that is worse than usual, by far.

Truthfully, I am in some doubt that advertising will get you far until you have more than one novel in a series. I wouldn't worry about it too much until then. The audience in Amazon is about the broadest in the world, so I doubt we will ever saturate it. Once you are in a position that advertising will help, doing both is worthwhile.