Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: LilyBLily on April 21, 2019, 11:10:09 PM
-
I just downloaded the new search term report (find it under "Advertising Reports") on my keywords from Amazon/AMS ads and it's stunning. Tells exactly which words potential readers used to find my books.
It's eye-opening about how misdirecting one of my titles is, too. I do not write "domestic discipline spanking" books but clearly there is something about my book that is making the wrong people look at it. Got to change that. grint
I haven't digested everything yet, and so far I've only looked at the past month's data. There's even a column for Total Return on Advertising Spend. At last! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
-
Wow this is great data. Thank you so much for posting this. Nothing weird on mine of the domestic spanking variety. Maybe your title is the same as another book?
-
It's eye-opening about how misdirecting one of my titles is, too. I do not write "domestic discipline spanking" books but clearly there is something about my book that is making the wrong people look at it. Got to change that. grint
New genre for you?
-
It's eye-opening about how misdirecting one of my titles is, too. I do not write "domestic discipline spanking" books but clearly there is something about my book that is making the wrong people look at it. Got to change that. grint
New genre for you?
No, just a purple prose title that--after four years!--I now see is costing me money by attracting the wrong sort of potential audience. Those people click and then read my blurb copy and do not buy.
That's the other part of the data that is fascinating. I suppose the prior iteration of information on these ads had much the same detail, but seeing the actual words people are using to search for a book, who then buy mine or don't buy mine, makes it that much more real.
I've been thinking about changing that purple prose book title, anyway. I've also been thinking about unpublishing it and the whole series, rebranding them all with a new series title and a new cover design, using a new pen name, and doing some selective revising of some of the books, too. The only things stopping me are 1) Chris Fox's advice that some series aren't worth the effort, 2) no time, 3) no budget for a big overhaul, and 4) no idea which cover designer to use.
But I added a batch of negative keywords to my ad, each one copied from the search terms, and that should make my book invisible to the spanking fans.
-
I hadn't used AMS for awhile and it looks like you can only go 90 days back. Bummer.
-
One thing that stood out for me is being able to see what search terms people are entering for the automated SP ads. Interesting to see how many people are searching the book title due to word of mouth or seeing the title somewhere else.
-
I can't figure out why my very Scottish novel is turning up in a 'Florida Historical Novel' search. At least there was only one click but that is a bit baffling. 'Catholic queen historical novel' also baffles me. 🤔
It is great information though. It confirms that when I added Black Douglas and Robert the Bruce to my search terms, which I just had never thought of people using duh, they were worthwhile additions.
-
I have tens of thousands of hits for 'free kindle books' on a book which isn't free. (Well, it was a few months ago, but no longer.)
I just added that to my negative phrases.
-
I've been thinking about changing that purple prose book title, anyway. I've also been thinking about unpublishing it and the whole series, rebranding them all with a new series title and a new cover design, using a new pen name, and doing some selective revising of some of the books, too. The only things stopping me are 1) Chris Fox's advice that some series aren't worth the effort, 2) no time, 3) no budget for a big overhaul, and 4) no idea which cover designer to use.
But I added a batch of negative keywords to my ad, each one copied from the search terms, and that should make my book invisible to the spanking fans.
A cheaper solution might be to add a bit of spanking and tweak the blurb.
You have readers looking for you, just a question of getting them to spill some money in your direction.
-
I've been thinking about changing that purple prose book title, anyway. I've also been thinking about unpublishing it and the whole series, rebranding them all with a new series title and a new cover design, using a new pen name, and doing some selective revising of some of the books, too. The only things stopping me are 1) Chris Fox's advice that some series aren't worth the effort, 2) no time, 3) no budget for a big overhaul, and 4) no idea which cover designer to use.
But I added a batch of negative keywords to my ad, each one copied from the search terms, and that should make my book invisible to the spanking fans.
A cheaper solution might be to add a bit of spanking and tweak the blurb.
You have readers looking for you, just a question of getting them to spill some money in your direction.
Eh. So not my thing to write about. Also, it's a first in series and these characters are seen again in the other books, with a very different dynamic having developed. Steamy romance arguably is an easier sell, but I don't write steamy romance.
-
One thing that stood out for me is being able to see what search terms people are entering for the automated SP ads. Interesting to see how many people are searching the book title due to word of mouth or seeing the title somewhere else.
The one that surprises me is first, last name or last, first name. I see what is shown below on my report.
Keyword Impressions Clicks
augustine donna 11572 1
donna augustine 21 2
Kind of strange if you ask me. I just assumed it wouldn't matter what order you put the words in, they would show the same results. Obviously not.
And the second one that shows 21 impressions and 2 clicks, shows 1 sale. The other one doesn't show any sales.
-
The one that surprises me is first, last name or last, first name. I see what is shown below on my report.
Keyword Impressions Clicks
augustine donna 11572 1
donna augustine 21 2
That is nutty. I assume you put the name in both ways? I never thought of doing that.
I once had a sale that was attributed to a keyword didn't have any clicks. We have to use the data we get but I always give it the side eye when I look at it.
-
I have been debating putting romance on the negative list and finally did it. And Florida which I would never have even thought of. :icon_think:
Off topic slightly, any thoughts on dynamic bidding?
-
I just had a look finally.
All it did was confirm for me that AMS ads are now totally pointless.
-
I finally got around to looking at this and it would be extremely useful, except all my customer search terms are coded as a mystery string. I figured out that most of them are ASINs but have no idea what other codes like "1858755220" mean
-
Carleton (Mr. Chinner?) Take that 10 digit number and plop it in amazon.com and hit search. It will tell you what book it is.
JR - Take a look at this thread.
https://writersanctum.com/index.php?topic=2272.msg41998#msg41998
Tim - You might want to look at that thread too. There's some interesting insight there.
-
Thanks. That thread assumes that you have keywords that do not get sales, therefore dynamic bidding would not work. If your keywords don't get sales, no bidding scheme is actually going to work though. :icon_think:
I know my keywords get sales. They are a very well-honed list in spite of the 'Florida' anomaly. That being the case, I wonder if dynamic bidding might be worthwhile - bidding up that is.
-
When I started from scratch again I chose the dynamic up and down bidding. I just looked at the five or so campaigns that got clicks, two had higher bids than suggested, but the most was 25 cents more I think. I changed them to dynamic low only anyway. I'm guessing that since all the ads defaulted to low, and most people weren't an idiot like me to run out and start messing with them, it will be a while before we see if that actually does anything.
Pity party, skip if you like: Everything was going great, this is a kick in the teeth. Way to shoot my confidence to bits right when I finished the latest book last night. I can't even be excited about it because now I'm convinced I'll never be able to sell it.
-
No matter what time-frame I select, my reports will only show sales for a 14-day period. Is there any way to get them to show sales for the entire time-frame selected?
-
Apparently not...
-
Not that I know of but I can't say I've played with it much.