Is it worth running Sponsored Product ads for ebooks in KU?

[JRTomlin]

Pretty much what the subject says... Since the Kindle Unlimited banner no longer shows on Sponsored Product ads, I am wondering if they are worthwhile. Are KU readers likely to click on them? At least they still show on the AB list. 🙄

[TimothyEllis]

Do we know why KU banner vanished off the book thumbnails?

Or is it they only show to KU subscribers now?

[The Masked Scrivener]

I'm a KU member, I checked the "Sponsored products related to this item" and I don't see the Kindle Unlimited banner on books available on KU.

[Tom Wood]

I'm a KU member, I checked the "Sponsored products related to this item" and I don't see the Kindle Unlimited banner on books available on KU.

Same here. Although, I think the books that are NOT in KU are the ones that are being hurt here. If I click on an ad and it's not in KU, and that's a deal-breaker for me*, then I just return to the carousel and keep scrolling. The non-KU book just paid for a useless click. In a way, by not showing the KU banner, they are normalizing the status of all the books in the carousel and removing any stigma that the KU designation might bring.

*It's not for me personally, but may be for super value-conscious shoppers.

ETA: If you search on phrases like 'KU banner not showing carousel' or similar, there are discussions that date back to at least 2018. I could swear that Gaughran covered it in a blog post, but I can't find it. Amazon was doing a lot of split-testing at the time, and this decision may have come out of it. Amazon is data-driven, so they wouldn't just arbitrarily make a change like this.

[LilyBLily]

Short answer: yes.

Sponsored products ads give KU ebooks visibility, and visibility produces reads and sales. HOWEVER, except maybe for a launch period, I wouldn't do the ads for anything but the first in series or a well-priced stand alone. Depending on your subgenre, the ad may not be profitable for one book by itself.

I just added up my ad costs for January and that's exactly the picture. The ad for the first in series cost more than what it earned. However, people bought and read the other five books in the series, so the ad ended up being profitable. Ads I've run for the other books in the series have not earned out, and I paused them.

Here's another however. If you have any less expensive way to get the word out about your books, use it. Amazon ads are climbing in cost bit by bit. Soon enough, some of them will require either adjusting the daily budget or individual bids downward to stave off being in the red for an entire series. 

[The Masked Scrivener]

I'm a KU member, I checked the "Sponsored products related to this item" and I don't see the Kindle Unlimited banner on books available on KU.

Same here. Although, I think the books that are NOT in KU are the ones that are being hurt here. If I click on an ad and it's not in KU, and that's a deal-breaker for me*, then I just return to the carousel and keep scrolling. The non-KU book just paid for a useless click. In a way, by not showing the KU banner, they are normalizing the status of all the books in the carousel and removing any stigma that the KU designation might bring.

*It's not for me personally, but may be for super value-conscious shoppers.

ETA: If you search on phrases like 'KU banner not showing carousel' or similar, there are discussions that date back to at least 2018. I could swear that Gaughran covered it in a blog post, but I can't find it. Amazon was doing a lot of split-testing at the time, and this decision may have come out of it. Amazon is data-driven, so they wouldn't just arbitrarily make a change like this.

Could this be intended to use clicks? To say, Amazon intends readers to click on the ads to find out if they are in KU or not. If they label only the KU then KU members won't even click on the covers.

[dgcasey]

I would say there is no reason not to do the ads. Whether the banner is showing or not, you're still selling ebooks outside of KU. Last month, KU only accounted for 43% of my total royalties, but that's still enough run the ads.

As for the banners not showing, the only ones that will get upset about that are the readers looking for something to read. They might click on an ad that looks interesting, only to find out the book is NOT in KU. Then, hopefully, their ire will be directed at Amazon, not at the writer. Most KU members have been around long enough to know that not all books are in KU. If they decide to get all huffy about it, Amazon may decide to change course and put the banners back.

[JK Lincoln]

Try it. I've had pretty good luck with them, and you can turn them off anytime.

[notthatamanda]

Do we know why KU banner vanished off the book thumbnails?

Or is it they only show to KU subscribers now?

I'm still seeing KU banners on also boughts, and I'm not in KU so I don't think that's it.

My best guess is they changed the page simply to change it up, eliminate the long exposure selective blindness by making it different.
I'm not thrilled about it, I don't want to pay for a click for someone who is only interested in a KU book.

[JRTomlin]

Do we know why KU banner vanished off the book thumbnails?

Or is it they only show to KU subscribers now?

I am a KU subscriber, so I can pretty safely say they aren't showing for subscribers. I have no idea why they've vanished and am none too happy about it having just put my mystery series back in. 🙄

But it's a good question. I'd love to know why they vanished. It's been long enough that I don't think it could be a test.

I would say there is no reason not to do the ads. Whether the banner is showing or not, you're still selling ebooks outside of KU. Last month, KU only accounted for 43% of my total royalties, but that's still enough run the ads.

As for the banners not showing, the only ones that will get upset about that are the readers looking for something to read. They might click on an ad that looks interesting, only to find out the book is NOT in KU. Then, hopefully, their ire will be directed at Amazon, not at the writer. Most KU members have been around long enough to know that not all books are in KU. If they decide to get all huffy about it, Amazon may decide to change course and put the banners back.

Yes, but it totally defeats the point of putting them back in KU if KU readers are not able to see that my ads are directed at them. I might as well take them right back out. I was ALREADY reaching regular readers with my ads.

I am not concerned about readers getting upset. *I* am upset that I cannot target a subset of readers now that I went into KU to target.

Do we know why KU banner vanished off the book thumbnails?

Or is it they only show to KU subscribers now?

I'm still seeing KU banners on also boughts, and I'm not in KU so I don't think that's it.

My best guess is they changed the page simply to change it up, eliminate the long exposure selective blindness by making it different.
I'm not thrilled about it, I don't want to pay for a click for someone who is only interested in a KU book.

An excellent point. On all our ads, we will now be paying for clicks for people just checking to see if they ARE in KU. That is thrilling. NOT!

Only four of my novels are in KU, the mysteries. GAH!

Edited to ad: Maybe I should pull all my AMS ads, and totally switch to BB ads. I am thinking about it.

[JRTomlin]

I just sent a civil but angry email. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced I should cancel all my AMS ads. I am even more annoyed at the fact that people will be clicking on my ads to see whether or not the books are in KU since I advertise pretty heavily the ones that are not. 🤦

I can do a lot of advertising on BB for what I've spent the last year on AMS ads.

[Marti Talbott]

I asked Amazon if it was still okay to put 'free in KU' in the AMS ad description and they said no. It used to be okay, but so did a lot of other things.

Anyway, I run AMS ads mostly on my KU books. When I turn them off, my page reads drop considerably, so I know they work. I can spend a hundred bucks on an ad for one book and hope sales filter down to the other books, or spend the same on AMS spotlighting five or six books, and cut it off before it gets too high.

[JRTomlin]

I am the opposite. I do a lot more advertising of my non-KU books. Maybe not being able to tell whether books are in KU from looking at the ad won't be that big a deal, but... it might be as big a deal as I feel like it will be.

Marti, have you compared the AMS ad performance from before and after this change? I'm trying to but it's not easy to tell.

[Marti Talbott]

I am the opposite. I do a lot more advertising of my non-KU books. Maybe not being able to tell whether books are in KU from looking at the ad won't be that big a deal, but... it might be as big a deal as I feel like it will be.

Marti, have you compared the AMS ad performance from before and after this change? I'm trying to but it's not easy to tell.

I can't compare as I was out of KU for a year or so before I went back in.

[JRTomlin]

I was out for more than a year too. What I am looking at now is my ads for non-KU novels to try to see if I am getting fewer sales per click. I don't think it has quite been long enough to tell. That actually worries me more than the ads for the novels are in. It makes KU novels less discoverable but at least clicks from KU subscribers are not a total waste like they are on my non-KU novels. (If that makes ANY sense. I know what I mean but not sure I managed to express it lol)

[Marti Talbott]

I was out for more than a year too. What I am looking at now is my ads for non-KU ads to try to see if I am getting fewer sales per click. I don't think it has quite been long enough to tell. That actually worries me more than the ads for the novels are in. It makes KU novels less discoverable but at least clicks from KU subscribers are not a total waste like they are on my non-KU novels. (If that makes ANY sense. I know what I mean but not sure I managed to express it lol)

It makes perfect sense to me. I have the same problem trying to figure it out. I think the only way is to turn them off for a few days and see if sales decline. On the other hand, who knows how long it actually takes for AMS ads to record the sales.