Advertising books on Amazon:
A guide for authors

Get started

Attract readers. Build fans. Sell books.

Start advertising today with Amazon Ads. We offer simple, effective solutions to help you drive book sales and reach hundreds of millions of active global Amazon customer accounts.1

Sponsored Products ad placement on desktop and mobile

Sponsored Products
(all countries)

Increase visibility with keyword or product targeted ads on shopping results and detail pages.

  1. Add one or more titles to a campaign
  2. Run campaigns for new or backlist titles
  3. Use automatic targeting or choose your own keywords
Sponsored brands

Sponsored Brands (select countries)

Drive awareness and discovery of your books and your brand as an author.

  1. Highlight a collection of books in the same campaign.
  2. Create video ads or ads with custom images to entice readers’ interest.
  3. Drive readers to your Author Page (US only) or a custom landing page.
lockscreen ad

Lockscreen ads (US only)

Build recognition with interest-targeted ads on Kindle E-readers and Amazon Fire tablets.

  1. Promote your eBooks to active readers
  2. Target genres that complement your title
  3. Encourage clicks and sales with custom text

Book advertising best practices

  • Consider your reader and how they would shop for a book. Only bid on shopping queries relevant to your content.
  • Target complementary and popular keywords, interests, and products, including similar books and authors. Learn more in the Keyword Strategy Guide.
  • Increase your advertising efforts during events or seasons relevant to your book. Start campaigns early so they have time to ramp up, and run them for a minimum of four to six weeks.
  • Ensure your ad and book content meets the Book Advertising Guidelines and Acceptance Policies.
  • Refer the author’s Sponsored Products guide to learn how to set up your first campaign and understand campaign metrics.
  • Refer to the Sponsored Brands guide to learn how to use Sponsored Brands to build your author brand and create eye-catching ads with custom images and video ads.

How to get started

Access Amazon Ads from
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

  1. Sign in to kdp.amazon.com
  2. Choose the book you want to advertise from your KDP bookshelf.
  3. Click “promote and advertise.”
  4. Under “Run an ad campaign,” choose a marketplace, and click “Create an ad campaign.”
  5. Sign in to Amazon Ads using your KDP credentials.

Access Amazon Ads from
Author Central

  1. Sign in to Author Central (you can use your existing KDP credentials if you have them).
  2. Add your books to your Author Central Account. Click on the Books tab and click "Add it now". In the Search field, enter the book title, ISBN, ASIN, or author name. Find your book and click on the book cover. Then click "Add this book".
  3. Click on the Reports and marketing tab. In the Amazon Ads tile, select the country
    you want to advertise in from the drop-down menu. Then click Go to ads console.

Once you launch a campaign, you’ll see a message confirming that your ad has been sent for review.

Advertising books on Amazon

Sponsored Products

What is it?
  • Increase visibility with keyword or product targeted ads in shopping results and detail pages.
  • When clicked, the ad sends shoppers to your book's detail page.
What are the targeting options?
  • Manual targeting: targets by keywords, or products and categories that you choose.
  • Automatic targeting: targets by choosing keywords and products for you.
Where do ads typically appear on Amazon?
  • Within shopping results.
  • On related product detail pages.
How much does it cost?
  • You control your spend by setting your bids and budget.
  • You’re only charged when customers click on your ad.
What are the eligibility requirements?
How long do campaigns run?
  • Run continuously or select a custom date range.
What type of reporting is available?
  • Search term report
  • Targeting report
  • Advertised product report
  • Campaign report
  • Placement report
  • Performance over time report
  • Search Term Impression Share (SIS) report

Sponsored Brands

What is it?
  • Drive awareness and discovery of your book collections and brand as an author.
  • Create video ads or ads with custom images that, when clicked, take shoppers to your Author Page (US only) or a custom landing page.
  • A minimum of three eligible titles under a single pen name is required.
What are the targeting options?
  • Target by keyword, using recommended or custom keywords.
  • Target by product or category.
Where do ads typically appear on Amazon?
  • In relevant shopping results.
How much does it cost?
  • You control your spend by setting your bids and budget.
  • You’re only charged when your ads are clicked.
What are the eligibility requirements?
How long do campaigns run?
  • Run continuously or select a custom date range.
What reporting is available?
  • Keyword report
  • Campaign report
  • Campaign placement report
  • Search term report
  • Search Term Impression Share (SIS) report
  • Attributed purchases report

Lockscreen ads

What is it?
  • Delivers interest-targeted ads on Kindle E-readers and Amazon Fire tablets.
  • When clicked, ad sends shoppers to your eBook’s detail page.2
What are the targeting options?
  • Target by reader interest (genre).
Where do ads typically appear on Amazon?
  • Kindle E-reader and Amazon Fire tablet lockscreens.
  • Kindle E-reader home screen.
How much does it cost?
  • You control your spend by setting your bids and budget.
  • You’re only charged when customers click on your ad.
What are the eligibility requirements?
How long do campaigns run?
  • Select a custom date range.
What reporting is available?
  • Campaign-level sales reporting.
  • Impression and click metrics may be delayed as some devices may not always connect with the Internet. Impressions, clicks, and sales within the last 14 days are updated when the device reconnects to the Internet. Kindle E-readers track clicks made offline.
Get started

1 Active customer accounts represent accounts that have placed an order in the past 12 months.
2 Readers with a connected device are directed to the eBook’s detail page. Readers with off-line devices are directed to a landing page.