Ad moderation and approval: A complete guide for book advertisers

Whether your book is already published, or you’re getting it across the finish line, it’s time to start thinking about how to promote it. Advertising is a great way to help get visibility across Amazon. But first, there are some important things to consider.

Here’s everything book advertisers need to know about our moderation process, so you can easily get ads up and running.

Sections: 1. What is moderation? 2. Are you eligible to advertise? 3. Tips for ad approval 4. What if your ad is rejected?

What is moderation?

Whenever you submit an ad for a book, it first has to go through a review and approval process we call “moderation.”

Moderation is a multistep process that every book advertisement on Amazon needs to pass. We consider your book content, book cover art, and the custom text or headline in your ads to ensure they fall within our retail and advertising guidelines.

This process helps make advertisements on Amazon safe, trustworthy, and high quality for our customers. And most importantly, it helps create a successful environment for book sales.

Moderation: A snapshot of the process

1. Ad submitted

Follow our guidelines to create and submit your ads.

2. Under review

Your ad is assigned to a moderation queue and reviewed.

3. Approval notification

We’ll let you know if your ad has been approved or rejected (usually within 24 hours, but this could take up to 3 business days).

STEP 1

Are you eligible to advertise?

Just because a book can be sold on Amazon, that doesn’t mean it can be advertised. As a first step, take a moment to review advertising requirements and confirm that you’re eligible.

Your account

To begin with, make sure you meet these requirements:

You must be an Amazon vendor, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) author, or have an Author Central account.
You’ll need an active account in good standing with Amazon.
For printed books, you must have the ability to ship to the country you’re advertising in.
A valid payment method is required.

Your book

To advertise your book, it must be available for pre-order or sale in Amazon’s store. However, used or refurbished books are not eligible.

There are also certain advertising limitations for books containing subjects that may not be appropriate for all audiences. Check our Book Advertising Guidelines and Acceptance Policies regarding the following topics:

Adult Content
Drugs
Gambling
Politics
Religion
Romance
Self-Help
Weight Loss

Your cover

Your book cover must not contain sexually suggestive content—such as undressing, lingerie, provocative embraces, or sexual innuendos.
Imagine your book cover had a movie rating. If you’d consider it PG-13 or lower, you’ll likely be able to advertise it. Remember that Amazon is available to all ages and we want to make sure the content is appropriate for anyone who may access it.

STEP 2

Tips for ad approval

Here are some specific do’s and don’ts to follow, so your ads have a better chance of being approved.

Creative guidelines

Just like a display in a bookstore, creative ads help capture the audience and draw them in.

You can see our complete creative guidelines here. Meanwhile, here are some general rules your ads must follow:

Be clear and accurate—so that customers receive correct information before engaging with an ad or deciding to purchase a book.
Ads must reflect the content of the landing page they will link to.
Only promote books that you either own or are authorized to resell or distribute.
Any images and videos you use must follow the guidelines.
Remember that there are specific rules and limitations for ads that show alcohol, tobacco, drugs, weapons, and sexually suggestive content.

What to avoid

Incorrect capitalization with custom text
Incorrect grammar
Obscured profanity (i.e., using symbols in place of letters or alternate spellings of swear words)
Unsubstantiated claims (i.e., making false promises or guarantees)
Inclusion of customer reviews
Inclusion of provocative terms related to specific sexual practices, including acronyms (e.g., BDSM, Alpha, MMF, Harem)
Inclusion of prices

General considerations

All ads need to be suitable for a general audience. Remember that any Amazon user could see your ad.
Advertising guidelines differ from retail guidelines. Not everything that can be sold on Amazon can be advertised.
Ads need to be in the language of the Amazon site on which the ad is displayed, regardless of the language of the book.
Ads cannot target keywords or products that could result in an offensive, insensitive, or undesirable shopper experience.

STEP 3

What if your ad is rejected?

Sometimes ads get rejected by our moderators. If this happens, you’ll receive an email or an alert in your ads dashboard notifying you of the reason(s) the rejection occurred. You’ll still have an opportunity to resubmit your ad, but first review the reason(s) provided and our Book Advertising Guidelines and Acceptance Policies.

You should consider these steps as well:

If it’s a custom text or headline issue, copy your existing ad, make the necessary changes, and then resubmit the ad.
If it’s a book cover issue, you may need to change your cover image.
If the book is in a restricted or prohibited category, you may not be able to advertise it.
If you feel your ad has been rejected in error, contact customer service through our support center.

Ready to create ads for your book and submit them for moderation and approval?

Get started

NOTE: We’re always working to improve the customer experience on Amazon and that can result in frequent policy changes. Please check this guide periodically, as well as our Book Advertising Guidelines and Acceptance Policies, for the most up-to-date information—and note that it’s possible for older advertising campaigns to become noncompliant in the future.