Digital Media

Top 5 Sponsored Ads tips, for Authors Managing Their Own Ads

There's More There Than You Think

Caddyshack (1980)

I read author threads every day where someone admits they only started writing the media plan for their book after release — as an afterthought.

It's practically a cliché at this point, but also... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! 🚨

"I released my book but I didn't think far enough ahead to run ads, so now here I am." — @SamTheAuthor

You don’t need to be perfect, just take action today, it’s the small wins, and give yourself credit for investing in your growth. You’ve done the hard work of writing a great book—now, with a little patience and consistency, these ads will help it find the readers it deserves. You’ve got this!

If you're feeling a little "Sam I Am" right now, I don't blame you. I know that the path to self-publishing is full of twist and turns. So here are my top 5 Sponsored Ads tips for authors building their passive income independently.

1.) Fixed bidding. Every bid adjustment you make to a target in an ad group compounds over time — and the more adjustments stacked on top of each other, the harder it gets for the algorithm to spend your budget in full.

2.) Broad match.Stop fearing this match type in your account. Book marketing is fueled by curiosity. You need cost-effective clicks landing on your titles every day — that's what opens the door to potential purchases from your other campaigns.

3.) Default bids.Don't increase this by a percentage or random amount until you know how to optimize for revenue per click. You need practice first. Change bids in small, fixed increments whether they're performing or not, so that as you learn, you stay focused on lowering cost per click.

4.) Automatic targeting. alone isn't enough to scale your account. I know the returns on these campaigns are some of the best — but you have to actually read the data. Always keep a budget set aside for this targeting type.

5.) Sponsored Brand. Not enough authors are using this ad unit. Sure it can be expensive, but not if you find the right targets to use. The cost efficiency is a puzzle you'll have to work out within your own marketing funnel. Timeline your build-out with your expectations and keep testing.

Bonus: Scanning search terms isn’t enough; segmenting your portfolios helps you understand your readers better.

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My Sponsored Ads ebook is releasing soon, this summer, for free on KU. Joining the observatory gets you priority access to me as a resource for your account, for just $5 /month.

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