Author FAQ

Book Sales Pro handles the Amazon sales and marketing side for authors: listing optimization, ad campaigns, pricing and promotion strategy, and ongoing performance management. Writing the book is your job. Turning a published book into one that actually sells is ours.

We start by understanding where you are right now: how long your book has been live, your current monthly sales, what you've tried, and what your goal is. Then we give you a specific, honest assessment of what's possible and what the next step would be.

30-Day Amazon Author Accelerator ($1,297) is our flagship service: keyword and category optimization, your Amazon description rewritten as sales copy, and four custom-tailored ad campaigns. It also includes the Four-Week Accelerator Program, full access to the BSP content library, a reinvestment guide, and a royalty and expense tracker. Ad spend is separate and goes directly to Amazon. We recommend starting around $100/month.

Amazon Advertising Monthly Management ($100/month) is ongoing expert management of your campaigns, and the natural next step after the Accelerator.

Amazon Advertising Launch Package ($600) is for authors who already have strong keywords, categories, and a solid description and just need campaigns built: four campaigns, target research, bid and budget strategy, portfolio setup, and a 30-minute review call.

Amazon Strategic Coaching is available as a single 60-90 minute call ($200), a three-call package ($600, includes the Four-Week Accelerator Program), or a ten-call package ($1,200).

KDP Upload Service ($200) handles all the technical KDP setup as an add-on: account optimization, file uploads, metadata, and formatted description.

and so much more . . .

For a full list of our services, please visit Our Services.

Listing work like descriptions, keywords, and Categories is usually completed within two weeks of receiving your materials. We'll launch your fleet of Amazon Ads within two weeks of that. Ad campaigns need 2 to 3 weeks of data before optimization starts, so the first month is as much about data accumulation and learning as it is about sales totals. Real traction on sales typically shows up in weeks 3 to 6 once the listing and ads are both dialed in.

You can start seeing improvement early in the process, but anyone promising results faster than that is setting you up for disappointment.

After signing up for one of our services, you'll receive a link to a questionnaire. Filling this out will give us everything we need to get started.

For ad setup: you'll need to create an advertising account if you don't already have one, and then grant us admin access. Don't worry, we have a step-by-step guide to walk you through the process.

Reviewing your listing, description, and ads is exactly where we start when you sign up. It's one of our first objectives together.

If you want to know whether your book is a good fit, book a free 30-minute call and we'll talk through your situation and give you an honest read on what's possible.

You decide. You choose the monthly budget, and we'll set it and create the ads to function optimally within that budget.

The majority of our authors start at $100/mo, but our #1 rule is to choose a monthly budget you're comfortable with. No need to take out a second-mortgage to fund your advertising.

Start where you're comfortable. If the ads are profitable and working well, you can scale that over time.

We only pay Amazon when someone clicks on the ad (which will take them to the book page where shoppers can buy).

The average cost per click (CPC) range for most Book Sales Pro authors is $0.40 to $0.60. The actual CPC varies based on genre, author goals, and previous sales performance.

ACoS is only meaningful relative to your royalty margin and your goals. If your royalty is $3.50 per sale, your break-even ACoS is $3.50 divided by your book price. Anything below that is profitable. Anything above it is a loss per sale, which can still make sense if you're building rank, acquiring reviews, or benefiting from read-through in a series.

The question isn't "is my ACoS low." It's "am I profitable at this ACoS given my specific situation."

Absolutely. If you're aware of an author, book, or phrase that fit your book, you can let us know in the intake questionnaire, and we'll be sure to include that in our targets. We'll be doing plenty of our own research as well.

Our goal is always to have the most robust targeting strategy possible, to have your book show up in search results and on other similar book pages when readers are looking for their next page-turner.

Clicks without conversions is almost always a listing problem, not an ads problem. The ad got them there. Something on the page lost them.

Check three things: does your cover clearly signal the genre, does your description hook in the first two sentences, and do your reviews reflect the right readership? Fix the listing before spending more on ads.

KDP descriptions cap at 4,000 characters and support a limited set of HTML tags: bold, italic, paragraph breaks, and basic lists. Lead with a hook that answers who the book is for and why it matters to them in the first two sentences. Everything after that builds the case.

Don't pad to hit the character limit. Every sentence should earn its place. The goal is conversion, not length.

KDP gives you 7 keyword fields, each up to 50 characters. Use all seven with distinct phrases, and don't repeat words across fields, since Amazon reads each field as a phrase rather than individual words. Prioritize phrases readers actually search, not just genre labels.

Tools like Publisher Rocket or Helium 10 help identify search volume. For a new book with no data, start broad and narrow based on performance.

You can be listed in up to three categories per book version. Aim for the most specific subcategory where you can realistically compete. Broad categories are dominated by bestsellers, and you'll be invisible there.

A #1 ranking in a narrow subcategory earns a bestseller badge that carries some conversion value, but always choose the right fit over chasing the badge. We want to be perennial sellers, not just best sellers.

Don't worry--if you sign up for the 30 Day AAA or our Metadata Optimization package, we'll use best practices to pick the right categories for you.

Yes, always. It's free and it increases conversion. Use it to expand the pitch you couldn't fit in the description: author credibility, series context, comp title positioning, and visual elements that reinforce the cover's genre signals.

Don't just restate the description.

Updating keeps your existing ASIN, ISBN, reviews, and landing page. Use it for cover swaps, keyword and category adjustments, description tweaks, back matter updates, and manuscript corrections. Amazon doesn't give you an algorithmic boost for updating, but the improvements themselves can lift conversion and visibility.

Republishing creates a new listing entirely: new ASIN, clean slate, and Amazon's new-release honeymoon treatment. You start over on reviews, though Amazon will sometimes transfer them if the title, subtitle, and author name are identical.

For most authors, updating is sufficient and lower risk. Republishing is better for those who want a clean start, don't have many reviews built up, etc.

Genre conventions matter more than general principles here. In most fiction genres, $3.99 to $4.99 is the sweet spot: high enough to signal value, low enough not to create friction. $0.99 can work permanently for a first-in-series as a reader acquisition price, but we have to consider it a loss-leader. Anything below $0.99 won't generate sustainable royalties by itself.

For nonfiction, higher prices can work, but remember that the $5 mark continues to be a "rubicon" for eBook pricing. Once you go above that, you're outside of "impulse purchase range".

You can price your eBook on the higher end, but you'll need the reviews (both quality and quantity), a great cover, and the series/author recognition to justify higher prices.

Depends on your goal. Free promos generate volume downloads that can move also-boughts and signal Amazon's algorithm, but they produce no revenue and the readers are lower-intent. Countdown Deals generate actual sales at a discounted price, which is better for revenue and reader quality but lower volume.

For a series, a free first-in-series promo can drive read-through sales on later books in big waves.

If you're hunting reviews, a free promo is the way to go.

If you're hunting best seller status, go with a Kindle Countdown Deal.

KDP Select (Kindle Unlimited exclusivity) makes the most sense if Amazon is your primary market and you write in a genre with strong KU readership: romance, thriller, sci-fi, and fantasy. Going wide makes more sense if you have a platform elsewhere, like a large email list, international readership, or strong print sales.

It's not permanent. You can try one, evaluate, and switch. Most authors just starting out do better in Select, since KU page reads provide income while you build an audience.

For context, a 300-page novel read cover to cover earns roughly $1.25 to $1.50 in page reads.

KU can generate substantive royalties. It's not rare to find authors who earn 40% - 90% of their total royalties through KU (including Vincent and Heather). But the real benefit of enrolling in KU is the additional visibility the program offers. If you don't have an established platform and need a way to reach new shoppers, KU can help.

Whether that's worth eBook exclusivity depends on your genre and whether you benefit more from volume reads or per-sale royalties. For series authors, KU can be especially powerful because Amazon tracks and rewards read-through from book to book.

One last note: KU is tough for children's books or other very short books. Because you're paid on the amount of pages read, it's tough to earn royalties through KU. It can still be worth it for the visibility in three month windows, but long term, it's probably better to pull out of the program.

Yes. External traffic is now one of the most important signals in Amazon's algorithm. When readers arrive from your email list, Facebook ads, BookBub, or TikTok and convert (buy), Amazon sees two things: your book has real demand, and you're bringing them customers they didn't pay to acquire. Both drive greater visibility.

The source matters less than what happens after the click. Send traffic that matches your book's actual audience, because misaligned traffic that doesn't convert can hurt. The best channels: your email list, genre-targeted Facebook and Instagram ads, BookBub, launch teams sharing direct links, newsletter swaps, and back matter links in your existing books.

Yes, you can ask. Amazon allows authors to request honest reviews from readers. Best practices: include a review request in your book's back matter, build an ARC team for launch, and use your reader list.

What you can't do: offer compensation, provide them the exact review to submit, or solicit reviews from family members. The most reliable long-term source is a cultivated reader community.

A free eBook discount is still our favorite way to generate a bunch of ads fast.

No. Having only positive reviews can look suspicious to shoppers. Every book, no matter how good, will have detractors once it reaches enough people.

Don't worry about a few negative reviews, and don't waste your energy or time trying to convince Amazon to remove it.

If you start receiving a lot of them, it's worth taking a moment to consider if they hold some truth. Authors need to consider reviews with enough objectivity to know whether a negative review simply came from a cranky person, or if there's some truth to it. If you start seeing several stating the same criticisms, the latter might be true. If that's the case, it might be worth it to make further edits to the book and republish.

As long as your positive reviews far outweigh the negatives, you shouldn't stress.

The launch window matters because early sales velocity influences Amazon's algorithm. The key elements: line up ARC readers (folks you send advanced copies to before the launch) 4 to 6 weeks out so reviews land on launch day, notify your email list, run ads early on, etc.

What matters less than people think: launching on a specific day of the week, time of year (with a few exceptions), focusing all sales on launch DAY (think in terms of weeks and months instead), or hitting best seller.

The launch window lasts 90 days on Amazon. Don't try to game the system, don't chase the best seller tag at the expense of consistent, sustainable sales, and don't wait for the "perfect time".

Launch the book when it's ready, and keep promoting (or work with folks like Book Sales Pro to handle that for you) it to the right readers after the launch.