By Kristy Tate //
Billie Holiday best described the Matthew Principle in the lyrics of “God Bless the Child,” which you can read HERE.
The Matthew Principle is based on these Bible verses:
For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
— Matthew 25:29, RSV.
I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
— Luke 19:26, RSV.
Why am I talking about song lyrics and the Bible? Because, believe it or not at your own peril, this Matthew Principle, as it’s called in scientific and mathematical circles, directly correlates to the efficacy of Amazon ads. Here’s the sad truth: if your books aren’t selling, Amazon isn’t going to show your ads, but, conversely, if your books are selling—Amazon will show your ads so you will sell even more books. It may not seem fair, but it’s a fact. It’s better to learn to live with it, adapt to it, and learn how to make it work for you than—to once again quote the Bible—kick against the pricks.
So, how do you tickle the Amazon algorithm and encourage it to show your ads?
Firstly, let’s talk about what you don’t want to do.
Don’t make your book a dollar and give a dollar to all of your friends and ask them to buy your book. Why not? Now, your book is selling so Amazon should realize your sci-fi romance mystery mashup is the next best thing since sliced bread and start pushing your ads to other sci-fi romance mystery readers, right?
Wrong. Because what Amazon does is show your ad to people with similar purchasing patterns. For example, if your Aunt Meg, a devotee of The Great British Baking Show who routinely purchases all things Betty Crocker, buys your book, Amazon is going to start showing your book to chefs, bakers, and short-order cooks. If your neighbor Mr. Green, who only buys books about flowers, does you a solid and recommends your novel to all of his fellow orchidologists, Amazon will start trying to push your book to gardeners. Get it?
Try to think of your Amazon page like a rose garden. You’re in the business of cultivating roses. It doesn’t matter how much you love corn—you don’t want those tall stalks fraternizing with your thorny beauties. You can add varieties of roses to your plot, but if you throw in some vegetables, the mysterious Amazon algorithm will get confused and stop pushing your ads and selling your book.
So, what do you do? How can you get the Amazon algorithm to work for you rather than against you? Here are a few ideas:
- Join Facebook groups where other sci-fi romance mystery readers and writers virtually hang out. Don’t push your book, but do join in the conversations. Ask questions. Answer questions. And if a sci-fi romance mystery author whose books are similar to yours—and maybe even more importantly—has book covers that look like yours asks for newsletter swaps, you want to raise your hand. (Don’t have a newsletter? Get one, pronto. Read this post: https://oc-writers.com/2020/06/01/marketing-mayhem-your-newsletter-is-like-a-spork/).
- Focus your Amazon ads on bestselling indie authors’ books. Look up the top 100 sci-fi romance mystery books on Amazon, find the ones that look and sound like yours, and those are your Amazon ad keywords.
- Run a sale and promote your book on newsletter blasts that are genre-specific, like Robin Reads, Book Barbarian, The Fussy Librarian, etc.
- Join a Bookfunnel promotion. (Don’t know about Bookfunnel? Check out their services here: https://bookfunnel.com/ )
If you’re brand new to Amazon ads and everything I’m saying sounds like Greek, I highly suggest you take Bryan Cohen’s free Amazon ads course and join his exclusive Facebook group. The next round starts later this month. You can sign up here: https://bryancohen.lpages.co/january-amazon-ad-challenge-2021-ov4/
If you have any tips on how to master Amazon ads, please share. The Amazon algorithms are wily beasts that need to wooed and coaxed into your favor.
KRISTY TATE is the Social Media Director for O.C. Writers and a USA Today bestselling author. To date, her newsletter subscriber list is edging toward 15,000. www.KristyTate.com.