Amazon Ads for KDP authors: how to start

A KDP author starts Amazon Ads from the Marketing tab of KDP: "Learn more" in the Amazon Ads section, then "Start Advertising", which opens a Sponsored Products campaign in the Amazon Ads console. Amazon recommends Sponsored Products first: one book is enough, you pay per click, and in the US a campaign can start at $1 a day with $0.02 bids. Each book ad is reviewed before it runs, and it pays off while its ACOS stays below your royalty divided by the book's price.

For self-published authors on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Checked against KDP's and Amazon Ads' help pages in October 2026.

Know your numbers before the first click: the free KDP ads calculator gives the ACOS and cost per click at which your book ads break even, Kindle+ and series included. Then see how Gloriads runs book ads by rules, on every marketplace at once.

Jump to:

• Where do KDP authors create Amazon ads?
• Which Amazon ad types can a KDP author run?
• How should you target your first book campaign?
• What budget and bid should an author start with?
• How long does Amazon take to review a book ad?
• How do authors pay for Amazon ads?
• How do you know if your book ads make money?

Where do KDP authors create Amazon ads?

In the Amazon Ads console, which you reach from KDP. KDP's own steps:

1. Open the Marketing tab of your KDP account.
2. In the Amazon Ads section, click Learn more. Pick a marketplace there to land in its console.
3. Click Start Advertising: the console opens on a new Sponsored Products campaign.

Amazon creates one ads account per country where you list books; "Change country", top left of the console, switches between them. Afterwards you manage everything at advertising.amazon.com, or through the same Marketing tab.

Where KDP books can be advertised: the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, India, Australia and Japan. Audiobooks only in the US.

Before you start, KDP advises a strong product page (a clear description, A+ content if you can) and your books added to Author Central, so readers who click reach your Author Page. Author Central is required for Sponsored Brands, for books published outside KDP and for KDP virtual voice audiobooks.

Which Amazon ad types can a KDP author run?

Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, the two ad types KDP's help names.

• Sponsored Products shows one book as a sponsored result in Amazon's search results and on product pages. Amazon tells authors to start here.
• Sponsored Brands shows your photo, your pen name and several books, or a video. Add it once you have a series: the two compared.
• Display is not in KDP's help, but Amazon offered it to the real KDP author account we checked in October 2026, in the US marketplace only.

How should you target your first book campaign?

Start with automatic targeting, which Amazon advises for a first Sponsored Products campaign: it picks searches and books from your book's details.

• Keywords come in three match types: broad, phrase and exact.
• Product targeting lets you pick precise books, or a books category narrowed by genre.
• Negative keywords stop the searches that cost without selling. Amazon's author guide suggests about two weeks of data before you adjust: how to add them.

One book or several per ad? A standard ad can carry several books, but they share the same keywords and bids: Amazon suggests books of the same series, genre and price, or the formats of one title (ebook and paperback). A custom-text ad carries one book only. More on the choice: automatic vs manual targeting.

What budget and bid should an author start with?

There is no fixed price: you set a daily budget and a maximum bid per click, and Amazon never charges more than that bid. In the US the minimums are $1 a day and $0.02 a click.

• Budget. Amazon's author guide uses $10 a day as its example: over a 30-day month, that campaign never spends more than $300. The daily budget is an average over the month, so a busy day can spend up to twice it.
• Bid. The console shows a suggested bid and a range, taken from winning bids of similar ads over the last 7 days. Amazon advises new advertisers to start with it; check it against what a click is worth to you (the calculator above).
• Bidding strategy. "Dynamic bids - down only" lowers your bid when a sale is unlikely. Amazon recommends it for new advertisers and strict budgets.

More detail, marketplace by marketplace: how much Sponsored Products cost.

How long does Amazon take to review a book ad?

Usually 24 hours, up to 3 business days. Every book ad goes through moderation: Amazon checks the book's content, its cover and the ad's custom text or headline. Check the ad's status in the console.

Two book rules that block ads:

• Amazon must sell the book. An ad from an author account only shows when Amazon itself, not a third-party seller, holds the Featured Offer (the Buy Box).
• A book in another language than the marketplace needs a disclaimer in its title, such as "(French Edition)", and any custom text in the marketplace's language.

How do authors pay for Amazon ads?

By debit or credit card, or by monthly invoice payable within 30 days. Those are the two methods Amazon lists for KDP authors.

• Separate bills per marketplace, each in its own currency: an author advertising in the US and the UK sees two sets of charges.
• A failed payment pauses your campaigns. After you fix it, they can take up to 24 hours to restart.

How do you know if your book ads make money?

Compare your ACOS with your break-even ACOS. ACOS (advertising cost of sales) is ad spend divided by the sales Amazon attributes to your ads. Your break-even ACOS is your royalty divided by the book's price: above it, each sale costs more in ads than it earns.

The ebook earns 70% of its price after a $0.15 per MB delivery cost. The paperback earns 60% of its price minus $4.60 of printing.

Three things Amazon's ACOS leaves out:

• Kindle+ page reads. Kindle Unlimited became Kindle+ in October 2026. Amazon Ads reports pages read within 14 days of a click as KENP read and estimated KENP royalties, but they are not in your sales, so not in your ACOS.
• The rest of the series. A reader who buys book 1 may buy the next ones.
• Sales without a click. KDP reports count every sale; Amazon Ads counts only sales within 14 days of a click, on the day of the click. Check what you really earned in your KDP reports.

The KDP ads calculator adds borrows and the series to the royalty, so your real break-even ACOS is usually higher than the table's.

Frequently asked questions

Gloriads is an Amazon Ads automation platform that creates, monitors and optimizes Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and Streaming TV campaigns for sellers, brands, authors and agencies, by rules you control. See how it works.