Vincent B. Davis II, @vbdavisii

Imagine walking into a bookstore.

Recall the warm smell of roasting coffee beans, the quiet chatter of baristas and bookstore clerks.

But what’s the first thing you see? Most of us take a moment to check out the displays at the front of a bookstore. These special tables are usually highlighted with promotional material and signs with loaded-word ad copy.

Most of us thing that these books are here, on the special front table, because of how good they are. We think that the manager personally selected the books with the most literary merit, or perhaps the books that have the most sales potential. Maybe the entire bookstore staff took a vote on their favorite new releases, and the consensus would be featured.

But these special promotional areas are in fact purchased. Bookstores sell this prime bookselling Real Estate to the highest bidder, typically one of the larger publishing companies. This is called the “co-op” process, and it’s been around as long as bookstores have been.

Why am I telling you this?

Because the world’s largest bookstore is making their front-of-the-store Real Estate available to you.

I’m talking about Amazon. Yes, the company that hosts 70% of the world eBook sales, and nearly 50% of paperback sales (number is likely higher, but skewed by textbook sales), is allowing you to enter into a co-op with them.

This process is called AMS, or Amazon Marketing Services. It functions the same as a traditional co-op, but instead of placing your book in front of a brick-and-mortar store that all types of readers attend, they place your book at the front of the virtual bookstore where only your target readers visit.

_{Search results for “Christian Living”. The first two results are AMS Sponsored Product ads.}

AMS allows authors and publishers to target specific terms (Christian living, hard-boiled detective thrillers, etc), comparable authors, or comparable book titles. In the screenshot above, the first two results for the search “Christian Living” are sponsored products, showing up ahead of a bestselling Charles Stanley book. That is the power of AMS.

Ever wanted your book to sit on shelves right beside the bestselling or celebrity authors in your genre? If you write romance, how would you like readers searching for “The Notebook” to find your book instead? AMS is how you make it happen.

_{AMS Sponsored Products also appear beside “Also Boughts”, among several other places.}

So what exactly is AMS? If you’re familiar with Google Adwords, you’ve spent some time with ppc (pay per click) advertising. Essentially, you select (or pay someone to select) hundreds or thousands of keywords, add them to a campaign, and then your book will start appearing when shoppers search for those keywords. You pay NOTHING until your book is clicked on.

This is free visibility.

When someone does click on your book, you’ll pay Amazon based on the amount of money you are willing to spend for each click. Most clicks cost around a quarter. If you make $2 royalty per book, if you can convert 1 in 8 sales, you’ll break even. If you can convert 2 of 8 sales, you’ll double it.

But the most important part of AMS is not making money.

It is consistent exposure, which leads to consistent sales.

Most authors are familiar with the model of running a price promotion (or offering their book for free) for a limited time and concentrating all of their marketing on those few days. This is a strategy I’ve personally used, with great success. It’s a powerful marketing tool that every author should consider using to pump up a book launch, or revive a languishing book.

That being said, over the last few years, Amazon has shown a propensity to favor consistent sales over massive volume spikes. Often times, price promotions can help a book soar to the top of charts and bestseller’s lists, but just as often they plummet back down from whence they came.

But with the kind of consistent sales one can generate through AMS, your book will stick around like glue. Amazon will identify your book as a perennial seller, and keep it in front of the reads who might be interested in it.

To wrap things up (I can talk about AMS for way too long), AMS won’t make you a bestseller by itself. You’re unlikely to receive the kind of traffic from AMS that you would from a Bookbub ad. However, Amazon Marketing Services can generate 2 or 3 more sales a day than you are used to, attract targeted and organic traffic that can be converted into raving fans, and give your book an edge over the competition.

Have you tried Amazon Marketing Service? What has been your experience? What have your learned? Let us know in the comments below!

Vincent B. Davis II is an entrepreneur, soldier, and freelance writer. In December 2016, he founded Thirteenth Press, LLC. His first novel, “The Man with Two Names” is an Amazon International Bestseller. You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, or on his website at vincentbdavisii.com. He loves hearing from other authors!