#Amazon Ads #KDP #Sponsored Products #campaign setup #beginners
How to Set Up Your First Amazon Ads Campaign for KDP
James Whitfield · July 23, 2026 · 6 min read
To set up your first Amazon Ads campaign for a KDP book, create a Sponsored Products campaign with manual targeting, add 15 to 30 relevant keywords, set a modest daily budget, and start bids near the suggested value. Then let it run for two weeks before you judge it. This guide walks through each step.
Advertising is the fastest way to get a new book in front of buyers, but the dashboard is intimidating on the first visit. Here is the simplest path that works.
Before you start
Make sure your book page is ready to convert, because ads only send traffic; the page makes the sale. You want a strong cover, a compelling description, and ideally a few reviews. Sending paid clicks to a weak page just burns money.
Step by step
- Open Campaign Manager from your KDP Ads dashboard and choose Sponsored Products.
- Pick the book you want to advertise. Start with your best one, not your newest.
- Choose Manual targeting. Automatic is easier but gives you less control; manual teaches you what actually works.
- Add keywords. Start with 15 to 30 tightly relevant terms: your genre, comparable authors, and specific themes readers search. See keyword research for books for how to find them.
- Set match types. Begin with phrase and exact match for control; add broad later once you know what converts.
- Set your bid near Amazon's suggested value. Too low and you get no impressions; too high and you overpay before you have data.
- Set a daily budget you are comfortable losing while learning, often a few dollars a day to start.
- Launch, then leave it alone for about two weeks.
Recommended starting settings
| Setting | Starting point |
|---|---|
| Campaign type | Sponsored Products |
| Targeting | Manual |
| Match types | Phrase + Exact |
| Keywords | 15 to 30, tightly relevant |
| Bid | Near suggested |
| Daily budget | Small but real |
| First review | After ~2 weeks |
The mistake almost everyone makes
Judging the campaign after two days. Amazon attributes sales in a delayed window, so early numbers look worse than reality. Give it time and enough clicks before you decide anything. When you do review, measure ACOS against your margin, not the raw spend.
What to do after two weeks
- Keep the keywords that produced sales, raise their bids slightly.
- Pause or lower keywords with many clicks and no sales.
- Add the converting search terms as exact keywords, and start building a negative keyword list for the ones that only cost.
This optimization loop is ongoing, and doing it by hand every week across several books is exactly what Essentia automates.
FAQ
How much should I budget for my first campaign? Enough to gather data without stress. Many authors start at a few dollars a day. The goal at first is learning what converts, not immediate profit.
Should I use automatic or manual targeting? Manual to start. It forces you to learn which keywords work. Many authors run an automatic campaign alongside later, purely to discover new search terms.
How long until I see results? Give it at least two weeks. Sales attribution is delayed, and the algorithm needs clicks before its data means anything.