Episode 68 – Mastering Book Descriptions and Amazon Ads with Brian Meeks

In this episode, Mark interviews Brian Meeks, author of Mastering Amazon Ads and Mastering Amazon Descriptions. The interview was recorded during a Facebook Live video on the Stark Publishing Facebook page.

[image error]A Screen shot of Brian and Mark chatting

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a word from the episode’s sponsor, Findaway Voices . . .

Learn more about Findaway Voices

In his personal update, Mark talks about a recent 40% off Box Set promotion that he and author Sean Costello had with Kobo for one of Sean’s digital box sets.

[image error]A Tweet about the recent Kobo promo

He also shares how they added their own push for the promo, and how sending a newsletter blast about it helped them sell more copies not just on Kobo, but also on Kindle, Apple and Nook, just by being inclusive and including links to the major retailers as well as a Books2Readhttp://books2read.com/costellothrillerpack link.

[image error]The Books2Read link for Sean’s Thriller Box Set

Mark talks about the detailed analysis of the promo which he published for Patreon supporters of the podcast and thanks them for their ongoing support.

In their chat, Mark and Brian talk about:

How Brian once put off launching a fiction title for 60 days because he wanted to avoid the task of writing the product descriptionHow a description done correctly will convert at about 1 in 10 (1:10) – ie, ten views of an ad will result in a click through to the product by a potential customerThe most common problems that authors face when trying to write their book product descriptionThe idea of using previous or existing reviews of a book to find hints and clues to what made the book special to readersWays authors can practice writing or creating compelling product descriptionsThe ultimate goal of a product description, which is to get a potential reader to READ your bookCreating a logline that can be used as an “elevator pitch”How the formatting of a description can be as important as the words used in that descriptionHow the main goal of the FIRST line (or opening hook) of a product description is to get the reader to read the SECOND lineThe concept of the call to action to request the reader to “buy” or “get” the book todayBrian’s story of the “miracle product description”How customers don’t care so much the difference between $2.99 or $4.99 and that their TIME in reading the book is something they consider more valuable, more preciousThe concept of variance, and how it can take 1000 clicks before you have enough data to accurately measure the results of a data setAmazon Ads for authors who are published exclusively to Kindle (KDP Select and part of Kindle Unlimited) VS authors who publish their books “wide” to all retail platformsWhy an author shouldn’t spend more than 90 seconds writing up their advertising copyWhat is a good place to start or to learn how Amazon Advertising works for youThe critical importance of patience and setting expectations and how much investment of time and energy it takes to perfect the processHow “Bid Plus” is a terrible idea for authors to use in Amazon AdvertisingHow Brian gives about 7 to 10 days for an ad to see if they are “getting turned on” and, if it isn’t, he kills itThe differences of playing within the Amazon Advertising world today compared to how it used to be

In his post-interview reflections, Mark talks about three things from the chat that stuck with him.

The idea of NOT using the “Bid Plus” option when creating Amazon Advertising AdsThe concept of having a first line / log line of 4 to 6 words to grab the attention of a potential reader in your book descriptionThe methodology of incorporating elements from reader reviews of your book when revising your book’s blurb

Links of Interest

Brian’s Website Mastering Amazon Ads Facebook GroupMastering Amazon Descriptions Facebook GroupBrian’s Amazon Page The Facebook Live video for the interview segment of this podcastFindaway VoicesPatreon for Stark ReflectionsStark Reflections Survey



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Brian D. Meeks likes to tell a story.

He takes joy in crafting the silly, sprinkling on a bit of the
absurd, and mixing in a dose of unexpected. When he does it well…there
will be laughter.

He enjoys words. He likes their meaning, their sound, the cadence of
them in groups, and how, when wielded with a deft touch, they can stop
time. A tear wrought from the pages of a novel is like a magic elixir.

He wants you to wonder what comes next…to sense the excitement of a journey as it unfolds.

Beyond just writing novels, he has learned that there is much joy to be had on the publishing end, too. He’s also found that writing novels is the easy part…selling them is where the real challenge lies. Over the last few years he’s gotten a handle on publishing/marketing and enjoys writing about his discoveries along the way. He wants to help others discover the joys that come with writing and publishing…to realize their own dreams

The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0