After a long-awaited release, the book is finally available for purchase.
From the start, I planned on running an advertising campaign to bring some attention to the book and build a little hype around it. That way, when it finally dropped, it wouldn't sit there collecting dust as Amazon hacks down my price. Yes, they have done that to me before. They don't even tell you. I found out when I went to share the link.
Well, to my dismay, not even 10 minutes after the book goes LIVE, I find the book offered for 25% off.
Already? Sheesh, that was quick.
First, Amazon has a stiff minimum price I am allowed to list my book for. I simply could not list it for the price I wanted. If I set it at the minimum, I will make $0 royalties. Sorry, friends and fam, I enjoy writing but I would like to at least try to make a living doing so.
So, why did Amazon offer it for less?
Alright, I will accept that for now. No need to snuff my excitement by stressing over that right now.
I'll just go ahead and start my campaign. If I dont make any sales in so many days, my price gets cut. And if my book doesnt make Amazon any money, they bump it down the list. So, running an ad campaign is the obvious way to go.
Wait.
What's this?
"At this time, books that contain mature or erotic content are not eligible for advertising. See advertising guidelines."
Okayyyy?
Let's take a look at the guidelines, shall we?
3.3 Prohibited content
Book content
We prohibit the following globally:
Amazon trademarks or references to Amazon products or services.
Content that may be considered culturally inappropriate in the geographical location where the ad will display.
Content that glorifies or promotes the use of illicit or recreational drugs, abuse of legal drugs, drug paraphernalia or products to beat drug tests.
Contests or sweepstakes.
Content that implies or claims to diagnose, treat, or question gender identity or sexual orientation.
Content that encourages or promotes vandalism, anti-social behavior, or the defacing of public or private property.
Content that encourages or glorifies smoking.
Content that claims to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease or addiction.
Content that promotes practices that can result in physical or mental harm.
Content that may infringe, encourage, or enable, the infringement of intellectual property or personal rights.
Content that promotes practices that may be illegal or dangerous, or that encourage the evasion of law enforcement.
Content that promotes, glorifies, or encourages suicide or self-harm, and young adult fiction where suicide or self-harm is a central theme.
Content that is threatening, abusive, intolerant, harassing, or that discriminates or shows hate based on race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expressions, age or toward any member of a protected class.
Content that revolves around highly debated social topics.
Children in adult or dangerous situations. For example, children close to, or handling, firearms or other weapons, or in situations which may contravene established child safety best practices (such as children in vehicles without their seatbelts fastened or cycling without helmets), or without adult supervision in places or situations where they cannot safely look after themselves (such as swimming pools, crossing busy roads or around dangerous equipment).
Cruelty toward people or animals.
Deceptive, false, or misleading content.
Erotica, pornography, or explicit sexual practices or preferences.
Excessive violence or gore, including, but not limited to:
Brutality, graphic depictions of blood, open or sutured wounds, scenes of torture, dismemberments, or mutilations of bodies (including cadavers).
Overt references to or images implying or depicting rape and sexual molestation.
Exploitation of sensitive events such as natural disasters, human-caused disasters, incidents of mass trauma and/or casualties, or the death of public figures.
Fake functionality such as CTA buttons.
Foul, vulgar, or obscene language or language containing profanity, including obfuscated text or inappropriate double meanings.
Get-rich-quick schemes.
Language that pressures customers into taking action, or creates a sense of urgency such as “Last Chance”, “Don’t leave it to too late”, “Don’t Miss Out”, “Hurry while supplies last”, or emotionally charged language.
Misspellings, excessive punctuation, or incorrect grammar or punctuation.
Obscene, defamatory, libelous, illegal, invasive of another’s privacy.
Shipping or delivery claims.
Special characters (unless part of the book title).
Welp, my book is listed as "not for children" for a reason. It has some adult language, combat, blood & gore, etc.
I guess I wont be advertising through Amazon at this time.
What a waste of time.