Novel Marketing Rules for Book Advertising with David Gaughran
15 snips
May 6, 2026 David Gaughran, author and digital advertising veteran who wrote Let's Get Digital, shares practical rules for profitable book ads. He covers why fundamentals beat flashy dashboards. He explains starting small, using promos and series, building a reader magnet and email list, and testing landing pages versus direct-to-retailer approaches. He also compares fiction and nonfiction ad strategies.
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Amazon Prefers Review Count Over Star Average
- Amazon values review count over average rating for visibility signals.
- Gaughran explains Amazon's algorithms favor books with many reviews because quantity signals popularity to the store's systems.
Test Advice And Follow Your Own Data
- Don't blindly follow generic marketing rules; test and follow your own data.
- Gaughran emphasizes that while he recommends certain tactics, authors should run their own tests because genre and audience vary.
Follow Platform Results Not Opinions
- Platform health debates often mask scale: despite complaints, Facebook still reaches billions.
- Gaughran notes 3 billion monthly users across Meta apps, so even skeptics should follow performance not opinion.
