Book Ads: Specs, Costs & Examples

Where book ads run

Where can I run book ads?

You can run book ads on Amazon, where authors can run Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands ads, and on Meta, which serves image ads in the Facebook and Instagram feeds and video ads in Instagram Reels.

Amazon Sponsored Products

Keyword- or product-targeted ads that appear in shopping results and on product pages. Amazon says there is no up-front charge: you set a budget and pay when a shopper clicks.

Asks for: the book claimed in Author Central and available in the country where you advertise.

Amazon Sponsored Brands

For authors with three or more unique eligible titles under the same author name. They can feature a collection of books or your author story, and can include video. Also cost-per-click.

Full guide: Amazon ads for authors.

Facebook and Instagram feed

Image ads. Meta's ads guide lists a 4:5 image at 1440 × 1800 pixels as the design recommendation for both feeds.

Meta lists: JPG or PNG files and short text lengths (see the table below).

Instagram Reels

Vertical video ads. Meta lists 9:16 at 1440 × 2560 pixels in MP4 or MOV, and recommends sound and captions.

See also: book trailers.

Eligibility and specs as published by Amazon Ads and Meta (Facebook Feed, Instagram feed, Instagram Reels), read on 7 October 2026. Platforms change their specs, so check the source before you build. Amazon's book-ads page also lists managed display services, which it says typically need a minimum spend of $50,000; this guide does not cover them.

Specs

What size should a book ad be?

For Facebook and Instagram feeds, Meta's ads guide recommends a 4:5 image at 1440 × 1800 pixels, and for Instagram Reels a 9:16 video at 1440 × 2560 pixels.

Placement	File	Ratio	Recommended size	Text lengths Meta lists	Limits Meta lists
Facebook Feed, image	JPG or PNG	4:5	1440 × 1800 px	Primary text 50–150 characters; headline 27 characters	Max 30 MB; min width 600 px
Instagram feed, image	JPG or PNG	4:5	1440 × 1800 px	Primary text 125 characters; headline 40 characters; up to 30 hashtags	Max 30 MB; min width 500 px
Instagram Reels, video	MP4 or MOV	9:16	1440 × 2560 px	Primary text 44 characters	Max 4 GB; 0 seconds to 15 minutes; min width 250 px under 30 seconds, 500 px at 30 seconds or longer

Reels safe zone: Meta suggests leaving at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos or other important creative elements, so key parts are not cropped or covered by the profile icon or call to action.
Sound and captions: Meta calls captions optional but recommended, and sound optional but strongly recommended.
Amazon: ads must meet Amazon's creative requirements and acceptance policies, and each ad goes through review, which typically takes 24 hours and can take up to 3 business days.
Run length: if you expect sales to rise around a date, Amazon recommends ramping up early and running campaigns for at least 4 to 6 weeks.

Meta's design and text recommendations and technical requirements, read on 7 October 2026 (Facebook Feed, Instagram feed, Instagram Reels); Amazon's review timing and run length from its author guide. Book Ad Pack's on-book images are sized per platform and its scene video is cut 9:16; check your files against this table before you upload.

Start here

The anatomy of a book ad.

A book ad comes down to five parts doing five jobs. When an ad fails, one of these five is missing or weak.

The visualThe part that stops the scroll: a cover staged inside a scene that looks like the book's world. On Amazon Sponsored Products your cover thumbnail is the visual, so it has to read at a small size.

The hook lineOne sentence in the reader's own search language — the trope, the tension, the forbidden thing.

The promiseThe primary text: what the reader will feel, drawn from what actually happens in the book.

The call to actionOne action, stated plainly: read the sample, grab the ebook, start the series.

The landing pageThe ad's second half is the page behind the click. If it does not keep the promise the ad made, you have already paid for the click.

Formats

Three book ad formats.

Here are three book ad formats: a static image, a short vertical video and an Amazon placement. Build each at the size the platform lists (see the table above).

The static image ad

A single on-book image in the Facebook or Instagram feed, at the 4:5 size in the table above.

Best for: testing hooks cheaply and building cover recognition before launch.

The short vertical video

9:16 vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts. Open on a scene, a line of real dialogue or a character moment — not a slideshow of quotes over stock footage.

Best for: discovery and launch momentum. See book trailers.

The Amazon placement

Sponsored Products ads may appear in shopping results and on product pages, targeted by keyword or by product, and you pay when a shopper clicks.

Best for: high-intent buyers. Full guide: Amazon ads for authors.

The follow-through

Not an ad you buy — the A+ content on your Amazon page, which KDP says lets you add images, text and comparison tables. Header, banner and tile images at Amazon's module sizes.

See also: Amazon A+ content design.

From our own in-house work

Real book ads, not mockups.

These are examples of our own in-house work, built by the same pipeline a paying author gets. We do not use a paying author's book as a public demo without asking first.

Book ad example — romance cover staged inside an ad-ready scene — **Static image ads** from one campaign — the cover is the hero in every frame, so the reader recognises the book the moment the Amazon page loads.

Book ad example — on-book ad image with the cover as the hero — **Static image ads** from one campaign — the cover is the hero in every frame, so the reader recognises the book the moment the Amazon page loads.

A scene from the book, filmed — two characters, one frame, speaking lines the manuscript already wrote. The same faces and voices in every clip you get back.

The one readers screenshot — the two leads texting, word for word from the manuscript. It reads like eavesdropping, not like an ad.

Walk a full campaign asset by asset, by genre:

Romance ad examples

A contemporary romance campaign end to end — stills, trailer, ad copy and A+ content.

See the campaign →

Dark romance ad examples

A mafia romance campaign that sells obsession the way readers search for it.

See the campaign →

Historical fiction examples

A 20th-century novel with period-true images and A+ content.

See the campaign →

Money, honestly

How much do book ads cost?

A book ad has three costs: the platform, anyone who manages the campaign, and the creative.

The platform. Amazon says there is no up-front charge for a Sponsored Products ad: you set a budget and pay only when a shopper clicks (Amazon's author guide). KDP's help adds that adding a payment method can show a temporary $50 pre-authorization hold (the amount may vary) that your bank releases within 3 to 7 business days (KDP help). This guide quotes no Meta price.
The manager. If you hire someone to run the campaigns, Reedsy's page says advertisers there typically charge $500–$1,000 per advertising platform per month, on top of your ad spend (as listed on reedsy.com, 7 October 2026).
The creative. Book Ad Pack prices each deliverable in credits, and 1 credit = $1. A base pack of four on-book ad images plus the core ad copy angles is 8 credits, each extra image is 2 credits, a 15-second scene video is 15 credits (select genres) and Amazon A+ content is 8 credits (published rates).

Book Ad Pack makes the creative; you run the ads from your own accounts, so platform and management costs are separate. Checkout is charged in ZAR at the live rate.

How Book Ad Pack fits

From manuscript to ready-to-run ads.

Book Ad Pack reads your actual manuscript and cover, then builds the ad creative in every format above — so nothing in the anatomy is missing when you go live.

Bring the book

Upload your manuscript or paste your Amazon link. The pipeline reads the real book — genre, tone, cast, and the tropes readers search for it.

Get the ad set

On-book images, ad copy pulled from real scenes, cinematic scene video and character chat cut 9:16, and A+ content at Amazon's module sizes.

Run, keep, refresh

Take the assets to Meta, TikTok and Amazon. Keep the creative that earns clicks, and refresh single assets for a few credits when an ad tires.

Fair questions

Book ads, asked often.

What is a book ad?

A book ad is a paid placement that puts your book in front of readers: an image or short video on Facebook, Instagram or Reels, or a Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands ad on Amazon. Book Ad Pack builds its ad creative from the book itself: its cover, its scenes, its tropes and its dialogue.

Where can I run book ads?

You can run book ads on Amazon, where authors can use Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, and on Meta, with image ads in the Facebook and Instagram feeds and video ads in Instagram Reels. Amazon needs the book claimed in Author Central, and Sponsored Brands needs three or more unique eligible titles under the same author name.

What size should a book ad be?

Meta's ads guide recommends a 4:5 image at 1440 × 1800 pixels (JPG or PNG) for Facebook and Instagram feeds, and a 9:16 video at 1440 × 2560 pixels (MP4 or MOV) for Instagram Reels. Meta changes its specs, so check its ads guide before you build.

How much do book ads cost?

Book ads have three costs: the platform, anyone who manages the campaign, and the creative. Amazon says there is no up-front charge for a Sponsored Products ad and you pay when a shopper clicks (KDP's help notes a temporary $50 card hold when you add payment details); Reedsy's page says advertisers there typically charge $500–$1,000 per advertising platform per month on top of ad spend; and Book Ad Pack prices creative in credits at 1 credit = $1, with a base pack of four on-book images plus core ad copy at 8 credits.

Can I advertise my book for free?

Placements on Amazon and Meta are paid, but you can post the same images and clips as ordinary Facebook or Instagram posts without paying for placement. Book Ad Pack's first read of your book is free and needs no card; after that you buy credits for the assets you choose.

What makes a good book ad?

Five parts doing five jobs: a scroll-stopping visual built from the book, a hook line in the reader's search language, a promise the book actually delivers, one clear call to action, and a landing page that closes the sale. When an ad fails, check which of the five is weak.

Is a book cover mockup a book ad?

A book cover mockup is a picture of your cover on an object, such as a paperback or a phone screen. It shows what the book looks like, but an ad also needs a hook line and a reason to click, which come from what is inside the book. See our guide to the book cover mockup.

Where do I get book ad creative?

Start at the intake page: upload your manuscript or paste your Amazon link, and Book Ad Pack reads the book and shows you the images, copy and video it would build before you commit to anything.

Where our numbers come from

Counted, not claimed.

Why this comes from real data

Book Ad Pack is not a template library. Its creative is generated from your manuscript (or your book’s listing where none is supplied), and its ad copy is scored against reader-demand data that we build and count ourselves. The database behind it holds 5,338 reader personas (profiles built from real Goodreads reviews and Reddit posts) and 975,962 dated Amazon snapshots of sales rank, chart position or price. The pipeline has delivered 10 paid customer orders (test, complimentary and free-credit orders are not counted), including 52 ad creatives and 17 videos. Counts are live table counts taken 9 October 2026; each one is re-counted daily, so a figure can fall when a corpus is rebuilt. Compared with a Reddit thread, which collects individual authors’ experiences: the numbers above are counted across the whole corpus. See how we compare with Canva, Placeit and BookBrush.