[saberworks]

I use an ad blocker so don't generally see ads. However, I own a Kindle Voyage which I use to read sci-fi and fantasy novels. I have not paid the extra $20 or whatever it is to disable the ads. The ads are definitely targeted, as I only see ads for books related to what I've already purchased and read. In fact, all I see is ads for books in the series I happen to be reading at the time. For example, I'm finally getting around to reading the rest of the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series. I started over and now I'm on book 5, all purchased through Amazon so far, all directly through the store on the kindle. And it just keeps advertising books 1-5 (which I've already purchased). It makes no sense.

I have a list of authors I follow on amazon.com. It would be a better use of everyone's time if they just picked a random book from any of my favorite authors, made sure I hadn't already purchased it through amazon, and only then show it to me. It's like they're not even trying.

[vanilla_nut]

FYI, you can just ask them in a support chat to remove the ads and they'll do it for free.

[vidarh]

Authors and publishers can buy ads on Amazon, including on kindles, and the targeting includes the ability for people to pick their own keywords or advertise on other specific words, as well as letting Amazon choose. As such, Amazon earns money on a whole lot of those ads whether or not you buy anything, and a lot of the people involved are likely not very experienced at targeting.

[kcplate]

So In my experience on the advertiser side of these suggestion widgets—The algorithms generally aren’t all that smart behind them, and it’s possible in Amazon’s case the items you are getting recommended might have a different SKU number than the ones you have already bought, but of course it is the same author and genre to your reading interest. Doubt it’s looking at book title to be honest.

[nottorp]

> The ads are definitely targeted, as I only see ads for books related to what I've already purchased and read.

Maybe you do. I'm subscribed to Asimov's and SF&F electronic editions digitally via the Kindle store. Not even once have I noticed an ad for scifi/fantasy books on my Kindle. Most of the time it's fluffy bestsellers.

[lanstin]

Amazon advertises and recommends with a notification books that I have already read on Kindle all the time. But they aren’t paying for these so not the same problem as the purchase based targeting.