The 7 Day Authors Guide to Amazon Ads is a very solid book. Very technical, very detailed, but the author doesn’t hesitate to point out some timeless principles which are ruling the advertising game.
CONs
Actually, this book doesn’t have CONs other than the ones coming from its nature. It is based on Matthew’s comprehensive experience and describes the system at the specific point in time.
But the system evolves. Quite a few screenshots in the book are already expired because Amazon changed the interface. The same goes for some specific bidding thresholds. They were true when the author wrote the book, but are they true now? I doubt it. I observed in the last couple of months the 50% increase of a default bid.
And while comprehensive, it is just Matthew’s experience. He didn’t experience everything, so he may be mistaken.
For example:
“Bidding lower than $0.30 is unlikely to garner many impressions, clicks, and sales.”
Define “unlikely.” My own US ad account shows for May 2023 over 2.5 million impressions, almost 700 clicks and 24 orders. The average cost per click? 13 cents. It’s not a fluke, most of my customers hit a million impressions a month with bidding lower than $0.30.
So, one man’s experience has always its limits.
Other than the above “nature” flaws, the book is great.
PROs
1. Timeless Principles.
If there’s one skill you need going into Amazon Ads, it is patience.”
Any author who wants to run ads on Amazon should engrave this on an iron plate and put it on their desk.
Or three more rules in just a single paragraph:
Amazon Ads are not a ’set-it-and-forget-it’ solution that will transform your sales from non-existent to instant best seller in 24 hours.
They require ongoing care, attention, and nurturing.
There will also be a lot of testing you’ll need to do in order to find what works for your books.”
Umm, actually I’ve seen a few rare cases when the sentences #1, #2 or #3 weren’t true. But they were rare, unique, exceptional. For 99.5% of books, they are totally valid. Testing, grooming, and more testing – that is the name of the game.
2. Details, Details, Details.
The 7 Day Authors Guide to Amazon Ads is meticulous. Every step is described, explained, and illustrated by screenshots. I’ll always remember how, when publishing my first book, I had on one screen the Kindle Direct interface opened, and on the other screen Steve Scott’s book, 61 Ways to Sell More Kindle Nonfiction Books.
It was my blueprint for publishing a book (and later, marketing it). In the same fashion, The 7 Day Authors Guide to Amazon Ads can become your blueprint for creating your first ads.
3. Deep Knowledge.
I’m Matthew’s competition – I also run ads for other authors, and I’ve been doing that since 2017. Yet, I was able to learn new things from his book. Clearly, he has more patience than I for testing some minor features. I finally discovered how phrase matching is different than broad, and how exactly negative targeting works.
For the 1-time author this book is a priceless resource, which they may not even appropriately appreciate.
4. Full System.
Matthew not only explains which ads to create in your first seven days and how exactly to do it. He reveals his whole system and explains in length his reasoning for following this or that scenario. By doing so, he makes a huge favor to his readers – if anything shifts in the interface or the algorithm, they will be able to adjust to the changes because they will understand the underlying principles, not just the specific blueprint.
The author is overgenerous in sharing his expertise. He clearly is not afraid that someone will duplicate his system and steal his clients. Rightfully so. Very few people will find the guts and patience to duplicate him verbatim.
5. Nice Reading Experience.
Most of the book is pretty dry because it is mostly an instruction manual. Yet, whenever Matthew writes about principles, he writes it SO well! A couple of quotes:
You can achieve fantastic results by spending as little as an hour or two per week refining, optimizing, and scaling your Amazon Ads.”
Successful Amazon Ads come to those who wait. And test. And wait some more. And continue testing and tweaking.”
Summary
The 7 Day Authors Guide to Amazon Ads is an awesome resource for both people who never created even a single book ad and those who ran tens of thousands of campaigns.
It fulfils the promise – after seven days you can have the set of your Amazon ads which should provide solid results. Even if you are completely clueless before reading the book.
Hats off to the author for his dedication to translating his vast experience into a simple step-by-step manual for the clueless crowd of authors who want to join the pay-to-play Amazon game.