Sponsored Ads Account Audits

Most author ad accounts are not underperforming because the bids are wrong. They are underperforming because the structure underneath them was never designed — campaigns accumulated one launch at a time until the account stopped telling Amazon anything coherent about the catalog.

An audit works out which of those two problems you actually have. It is free.

What you get. [Free]

A recorded walkthrough of your account, fifteen to thirty minutes, plus a Google Sheet containing the full breakdown in writing.

The video is me going through the account and saying what I see. The sheet is the part you keep — the same findings, structured so you can work from them without rewatching anything.

Both cover the same four things:

• Ad unit structure — how your campaigns and ad groups are actually organised, and where that organisation is sending Amazon contradictory signals about your catalog.
• Targeting — what you are bidding on, what it is costing you, and which parts of it are competing against the rest of your own catalog.
• Negatives — what you are currently blocking, what you are not, and where budget is leaking through the gaps between them.
• The first thing to fix — one change, ranked above all the others, with the reasoning written out so you can disagree with it if you want to.

Who it is for?

Independent authors spending roughly $500 a month or more on Sponsored Ads. Below that there is usually not enough spend history to read honestly, and you would get more out of the archive than out of me guessing at a thin data set.

It makes no difference whether you run the ads yourself or pay someone else to.

What I need from you?

Read-only access to your Amazon Ads console. That is enough to review structure, targeting and negatives — I do not need the ability to change anything in order to tell you what is wrong with it.

You can revoke that access at any point, including the moment the video lands.

How long it takes?

One to three working days for a small backlist.

Longer for large catalogs, because there is more to read and reading it properly is the whole point. If yours is big enough to push past that window, I will tell you when you send it over rather than leaving you refreshing your inbox.

What is not included?

A full search term analysis. That is a substantially larger piece of work with real hours behind it, and it is paid. The audit will tell you whether you need one — quite often the answer is no, and the structural fixes come first regardless.

What happens afterwards?

For a lot of people the sheet is enough on its own, and that is a perfectly good outcome. Take it and run the changes yourself.

If you would rather not, I work with a small number of authors as a fractional partner — I run the account, and I take a minor share of net royalties rather than a flat monthly retainer. It only works if the account makes money, which is the point.

If that looks like a fit, I will say so at the end of the video. If it does not, I will say that instead.

Request an audit

Email audit@noctuaforest.us. That link opens a message with the questions below already in it — fill in what you can and send it.

• Your author page link, or one to three ASINs
• Roughly what you spend per month on Sponsored Ads
• How many titles are in your catalog — this is what sets the turnaround
• Whether you run the ads yourself or someone else does
• Whether you have granted read-only console access yet
• Anything specific you want me to look at

I will confirm receipt and tell you whether yours is the usual one to three working days or longer.

Not ready for this yet? Start Here walks the archive by problem, and the Official Glossary covers the vocabulary the audit is written in.