Are you new to running book ads and trying to understand how they work? Or, have you run ads before and are tired of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks? You’re not alone. Running ads has a steep learning curve and can throw off even the most savvy marketers.
That’s where the Click Testing for Authors program steps in. It’s a program designed to alleviate a lot of the headaches associated with running ads.
In this Click Testing for Authors review, we’ll take a close look at the program, Steve Pieper, the creator, and some of the results from authors who’ve gone through the program. Hopefully, by the end of this review, you’ll know if the program is a good fit for you.
Let’s take a closer look at:
These days, I’m thinking a lot about the book market and competition. Not that competition is a bad thing, but when you want to get noticed, trying to swim to the top of a mountain of books on a platform like Amazon can be exhausting.
Now more than ever, I embrace the phrase “work smarter, not harder” with both arms and a squeeze.
This is why, when I run across programs like Steve Pieper’s Click Testing for Authors with promises like these:
- Click Testing” For Authors is [the] only way to test into a 7-figure book business (even if you’re starting off small).
- Our Authors Earned a Combined $80,000,000 in Book Sales Last Year
- 17% of Our Authors Earn 5-Figures Per Year
- 6% of Our Authors Sell Over $100,000 Per Year
- 1% of Our Clients Sell Over $1,000,000 Per Year
You’ve got my attention.
Who is Steve Pieper?
In short, Steve Pieper is a USA Today bestselling author under the pen name Lars Emmerich, a marketer, and the founder of Author Marketing Mastery through Optimization (AMMO), launched in 2019. He launched Click Testing for Authors in February 2024 and credits Mint CRO as the original developers.
According to his bio, he launched his first book in 2012, and in 2017, Amazon withheld his royalties. This led him to explore other options for sales and distribution. He found success in direct-to-consumer sales and started sharing what he’d learned with others. Click Testing for Authors, his newest program, is part of his training to help independent authors level up.
What is Click Testing for Authors?
Pieper describes the Click Testing for Authors program as:
A method that helps authors find book market fit through fast, affordable ad experiments—so you know what resonates before you spend big.
The program teaches authors how to run, tweak, and revise ads to get the best results based on audience responses. The short tests are run on Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) to validate book marketing strategies to help you discover market fit. He tried ads on various platforms
Why Meta?
With so many advertising platforms to choose from, why does the Click Testing for Authors program focus on Meta? Here’s what Pieper had to say:
I’ve spent 10s of 1000s of dollars of my own money testing all of the major advertising platforms to sell my books, and I’ve also tested many of the minor ones. In the end, as an author, there’s only one name you need to know. You may love this company or hate it, but either way, it is the largest digital advertising platform in the English speaking world for a very good reason. It drives the best results for the least amount of money. It’s just shy of three times bigger than Google, 20 times bigger than YouTube, and 20 times bigger than Tiktok.
The program is built on microtesting ads and then tweaking the results as data comes in, and recommends that authors spend $30-$45/day for 7 to 14 days to test ads. Each test runs for 24-36 hours, and you can run a variety of tests like taglines, short copy, landing/book pages, and images.
According to Pieper, at the end of each day of testing, “you’ll have a rank-ordered list of your marketing ideas from best to worst” based on audience feedback. This allows you to keep what works and continue to refine your ads to get the best results.
Within the program, you’ll also have access to tools, templates, procedures, and skill development, which can also be used to test future book ideas so you can write the book that your ideal readers actually want to read.
Here are a few additional details:
- The program is online, self-paced, with “bite-sized lessons.”
- You have access to free lifetime curriculum updates
- There’s an author community for additional support.
How much does it cost?
The program can be purchased for a one-time payment of $997 or 3 payments of $349. Additional expenses include the recommended $30-$45 per day for the first 7 to 14 days.
What are author clients saying?
The program offers video testimonials from authors who’ve benefited from the program. There’s also an impressive list of well-known self-publishing advocates like Dave Chesson from Kindlepreneur and Joanna Penn from the Creative Penn who have endorsed the program.
Click Testing for Authors review results
Ultimately, the Click Testing for Authors method has the potential to reduce advertising guesswork through evidence-first marketing. This allows authors to tweak their messaging based on proven results.
The positives:
Pieper is transparent about results. There’s not a lot of big fluff talk or promises. He makes it clear that the results quoted are averages, which means that not every author is making that amount. He also emphasises that “you have to do the work yourself.”
With so many “marketers” promising pots of gold if you follow their program, it’s refreshing to find a program with positive reviews, impressive results, and an emphasis on realistic expectations.
The negatives:
For the potential outcome and value, the program price is reasonable, but not a good fit for limited budgets, especially since it’s an investment on top of the other self-publishing expenses like editing, book cover design, etc. And, while the recommended $30-$45 ad spend per day is on the lower end, it can still add up to an additional $210 to $630 of additional spending.
In his video introduction, he says that Click Testing for Authors will help you advertise “with skill and integrity, ” but he makes it clear that “if you don’t advertise, you don’t sell,” and says that the only catch is that “you have to do the work yourself.”
All in all, if you are going to advertise, this program could be a smarter way to get from point A to Z with the least amount of waste, but remember that testing ads isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning. Once you test the ads and figure out what works, the expectation is for you to invest more aggressively or “spend big” to see the best results.
My impression of Pieper is that he understands the book market and has developed a strong program for independent authors who want to learn how to use ads efficiently and effectively.
If you are a career author, finding ways to educate yourself on how book publishing works, including sales and marketing, is foundational to your success. While there are other ways to learn without spending almost $2K (including ad spend) for a program, the learning curve can be steep and can take a lot of trial and error. If you don’t have that kind of time to invest and you have the budget, a program like this could be a good option.
Is the program a good fit for you?
If you’re an independent author looking for ways to increase sales and engage with your audience, you’re not alone. The appeal of this type of program is that it works independently of genres, formats, and distribution types. The core draw is that it is customized to fit the unique needs of your author brand.
Back to my earlier point about working smarter and not harder. Self-publishing has a steep learning curve, and because things can change quickly, having access to tools that can make the process easier is a good thing. In other articles, I’ve mentioned tools like Publisher Rocket that make selecting Amazon book categories easier. Overall, any program that can take a lot of the guesswork out of the book publishing process (like advertising) is an extra load that I don’t have to carry as a self-publisher, so I’m all for it.
You can definitely try to figure out advertising on your own, but this could waste a lot of money in the long run. Ask anyone who has run ads without a strategy, and they’ll tell you that it’s like flushing money down the toilet. Running ads is a lot like investing. It’s not a guaranteed outcome, but you get the best results when you understand the market, do your research, and have a solid strategy in place.
As with all things self-publishing, choose what works best for you and your book.
If you’d like to view the introductory video that I referenced in this article, go to the stevepieper.com website and click on “View the Free Intro Video.”
