Top 20 Must-Read Affiliate Marketing Books

Affiliate marketing is one of the most lucrative ways to earn extra money online. Unfortunately, many affiliate marketers struggle to build an effective business strategy. The books below will point you in the right direction, and we bet you've never heard of a few of them!

You will learn how to choose the right affiliate programs, drive traffic to your affiliate site, come up with unique business ideas, and improve your affiliate marketing website.

Before we start, here are our top 7 picks if you only have time for a few books:

Top 7 affiliate marketing books you should read

1. "From Nothing: Everything You Need to Profit from Affiliate Marketing" by Ian Pribyl
2. "Affiliate Marketing: Learn How to Make $10,000+ Each Month on Autopilot" by Michael Ezeanaka
3. "Amazon Affiliate Marketing: The Secret E-Commerce Passive Income That No One Is Talking About" by Chris J. Brodie
4. "The 1-Page Marketing Plan" by Allan Dib
5. "Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers" by Russell Brunson
6. "Copywriting Secrets: How Everyone Can Use the Power of Words to Get More Clicks, Sales and Profits" by Jim Edwards
7. "Expert Secrets: The Underground Playbook" by Russell Brunson

We've split the 15 books into two categories. The first 10 give you specific affiliate marketing guidance. The other 5 cover the skills every affiliate needs to succeed: marketing strategy, traffic, and copywriting.

You don't have to read them all to succeed (unless you want to become an affiliate marketing guru 🙂 ). Instead, skim the descriptions, see where you need help, and pick the book that fills that gap.

As an affiliate marketer, you should always be learning new ways to earn commissions, so bookmark this article.

Know a great book that's missing? Share it in the replies, and we'll gladly check it out and add it!

Affiliate Marketing Books

1. "Affiliate Marketing 2021 Edition" by Robert Kasey

This book is a complete guide to earning good money with affiliate marketing while working from home. It's written for newbies who want to learn what affiliate marketing is and how to use it to build a better life.

Kasey covers what affiliate marketing is, how it works, how to get started, how to maximize profits, and how to level up your business as you gain experience. The goal is to teach you affiliate marketing from A to Z and show you how to use it to fund your dreams and reach financial freedom.

In this book, you'll learn:

• What affiliate marketing is and how the business model works
• How to get started with affiliate marketing
• Several proven ways to maximize profits
• How to level up your business as you learn more

Published: 2021 | → Check on Amazon

2. "From Nothing" by Ian Pribyl

This book is a complete guide for aspiring affiliate marketers, built on extensive experience and practical advice. Ian Pribyl wrote it as a lifeline for affiliates whose websites aren't performing. As he puts it: "If you want to build ANY of those businesses, you need to learn how to market on the internet." Note that the book doesn't focus exclusively on affiliate marketing.

It's aimed at newbies and works as a step-by-step guide, so people who have already started but are struggling to reach their goals will benefit the most.

Published: 2019 | → Check on Amazon

3. "Affiliate Marketing 2020" by Noah Gray and Michael Fox

This book explores the essential principles of building a successful online business that earns money through affiliate marketing. It's a solid starting point for anyone who wants to become a strong affiliate marketer.

Noah Gray lays out a strategy worth following, combining theory with practical tips. He also tackles important questions about personal branding and how it connects to the actual business.

This 300+ page book focuses on making money with ClickBank, known for very high commissions and payouts. The authors have released updated editions over the years, which helps keep the content relevant.

Published: 2018 | → Check on Amazon

4. "The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing on the Web" by Bruce C. Brown

This is a classic affiliate marketing book, especially useful for online retailers and people who want to become affiliates. If you're an affiliate manager or an experienced affiliate marketer, you probably don't need it.

The book offers in-depth knowledge to prepare you for your affiliate marketing journey and guide you along the way. It helps you build a solid foundation and grow from there.

Published: 2008 | → Check on Amazon

5. "Affiliate Marketing For Dummies" by Ted Sudol and Paul Mladjenovic

Affiliate Marketing For Dummies shows you the best ways to monetize your business through affiliate marketing. It helps you find the most suitable affiliate programs and strategies, and explains why choosing the right product or service to promote matters so much. The book is a simple, step-by-step guide to the affiliate marketing journey.

Published: 2019 | → Check on Amazon

6. "Affiliate Marketing" by Michael Ezeanaka

This is one of the best all-round affiliate marketing books. It covers everything you need to know, including how the industry emerged and evolved, and shows you how to launch a business and build your asset from the ground up.

The book also helps you create content and drive traffic with both free and paid methods, putting you on the path to a five-figure monthly income.

Published: 2019 | → Check on Amazon

7. "Affiliate Marketing Made Easy" by Michael Ezeanaka

In this book, Amazon bestselling author Michael Ezeanaka gives a step-by-step breakdown of the affiliate marketing business model: how to get started, the players involved, what to do and what to avoid, and, most importantly, how to scale your business to $10,000 per month.

Best of all, you'll learn how to build a profitable, reliable, and sustainable affiliate marketing business that will stand the test of time.

Published: 2020 | → Check on Amazon

8. "Affiliate Marketing Secrets" by Chandler Wright

This book shares tactics that help affiliate marketers, especially newbies, build a stable income stream they can manage anytime, anywhere, with less effort while still maximizing profits.

It covers everything from the basics to current tips and trends. You don't need any prior knowledge of affiliate marketing: reading it gives you a strong foundation and a complete picture of the industry.

Published: 2019 | → Check on Amazon

9. "Affiliate Marketing: The Ultimate Guide" by Nik Neutron

Nik Neutron wrote this book to help affiliates run profitable online businesses. It covers the essentials you need to launch: what affiliate marketing is, how to get started, how to earn passive income, how to choose your niche, how to create content, how to grow an email list, and much more.

Published: 2018 | → Check on Amazon

10. "Amazon Affiliate Marketing" by Chris J. Brodie

This short, 50-page book teaches you how to make money with Amazon Associates, Amazon's affiliate program. The author explains why Amazon is a terrific affiliate program and how to find a profitable niche, build a website, create an Amazon Associates account, and promote products to earn commissions.

To close, you'll read 26 "untold" secrets to maximize your Amazon affiliate earnings and 11 best practices to avoid getting your account banned.

Published: 2019 | → Check on Amazon

Marketing, Traffic & Copywriting Books

The biggest problem for affiliate websites, and for any business, is getting traffic. How do you get the word out? How do you tell people about something they should check out, and convince them to act? That's what marketing is all about.

11. "The 1-Page Marketing Plan" by Allan Dib

To build a successful affiliate business, you need a reliable growth plan. In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, serial entrepreneur Allan Dib shows how to make a marketing plan simple and fast: a single page divided into nine squares. With it, you can map out a sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

Whether you're just starting or are an experienced entrepreneur, The 1-Page Marketing Plan is one of the easiest and fastest ways to create a marketing plan that drives growth.

Published: 2018 | → Check on Amazon

12. "Traffic Secrets" by Russell Brunson

Russell Brunson is the entrepreneur behind ClickFunnels and the author of several books on direct marketing and traffic strategies. His big idea is the sales funnel.

The strategy: understand exactly WHO your dream customer is, find out where they gather, and throw out hooks that grab their attention and pull them into your funnel, where you can tell them a story and make them an offer.

Traffic is just people. This book helps you find YOUR people so you can focus on changing their world with the products and services you sell and promote.

Here's the book presentation by Russell Brunson himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0vVyOPDhgE

Published: 2020 | → Check on Amazon

13. "Web Copy That Sells" by Maria Veloso

This copywriting book combines timeless and cutting-edge techniques to help online marketers write copy that converts. Veloso covers how to create attention-grabbing, memorable content; how to boil key messages into compelling snippets for web banners and highly targeted Facebook ads; and which psychological tactics compel customers to buy.

It also shows you how to write video scripts that sell. These tips and tactics will help your copy pack a powerful, sales-generating punch.

Published: 2013 | → Check on Amazon

14. "Copywriting Secrets" by Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards is one of the world's highest-paid copywriters, and in this book he shares some of his secrets. In his words: "Putting The Right Words On Paper And Online Is The Single Most Profitable Skill Everyone Can Learn." If you want decent affiliate sales, you need this skill.

In our opinion, Copywriting Secrets is a must-have for anyone doing affiliate marketing. It will help you fine-tune your copy and generate more conversions, whatever your skill level.

Verified review: "Read this as your copywriting bible. Jim gives you the insights and tools to get your message dialed in to hit your customers and readers in their SWEET spot. This is the best money I have ever spent on a book that has paid me back by ten or even 30X of investment. I feel so much more confident and proud of the content I write. Jim makes it so easy, and you will reap the rewards with all the golden nuggets in this book." — Peter D Schneider

Published: 2019 | → Check on Amazon

15. "Expert Secrets" by Russell Brunson

This is Russell Brunson's second book on our list. Expert Secrets may be the most in-depth guide to building a strategy for your affiliate marketing business.

Brunson zeroes in on the skills you need to become an expert in your niche, which matters a lot for affiliates. Whether you use social media, a blog, or YouTube, being perceived as an industry leader is what brings in the money.

The book teaches you how to express your brand voice clearly and generate more leads. It also covers webinar basics and other industry secrets.

You get game-changing information for the price of a book. We highly recommend it to anyone trying to grow their business, including affiliate marketers.

Published: 2017 | → Check on Amazon

Conclusion

If you've read this far, you're clearly a good reader, so put these books to work. You don't need all 15: start with the one that covers your biggest weak spot right now, whether that's choosing programs, getting traffic, or writing copy that converts.

Success doesn't come to the uninformed. It depends on your ability to learn from your own mistakes and, perhaps more importantly, from the successes and failures of those who came before you.

Further reading on affiliate marketing:

• Affiliate Marketing for Beginners [Complete Guide]
• How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Blog and Grow It to $100K
• Best Niches for Affiliate Marketing
• Best Affiliate Marketing Forums [Free & Paid]
• Best Affiliate Marketing Networks [Complete Guide]

Now it's your turn. What's your favorite affiliate marketing book, and which one inspired you the most? Tell us in the replies below.