About.
Amazon advertising for independent authors who treat a backlist as an asset. Written and run by Tucker Briggs Robinson.
Noctua Forest is about Amazon advertising for independent authors. I am Tucker Briggs Robinson, an eCommerce strategist and Amazon Advertising specialist, and this is where I write down how the work actually goes.
Most advertising writing aimed at authors is tactics with the reasoning taken out. Tactics expire the moment Amazon renames a report or moves a setting. The reasoning underneath them does not, so that is what gets written here.
Who this is for?
Independent authors who treat a backlist as an asset rather than a finished project.
A good number of you also run a Seller Central account. The two are not exclusive, and the advertising logic carries across both — a catalog is a catalog, and Amazon reads it much the same way whether you wrote the thing or sourced it. The work is built around partnering with whoever made the product.
If you are new to the forest, Start Here walks the archive by the problem in front of you, and the Official Glossary covers the language the rest of it is written in.
What I do?
Account structure. Campaign architecture, naming conventions, and the negative keyword libraries underneath them. This is the layer that decides whether the rest of your spending means anything.
Audits. A structural read of an existing account: how it is organised, what it targets, what it blocks, and the single thing to fix first. There is a free version with a spend threshold, both explained in full on the audit page.
Ongoing work. Fractional, which means I run or co-run the advertising myself. I take a small number of these at a time, and I will tell you when it is not a fit.
What I do not do...
Hacks, loopholes, or anything resting on a temporary gap in Amazon's enforcement. Those work until they stop working, and the cleanup lands on you, not on whoever recommended them.
I also do not take on accounts spending under roughly $500 a month. There is not enough history at that level to read honestly, and the archive will do more for you than I will.
How to hire me!
Email tucker@noctuaforest.us. It comes straight to me, not a form.
DMs are open at @noctuaforest on Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, X, and Facebook.
Tell me roughly how big the catalog is, what you spend in a month, and what you think the problem is. If I am not the right person for it, I will say so and point you at whoever is.