Top 10 Must-Read Books for Affiliate Managers and Program Owners

As an affiliate manager, you will cultivate relationships with passionate publishers and influencers, transforming clicks into conversions and brand loyalty. So, continuous learning is essential to staying ahead of the curve. But with so many resources out there, where do you begin?

Having dealt with hundreds of affiliate managers and brands, I have compiled a list of 10 must-read books that will empower you to build even stronger partnerships.

These ten books on affiliate management will guide you in the right direction. And I bet there are some you’ve never heard of before! You don’t have to read them all to succeed as an affiliate manager. Check each book’s presentations, see where you need help, and read the one that helps you solve the problem.

Affiliate Management Starter Kit by Stefan Muehlbauer

Stefan “Affpal” Muehlbauer is one of the leading experts in affiliate management.

In addition to his work at the MastersInCash affiliate network, he is a keynote speaker at top international affiliate marketing conferences like TES Prague [review here], AW Summit, Affiliate World [review here], etc., where he teaches attendees tips and tricks about affiliate management. He is also an affiliate consultant and HR advisor.

In this book, Affiliate Management Starter Kit – Learn the Best Methods for Affiliate Management, he takes the reader through all four stages of becoming an affiliate manager – getting hired, starting, becoming an elite manager, and becoming a team leader. He explains at every step what the expectations are, how to solve tasks like finding new partners, reactivating the old ones, how to train them, etc.

One delightful part was the chapter on affiliate marketing conferences. Stefan explains how to behave and make the most of your presence there—who matters, how to approach them, forge mutually beneficial partnerships, etc.

While there are many great insights there, Stefan presents them in a relaxed way that prepares you for or improves your affiliate management career. If there is one thing that Stefan should improve on, maybe for the next edition, it is to get into more detail in the chapters about technical matters. I am a techie myself, so I like techie things 🙂

Below, you can watch Stefan’s 20-minute conference speech about managing affiliates in all stages of the affiliate lifecycle.

Stefan offers a 60-day money-back guarantee on his book purchase, so grab it because you have only to gain and nothing to lose.

Affiliate Insider by Anca Gita

Anca Gita is the CEO of MaxWeb. She built a 7 figure business from scratch and made MaxWeb one of the best-known names in the NUTRA Affiliate Marketing industry. In March 2024, she launched the Affiliate Insider book, which I grabbed to read because, let’s face it, who doesn’t want to learn insider tips from someone who built such a successful affiliate marketing business from the ground up?

Anca starts her book by emphasizing the importance of having a positive and growing mindset. If you can make it in the long run, this is mandatory in business. Then, she dives into explaining the terminology in the affiliate world and goes through each traffic source (Youtube, TikTok, email, Native, etc) and how to optimize a campaign for each.

While most of Anca’s book focuses on affiliate marketers and what they should know to succeed, a few chapters are written primarily for affiliate managers and product owners, so I included them at the top of our list. She gives practical tips on how to make the most of conferences, how to follow up, and what conference to attend.

Chapter 10 of the book is dedicated to product owners and how they can scale their businesses using affiliate marketing. Chapter 11 goes deeper into optimizing your sales funnel. In Chapter 12, she explains what makes a good affiliate manager and their duties.

Check Ana Gita’s speech below on how to build an affiliate program on the MaxWeb YouTube channel. Of course, if you need help promoting it, you should check our guide: 20+ Sure Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Program & Get More Affiliates.

I recommend the Affiliate Insider book if you are in your first couple of years of affiliate marketing. It will give you a complete industry overview, tools, and knowledge. If you are more advanced, you may have to dig deeper, which makes this book unique because you will also find actionable secrets that impress you.

Performance Partnerships by Robert Glazer

This affiliate marketing book unveils deep industry scrutiny, starting from its foundation to its unborn future. Performing Partnerships offers a significant perspective on what has occurred and provides an optimal understanding of how it can influence the future of digital marketing.

When used correctly, affiliate marketing and Performance Partnerships can be powerful tools for growing your business, and Robert can show you how to tap into that boundless potential.

The Performance Partnerships book by Robert Glazer offers a high-level understanding of how affiliate marketing works, how it should work, and why, even with affiliate sites, you need to look at growing relationships with the visitors to your site.

Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day by Evgenii Prussakov

The previous affiliate marketing books are for affiliate marketers who want to profit by signing up and promoting affiliate marketing programs. However, the “Affiliate Program Management an hour a day” is intended for affiliate marketing program managers and business owners.

Evgenii Prussakov details how to start an affiliate marketing program in this book. The author walks the reader through a step-by-step setup and manages the program.

The book walks you through a “task-based approach” so that you can quickly develop a custom affiliate program specifically for your company.

This book is best for online business owners who are new to affiliate marketing and wish to start an affiliate program. The book takes a simple approach that is suitable for any skill level.

Measure What Matters by John Doerr

Measure What Matters uses Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a revolutionary approach to goal-setting, to make tough business choices. John Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies with narrators, including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth OKRs have spurred at many great organizations.

This book will show you how to collect timely, relevant data to track progress – to measure what matters. It will help any organization or team aim high, move fast, and excel.

You Should Test That – Chris Goward

Chris Goward founded WiderFunnel and is the brains behind the LIFT Model and Kaizen Method for conversion rate optimization. In this book, he provides a step-by-step guide to optimizing website conversions. He also discusses analyzing data, prioritizing experiments, and making business decisions through tested insights.

Trustworthy Online Controlled Experiments by Ron Kohavi

Getting numbers is easy; getting numbers you can trust is hard. This practical guide by experimentation leaders at Google, LinkedIn, and Microsoft will teach you to accelerate innovation using trustworthy online controlled experiments or A/B tests.

This book is an excellent resource for executives, leaders, researchers, or engineers using online controlled experiments.

Built To Last by Jim Collins

When Jim Collins and Jerry Porras were conducting research at Stanford, they asked themselves what makes genuinely exceptional companies different from others.

They studied companies that have lasted longer than others, like GE, Disney, and Walmart, and distilled what made them exceptional. This book is the culmination of all that work.

Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David

Successful entrepreneurs and chess grandmasters have the vision to look at the pieces in front of them and anticipate their next five moves. In this book, Patrick Bet-David translates this skill into a worthy methodology that applies to high performers at all business levels.

Whether you feel like you’ve hit a wall, lost your fire, or are looking for innovative strategies to take your business to the next level, Your Next Five Moves has the answers.

Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio is the founder and co-chairman of Bridgewater Associates, the largest and best-performing hedge fund globally over the last forty years. Dalio created a set of principles for his personal and professional life that serves as an operating system based on radical honesty and transparency, thriving within an idea of meritocracy.

Ray Dalio has appeared on the Time 100 list of the most influential people globally and the Bloomberg Markets list of the 50 most influential people.

You may check in the following 30-minute video a summary of Dalio’s principles, but I recommend you to get the book to understand them, see how he created them based on his life experiences, and most importantly, how you can apply them in your personal and professional life.

While this book does not discuss affiliate marketing or management, it does set you up with the right tools to work with people and teams for mutual growth.

Conclusion on Affiliate Management Books

Success doesn’t come to the ignorant. Instead, success often depends on your ability to learn from your own mistakes and, perhaps more importantly, from the successes and failures of those who have gone on before you.

Remember, the best affiliate managers are lifelong learners. With these books on affiliate management as your guide, you’ll be well-equipped to build strong partnerships, optimize your affiliate programs, and drive success for your brand and affiliates.

What is your favorite book about affiliate marketing? Tell us which one inspired you the most.