95% of Books Fail. He Sold $100M Worth. episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 26, 2026 · 56 MIN

95% of Books Fail. He Sold $100M Worth.

from What's Working · host What's Working

What happens when an elite affiliate marketer enters the old-school publishing industry? He accidentally builds the 10th largest book brand in the country , selling up to 12,000 units a day entirely through Meta ads.On this episode of What's Working, we sit down with legendary affiliate marketer and agency owner Jason Kutasi. Jason shares his wild journey from dominating Yahoo's early ad platform to exiting a massive kids' book business to Scholastic. We dive deep into the brutal reality of the publishing industry, the psychological differences between selling to moms vs. grandmas , and why treating your physical product names like ad thumbnails will save you thousands in inventory.Plus, Jason breaks down his exact Meta Ads testing framework for this year, why "natural CAC" beats relying on cost caps , and why he is aggressively shifting back to ABO testing to force winning data.In This Episode, We Cover:The wild west of Yahoo advertising and getting called out by the CEO.Why you should target grandmas, not moms, for kids' products.The "Thumbnail Test": How to test physical product names and packaging before spending a dime on inventory.Meta Ads Masterclass: Why "natural CAC" works, the problem with scaling cost caps, and ruthlessly cutting ad sets after 3 days.The difference between the volatile highs of affiliate marketing and the steady protection of an agency.Connect with Jason:Follow Jason Kutasi on X here: https://x.com/JasonKutasiFollow Jason Kutasi on LinkedIn here: linkedin.com/in/jasonkutasiProduction & Scaling Partners:This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro & Selling 12,000 Books a Day 01:05 - Meet Jason Kutasi: Affiliate Legend 02:40 - Getting Banned on Meta & The Pivot to Books 05:24 - The Wild West of Yahoo Advertising 10:00 - Getting Called Out by Yahoo's CEO 14:15 - The Truth About Book Publishing Margins 17:38 - Scaling to the 10th Largest Publisher20:55 - Hitting the Breaking Point & Exiting 27:41 - How to Test Physical Products Like Thumbnails35:44 - Insane E-com Growth: Comfort & Single-SKU Brands 38:09 - What's Working on Meta Ads Today 47:59 - ABO vs. CBO: The Ultimate Testing Framework 52:08 - The Problem with Cost Caps & Natural CAC

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 26, 2026

What happens when an elite affiliate marketer enters the old-school publishing industry? He accidentally builds the 10th largest book brand in the country , selling up to 12,000 units a day entirely through Meta ads.On this episode of What's Working, we sit down with legendary affiliate marketer and agency owner Jason Kutasi. Jason shares his wild journey from dominating Yahoo's early ad platform to exiting a massive kids' book business to Scholastic. We dive deep into the brutal reality of the publishing industry, the psychological differences between selling to moms vs. grandmas , and why treating your physical product names like ad thumbnails will save you thousands in inventory.Plus, Jason breaks down his exact Meta Ads testing framework for this year, why "natural CAC" beats relying on cost caps , and why he is aggressively shifting back to ABO testing to force winning data.In This Episode, We Cover:The wild west of Yahoo advertising and getting called out by the CEO.Why you should target grandmas, not moms, for kids' products.The "Thumbnail Test": How to test physical product names and packaging before spending a dime on inventory.Meta Ads Masterclass: Why "natural CAC" works, the problem with scaling cost caps, and ruthlessly cutting ad sets after 3 days.The difference between the volatile highs of affiliate marketing and the steady protection of an agency.Connect with Jason:Follow Jason Kutasi on X here: https://x.com/JasonKutasiFollow Jason Kutasi on LinkedIn here: linkedin.com/in/jasonkutasiProduction & Scaling Partners:This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro & Selling 12,000 Books a Day 01:05 - Meet Jason Kutasi: Affiliate Legend 02:40 - Getting Banned on Meta & The Pivot to Books 05:24 - The Wild West of Yahoo Advertising 10:00 - Getting Called Out by Yahoo's CEO 14:15 - The Truth About Book Publishing Margins 17:38 - Scaling to the 10th Largest Publisher20:55 - Hitting the Breaking Point & Exiting 27:41 - How to Test Physical Products Like Thumbnails35:44 - Insane E-com Growth: Comfort & Single-SKU Brands 38:09 - What's Working on Meta Ads Today 47:59 - ABO vs. CBO: The Ultimate Testing Framework 52:08 - The Problem with Cost Caps & Natural CAC

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95% of Books Fail. He Sold $100M Worth.

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What happens when an elite affiliate marketer enters the old-school publishing industry? He accidentally builds the 10th largest book brand in the country , selling up to 12,000 units a day entirely through Meta ads.On this episode of What's...

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