These days it seems that every retailer has some sort of rewards program. I find them offensive because what it really means is that if you don't hand over your personal information and cram yet another plastic card in your bursting wallet, you will have to pay more for everything in the store. I tend to avoid these programs as a matter of principle, but one I don't mind subscribing to is Amazon Associates.
Danielle recently asked about advertising on blogs in general and Amazon Associates in particular. I have to say that I am a big fan of the system. It's quite a flexible program; it can be as unobtrusive as adding your ID to each Amazon link you post or as flashy as an animated banner. You can link to specific items, showcase bestsellers, or just provide a search box. In return, you get real dollars and cents (not mysterious point counts) for clicks and for purchases made after clicking on your link. Best of all: there's no card!
I choose to receive my "earnings" as Amazon e-mail gift certificates, which don't last long before they are converted into books. My latest box of free books contained two very enticing items, Henri-Jean Martin's The History and Power of Writing, and Sam Savage's Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife. Not bad for just posting links I would put up anyway.
I am now toying with creating an "aStore" to feature the books that form the core of my literary library. It will be very much the same as what I have on LibraryThing, and the referral feels will come to me instead of LibraryThing. I don't know if anyone will be interested in it—it may be too blatently commercial. Time will tell if it's worth the trouble.
The goal of all this is just to make the blog pay for itself. I'm not about to retire on these meagre earnings, but it helps me justify staying with Typepad and enjoying all its bells and whistles. I definitely encourage any book bloggers to take advantage of this if they want to make their blog pay for itself or just have a few extra books to blog about. If you're already linking to Amazon, why not get rewarded for it?
