At the end of every review, we include a buy link. After the #amazonfail episode wherein Amazon deranked all the books with gay/lesbian/erotic etc in the category, we switched to Indiebound. Unfortunately none of the readers here use Indiebound to make purchases.
The reason that this is important to Dear Author is because we earn a tiny percentage (usually around 6%) for each book that is purchased through our affiliate link. This usually afforded us enough money each month to pay for postage and hosting fees. Because people seem to prefer to use Amazon, going forward the buy links will refer people to Amazon.
I know that this will disappoint some of you and make others happy but in the end, it’s the best thing for the health of the blog (plus Ned will not frown so much about how expensive my blogging hobby is).
The indie link was a nice idea, but when I followed it, it was too convoluted to get to the book. But there are a bunch of other places to get books online.
Nowadays most of my links point to B&N or Borders – the occasional Amazon link for hard to find items. Of course, I don’t have any kind of income stream based on my links, so that’s different. But there are still a bunch of other places if Amazon is not to taste.
I think it’s a sound busness decision, and as we all know, business isn’t personal, to paraphrase that well-known flick frequently referred to as “One.” For those with issues with amazon, they can, as always, shop elsewhere, but if amazon purchases help keep DA afloat, I’m all for it. TPA
Do all the affiliations lock you into using only one buy link? Or can you have a few for us to choose from? (I believe BookCrossing.com has more than one, but if they are all affiliates, I don’t know. Might be worth asking them about.)
I’m sorry to hear that :( Not mad though, of course, I understand. My only wish was that Sony had a referral program for you guys, since often I pick up ebooks from there directly from your recommendation.
you may consider putting up links from alternative book sellers (like in a side bar). I frequently buy from B&N over Amazon, though that’s only marginally better. I would be interested in knowing about other places to get books from…
The issue with putting up multiple links is it has to be done manually which takes a lot of time.
Sony supplied us all with free readers so that, for me, counts as a referral program. ;)
I make my book purchases mainly through Borders stores. For hard to find books, Amazon is the only other store I shop at unless I can find the books through a UBS.
Business is business and I, for one, certainly understand the decision. I’ve been very pleased with The Book Depository as an alternative to amazon–lower prices generally, free worldwide shipping always–and they do have an affiliate program, if that is of interest. The other buying link here that worked for me was to Samhain and MBaM.
What is with the lingering grudge some people have against Amazon? Sure, the derankings issue was stupid on their part, but didn’t they fix that, and fairly quickly? I’ve been buying books from Amazon for ten years and have always had excellent customer service from them. I’ll keep giving them my business.
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? I still do a lot of searching for books at Amazon, then I go elsewhere to buy. Powell’s is my online bookstore of choice.
As for the anti-Amazon issue, I’ve never liked their monolithic business practices and the deranking thing was just the incident that tipped me over the edge. I have choices, so I exercise them.
Yes, Amazon has a lot to answer for beyond #amazonfail, but I run my own business and you do what you need to in order to stay viable. I too found the indie site too convoluted. Perhaps, if the indies invested a bit in their site to make it more user friendly, it would generate more sales. Don’t feel bad. You tried and the customers spoke.
It’s a business decision! Now that we know that, we can still buy from alternative sources: Books-A-Million is my favorite. There is also B & N and Borders, but you won’t get the discounts there that you would at Books-A-Million. If you are looking for a UK book, The Book Depository is the place to go. They undersell Amazon.UK consistantly and have free shipping worldwide.
I’m sorry that Dear Author won’t get any Amazon money from me. Maybe we could take up a collection.
OT: How can The Book Depository afford free world-wide shipping?!
(And I just wish the link was to Fictionwise…I’m not buying any more print books!)
Jane, you may want to check into Powell’s partner program. They offer 7.5%.
Jane,
Love this blog – please do whatever you need to keep it going!
I’ve been using Diesel for my e-book fix, and have been very happy with them. You might want to check them out – they have a great affiliate program that pays 10%.Â
http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/category/affmain
Debra@9: The specific issue with deranking has been fixed. There have been further incidents since. For example, they have introduced a new author blog programme, but LGBT authors have found that they’re not eligible for that programme.
Not that I blame DA for going back to the Amazon links. I’ve been muttering about this myself, and given in for the same reason. I only make ten or twenty pounds a year, so it’s not the money — but if I’m going to go to the trouble of putting in links because other people may find them useful, I really need to include the one that is clearly getting used more than anything else. (I usually do put in links to at least two sources.)
I just discovered Tower.com. They discount their books, offer you free s&h and no sales tax. I’m not an Amazon fan, but I can understand you need to do what you need to do.
I completely understand. We love this blog and want it stay.