How writers can double their money by joining Amazon Associates
17 Mar 2012
David Craig explains how writers can double their money by joining Amazon Associates.
Amazon run a scheme called “Amazon Associates” which can be very useful for any writer with their own website. When you join Amazon Associates, every time someone buys a product (books or whatever) from Amazon after going through your website, you get paid a commission – usually about 5%. So, if you are a writer getting say 7% to 10% of your publisher’s net receipts on each book you sell, the 5% of the Amazon sales price you also receive as a member of Amazon Associates can often double your earnings per book sold.
You can see how to set up your website by visiting my site www.snouts-in-the-trough.com. The main part of my site is devoted to my blog where I rant and rave about whatever has upset me most that day – mostly the pointless unwinnable war in Afghanistan; the greed, dishonesty and stupidity of our politicians; or the many scams the savings and pensions industry use to take our money. But on the right-hand side of my site, I feature all my books. Visitors can click on any book to find out more about that book or else click on an area that takes them directly to the page on Amazon where they can buy my book. If they have decided to find out more about a book and then want to buy it, once again they can click on an area which takes them direct to the book on Amazon. And each time they buy, I get an extra 5% direct into my bank account from Amazon.
But there are three other ways Amazon Associates can make money for you. 1. Competing books –sometimes a visitor will go through my website possibly intending to buy one of my books and then foolishly decide that a competing book by another author looks much better than my book. So they buy that author’s book instead. But as they’ve come through my website, I still get my 5% from Amazon selling the other author’s book. It’s extremely gratifying to think that even though some other writer has done all the work, I’m probably getting as much as he or she from the sale of their book. 2. Other stuff – many of the people going through my website to Amazon buy quite different things altogether. Usually its books and DVDs, but it can be higher value items such Kindles. And every time someone buys a Kindle from Amazon after going through my website, I pocket a fiver. 3. Your own things – if you’re an Associates member, you should also make sure that every time you buy something from Amazon, you go through your own website as you’ll get an extra 5% commission. Likewise, when your friends buy things, they should also go through your website – it doesn’t cost them any more and it will give you 5% of everything they buy. Then for every £100 they spend on Amazon, you can buy them a couple of drinks.
To join, you just need to go onto any page on Amazon and at the base you’ll see where to click to become an Associates member. Being a member of Amazon Associates is unlikely to make you rich. But it can be quite fun, can earn you a few pounds and I can’t see any reason why any writer with a website would not become an Associates member. And if you’re a reader who wants to support an impoverished writer (like me for example) then buy all your Amazon stuff by going through my website. You’ll still pay the same and I might earn enough to help me continue to subsidise my local pub.
David Craig is the author of Pillaged: How they’re looting £413 million a day from your savings and pensions….and what to do about it (Gibson Square £8.99)
