Amazon vs. Bookshop Affiliate
WOW!! It’s been FOREVER since I've posted on this blog!! (Like…over two months….oops😬). I wanted to let everyone know about a little change I’m SUPER excited to have made to my website!!
Soooo, I've been working with the Amazon Affiliate program for a while to make it convenient for ALL of you to directly buy books with the links I put out. BUT, recently I’ve gotten some comments mentioning independent bookstores will likely look down on me for having these, given that they pull traffic away from the bookstores (which I TOTALLY understand). I have to admit, I hadn’t even considered this😳.
Before I go further, I should probably explain what exactly an affiliate link is, and how it works. Basically, I signed up for the ‘Amazon Affiliate Program’ and therefore can share links from Amazon on my website. What’s special about being an affiliate is the fact that anytime you buy a product after clicking my links (even if its not the same product I linked to (for example, I link to a book, you click the link, but once you get to Amazon you find a different product you like and buy it instead)), I make a small profit. TO BE CLEAR: the price stays the EXACT same for you, you ARE NOT paying any extra. Instead, Amazon makes a slightly smaller cut of profit given that some is going to me. TONS of larger websites offer similar affiliate programs.
Anyways, I was wrestling with whether or not I should remove ALL of my Amazon links because some people believe I should support the small businesses instead, or should I keep the links because of how convenient they are?? BUT, while I was doing some research I came across an AMAZING looking website called Bookshop.com that has an affiliate program similar to Amazon, but, the money from buying books there GOES DIRECTLY TO INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOPS🤩!!! This COMPLETELY solves my problem!!
The only question I had left was whether or not I should just have Bookshop affiliate, or if I should have both Bookshop and Amazon affiliates?? I asked on Fable (if you don’t know what this is its an AMAZING app similar to Goodreads, but with more stats, book clubs you can join, and has more posting, commenting, and liking of posts on it), and people generally said Amazon makes buying books super convenient. None of them had problems with me supporting them. So, I decided that I’m going to keep my Amazon affiliate links, but limit the number of places I put them, and get a Bookshop affiliate account with links that I will also post (So, to be clear, as of now, I do also use Bookshop affiliate links using a similar format to Amazon affiliate links).
This sounds like a GREAT solution to me, but it also isn’t a topic that I’ve considered much. So, if this is a topic you are passionate about or have strong opinions on, PLEASE reach out and let me know what you think of this too. I just want to make sure my website is as GREAT as I can make it, so if these links make you think my website is worse, LET ME KNOW!! I’d gladly make more changes or do more research. I hope all of you like these changes and I encourage you to go support a local bookshop near you sometime soon ❤️!!
-MK