If you don’t have the capacity to sell ebooks from your own website, affiliate links can provide a way to earn a bit of extra commission on sales, and make sure that customers visiting your website can purchase your book in whichever format they desire. Affiliate links are unique URLs used to refer visitors to your vendor partners’ sites, and track the origin of the sale back to your site.
The Amazon Associates program enables you to embed links on your website that send customers to the product pages for your books on the Amazon site. You earn a commission of up to 8.5% on each sale that occurs when a customer follows a link from your site to Amazon.
A neat perk of the Amazon system is that if someone follows a link from your site to Amazon, and after buying your book, adds another book, or a DVD, or a lawnmower, to their purchase order, you’ll earn a small commission on those items too.
The exact percentage of commission that you receive on each sale depends on the types of product sold, and your sales volume over the month. The Fee Schedule for the Associates program is available here.
Sign Up
To sign up for the Amazon Associates program, click here and select Join Now for Free!
If you already have an Amazon account which you use to purchase items on their site, enter you log-in credentials on the next page. If you don’t have an Amazon account, you can register for one here by selecting I am a new customer.
After that, you will be prompted to fill in your payment and website information, and verify your identity. You will then be able to generate links from your Associate account that you can use on your website to refer customers to the Amazon product pages for your books.
Some Important Details
Amazon is happy to give you a commission on sales of your books (or other products) on their site, but you are not allowed to use your Associate links when you buy things on the Amazon site.
They also require that you identify yourself as an Associate by clearly stating the following on your website: “[Insert your name] is a participant in the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.ca.”
The full Associates Program Operating Agreement is available here. Be sure to read through it carefully before you join the program. Questions about the program can be directed to the Associates Customer Service desk.