The affiliate link experiment on The Bibliophibian is over.
It just wasn’t working. People would tell me they never click on affiliate links anyway, that they don’t trust them, and that it feels too much like advertising. I can get that, but I’d really hoped for enough to pay for my domain name and such, at least. A book or two now and then. As it stands, after several months of the experiment (I think it might be coming up to six months?) I haven’t yet earned enough for any of the affiliates to pay out, and they’re always looking for a reason to refuse to even credit my account with the amount purchased.
So, affiliates are gone now. I’ll slowly scrub them from the previous posts, and get rid of them from my sidebar, etc, etc.
I’m really disappointed though. Blogging is my hobby, but it’s a hobby that has started to take over a serious amount of my life, just while I’m also doing a full time degree and working several jobs as a contractor. As a UK-based blogger, I don’t even get that many free books from publishers. I’d hoped that I could get enough through affiliate links to make it sustainable — and get a bit back from readers who find my reviews worthwhile or interesting without ever costing them anything.
What I will be doing instead is putting up a Ko-fi link. If sometimes you feel I’ve written an interesting post or made you want to really read a book or just been a nice person, feel free to buy me a coffee or three (well, it’s most likely to be a coke, for me). It’s something I try to do while I’m out and about, to show my appreciation for the work people do on their blogs. Some of us spend a lot of time on it, and it’s worth doing something to say ‘thanks’, right?
(I mean, Amazon and Kobo vouchers are always welcome — thebrightspark [at] gmail [dot] com is ready and waiting to receive donations — but that’s a bit steeper than a can of cola. But that would be another way to support my endeavours, if you want to make sure I buy books with my ill-gotten gains from blogging.)
The point is, blogging can be work, and if we appreciate work, we ought to support it. So that’s my pledge from now on — use affiliate links, donate via Ko-fi, don’t block ads on my favourite blogs if they’re not intrusive…
Personally, I run on cola. Cherry cola, even. I know, I know, I’m a heathen. What’s your poison?
Yeah I’m one of the people who never uses these links. The only links I follow from blogs are to things like Goodreads where no money is involved. Sorry it didn’t work out for you…I know I’d like to get paid for my blog but it’ll never happen sadly!
chucklesthescot recently posted…Chuckles Cover Love #73 Lucy Hounsom
I don’t expect to get paid, but getting something back would be nice! Ah well.
I love the idea of affiliate links and helping other bloggers. I try and use affiliate links whenever I buy books from Amazon, but I mostly get kindle books and those don’t help the bloggers. I have affiliate links on my blog and I am in the same boat. I haven’t made enough yet to get paid 🙁
How long have you been trying it for? 🙁
I’ve been using affiliate links for nearly ten years and haven’t earned anything from my book blog. I think it’s just the wrong niche for that. I did earn in the past when I blogged about decorating.
Interesting! It’s the number one tip I found and got given back when I was hoping to make it pay for its own domain name. You’d have thought book lovers could be trusted to buy plenty of books!
Sorry it didn’t work out for you! I’ve thought about using affiliate links before, but it never really went further. I always knew blogging would be a hobby where I would get little back by way of money, but at least now that I don’t even have time to read “personal” books anymore, I’ve been able to save money from buying more books, lol.
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum recently posted…Book Review: Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
Not buying books?! What madness is this.
I’ve thought about trying affiliate links as well. I think the issue may be that book blogs tend to be read by other book bloggers, and we’re all more or less experiencing similar challenges — blogging for fun, but running into costs, and trying to make it all work out.
Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Gimme. Gimme now.
From the amount of books I see people buy, though, using affiliate links (which doesn’t cost any more!) shouldn’t be too difficult, heh. But yeah.
Interesting – I’ve wondered about affiliate links, but I’m conscious that I rarely buy books that way (I read blogs; on a different day I’ll be in a book buying mood and go direct to the point of sale). However, I like the Ko-fi model and I hope it pays you better dividends!
imyril recently posted…Bite-size Books: Cold-Forged Flame
I like Ko-Fi too, though it’s never really worked out well for me on any of my blogs! Ah well…