Chapter 2: Wherein the Undead Rat Discloses his Affiliate Ties

Recently Brian Clark in an article posted at Copyblogger informed me of the Federal Trade Commission’s view on failure to “disclose compensation for reviews and endorsements” on people’s blogs. In a nutshell, they don’t like it. And since it is a form of advertising, they get to have a powerful say about it.

That’s okay. I’ll gladly come clean.

The Affiliates

I have standing affiliate relationships with three online book stores: Barnes and Noble (they were here first), Amazon and Horror Mall. Each image of a book cover links to one of these companies — assuming they have a copy or a page with links to secondary booksellers offering the book. Sometimes I also add colorful stones with the book seller’s name inscribed on them to allow for easy selection.

I started these affiliate relationships because I wanted to use the book covers in my book lists and book summaries. I also wanted the reader to be able to acquire the book easily if they decide they wanted to purchase it. Money is nice but in the first four or five years of using Barnes and Noble and Amazon, I didn’t earn enough to get paid. In the last 12 months I have received payment from an affiliate, but all totaled it’s still only in the low double digits.

I am not about to quite my library job.

The Gifts

I have accepted a free copy of a book in exchange for a summary on my blog — but only for a horror book and only one I intended to read anyway. Afraid by Jack Kilborn was the first. I have book copies for a couple of future summaries and I’ll mention it at the bottom of the post. Otherwise they came from my own bookshelf or the library.

I have turned down several offers because they were not horror books or something I wanted to read.

I have twice been given copies of books to give away on this blog: Apparitions by Raven Bower and Afraid by Jack Kilborn.

Drolleris Press

Drollerie Press is a micro-indie press. I’m married to the publisher, Deena Fisher. Drollerie Press sponsors this blog (it exists on the Drollerie server). I do promote some Drollerie books from time to time — but only horror and only if I enjoyed them. For instance I loved Revenant Road by Michael Boatman and I happily talk about it on this blog.

Drollerie Press supplied the e-books I gave away during the Read an E-Book Week.

It’s not an affiliate relationship but every Drollerie Press book sold helps keep the roof over our heads.

In Summary

I think that’s it — to date.

I plan to make a permanent page about my affiliate relationships and link to it from the About Me page. When things change, the affiliate page will be updated.

So i’ve come clean. What do you think? Leave me a comment below and we’ll talk.

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