In a Quandry Over Amazon Associates Program

I was updating my pathetically neglected bio in Amazon's Author Central when my greedy little eyes were drawn to the Amazon Associates Program. I had just heard another writer talk about making money because readers "clicked through" to make a purchase from his web site.

I interview authors and include links to buy their books, and many times it's the link to Amazon because that's the easiest to get and probably the most user friendly for readers.

As dizzy thoughts of all those nickles and dimes passed through my head, I came up short in their Terms and Conditions.

Without using the lingo, the wording basically said, "IF YOU DISPLAY ANY INFORMATION ABOUT A COMPETITOR, WE WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN."

I'm rather fond of Independant Booksellers. There. I said it out loud.

Oops! There's the link! How did that happen?

I do understand from a business point that Amazon would want to be the only game in town, but the thing that I love about capitalism is it's all about free choice and competition. You have to be the BETTER business to win my precious dollars. Not the ONLY business.

It saddens me to watch all those pennies roll away from my wallet and into the gutter. And I will still probably add Amazon as a choice for the convenience of readers. After all, a sale for the author is better than no sale. Or maybe I won't. It's not as if readers don't know the address if they want it bad enough.