A Happy Divorce or Easy Isn’t Always Better

I had ANOTHER run-in with Amazon last week.

I became an Amazon Associate years ago because I wanted images for the books I was reviewing and the easiest way to do that was to link to Amazon.

One day, a year ago, all my images were gone. Turns out Amazon had a new policy. Associates had to sell at least one book every three month. That didn’t sound too awful.  I could buy the book myself…except that wasn’t allowed. So I begged students and friends to buy one book. And my links worked again.

Until they didn’t. I discovered the policy had changed again. I had to sell a book a month. I called Amazon for help (ie, leniency) but the only aid they were willing to give was provide hints on how to better sell more books.

My moment of comeuppance/crisis/a-ha/relief arrived all at once!  I didn’t want to sell books for Amazon, I wanted to support Indie bookstores.

So I am happy to announce that:

• I am now an IndieBound Associate
• I have figured out how to make links to them and images from them
• They are linked to Indiebound which sends books from an area Indie Store (Flyleaf, Regulator, Quail Ridge, McIntyre’s)
• I can feel good about urging you to buy books from my site because it helps me, independent bookstores, and you get books easily into the hands of children!

To practice new skills, I have practiced by linking all my Wilde Award Picture books to IndieBound. So below, dear followers, is a link to my first Indie-linked column:

2018 Wilde Awards for Picture Books: The best children’s books of 2018 reflect today’s society, and our changing times