Got this question on the boards the other day, and wanted to respond.
We do, on occasion, link to books, apps, music, or other products we love and use. Are we doing this to get rich?
Uh, no.
The fact of the matter is we’re film and TV producers…that’s how we make a living. Our point in creating this blog is (hopefully) to give something back to the film and TV community, help others achieve their goals, and meet other talented people.
As for making money on the blog, to date we’ve not even come close to making back our hosting fees–and that’s FINE. The real profit in writing this blog is all the great people we’ve been exposed to since we started.
So, why even put up “affiliate links” and “Amazon store” items?
The hope is that one day this blog will generate enough income to provide product give-aways, a snazzy new design (made by someone other than us), or even to produce some “real world” events that folks can come to. Doing fun things like that are a nice goal for this blog, and it’s only fair to give back to a blog community that supports you.
In our haste, we may forget to mention from time to time that some links could earn us .06 cents. We hope you’ll forgive us that, and know that one day, those clicks will go back into the blog.
That is all. Thanks!
Joke and Biagio
I think you both have an enormous amount of grace, the response is perfect.
Might I suggest you also check out Commission Junction. For my money Amazon doesn’t pay much and you need to reach a certain amount of sales before they’ll ever pay out. In my experience Commission Junction offers a better deal for bloggers and they do have affiliates that have some products for TV and Film people.
And before anyone asks, no I don’t work for Commission Junction or Amazon – I’ve just had experience with many affiliate programs with several websites I’ve had.
I think people are generally savvy enough to know when people are affiliate linking out of greed/opportunity and when it’s because the site owner genuinely thinks “hey this is a good product for the people who come here, etc” – you two definitely fall into the latter category – link away as far as I’m concerned. So that’s my vote or thumbs-up or whatever lol.
Maria and Brian,
Thanks for your comments and support. We just kind of sat back and went, “Huh. Do people think we’re just trying to sell crap?”
Appreciate the kind words.