Added later: There was a link bug in the login link. I’ve fixed it. {beating head on wall} You should be able to join now.

I apologize for posting more on this, but the affiliate program is a big deal for me, because I need help getting the word out on the books I and the other HollyShop authors have written—I want to have help with sales, recommendations from people who have genuinely enjoyed the books and found them useful, and I want to make sure that the folks who have made those recommendations and have sold the books are compensated promptly and fairly.

I got all the earnings from the iDevAffiliate program transferred over to the new program. So I started looking around for places to list the program, and found out that, the way I have it set up, it is unlistable. It’s considered an MLM, or multi-level marketing program, and MLMs have a bad reputation.

Now, I and the other writers agreed to pay up to 30% of what we make on the books we sell to affiliates who make sales for us. I had this divided so that you would get 15% of the sale price (minus PayPal fees) for direct sales, 10% for sales by people who signed up through you, and 5% for sales by people who signed through people who signed up through you, because clearly I want you to make money by selling the books, but I also want you to make money by referring the program to other people who will also sell the books.

Our objective as the writers of the books is to have people find and read them, and we can’t do that without advertising, and, bluntly, we can’t afford traditional advertising. A classified ad in Writer’s Digest costs hundreds of dollars, and may or may not deliver results. We can’t pay for maybe. But we can pay for results.

So here’s the deal.

I’ve eliminated the third tier. You’ll get paid 20% of the sale price—(cover price at time of purchase, minus the PayPal fee, which is 2.9% of the cover price +.30, or 3.9%+.30 for sales outside the US) for every book you sell for us. You’ll get a $10 bonus for signing up, which will be added to your first payment, which you get when you’ve earned $10. So your first payment will be at least $20. You’ll get an additional 10% of the sale price for any sale made by someone who signs up to the program through your link, for as long as they’re an affiliate. No third tier.

That’s the whole program. We, the writers, will still be paying you, the affiliates, for every book you sell for us (including books you buy for yourself through your affiliate link), but you’ll make more right off the top, and the money will add up faster. And you still have an incentive to sign up new affiliates. Please sign up new affiliates.) On a single $9.95 book sold to someone in the US, you’ll make $1.92. (9.95 – .33 PayPal fee = $9.62 x .20 = $1.92.). If someone you’ve signed up sells it, you’ll make $0.96. About a buck.

And you will have helped us—Zette, Sheila, Elizabeth, me, and new HollyShop author Katherine Kolata.

For those of you who are NOT affilates, but who have a weblog or website, or use e-mail, or have any friends you think would like the books we have in the e-book store, please join. We really need your help.

Thank you.

Well, everything’s live, but the admin newsletter e-mail isn’t working, so the letters I’ve tried to send letting you know all this haven’t gone through. I’ve been at this all day and night, and yesterday, and the day before yesterday, so maybe we can get people back up and running via the weblog.

The new affiliate login is here: http://shop.hollylisle.com/jamaffiliates/

If you’re an affiliate already, the membership port worked. In all cases but one, your memberships went into the database without change, meaning your usernames and passwords should be the same. (mikaela_l is the exception. Your username is mikaela because underscores don’t work in the new program).

Here’s the news you should have gotten:

First, I apologize for the disaster with the iDevAffiliate software. If you weren’t aware, a site-cracker injected a Skype scam into a folder available due to a weakness in the software, and because iDevAffiliate doesn’t support their software (though they claim to), I had to take down the whole program.

However, your commissions and pending bonuses are safe. I’m having to hand-enter them into the software, and expect that this will take me a couple of days, so if you know you have a balance but don’t show one yet, please be patient.

I’ve already re-entered your affiliates, so those of you who had downlines in the previous software have them again. In some cases you’ll find you have more affiliates, because there are two tiers of affiliates in this new program.

Second, I am pleased to announce that I’ve replaced our awful affiliate software with something really, really good. Along with the ads you’ve had available before, you’ll be able to give away free e-books with your name and affiliate link on them. There will also be a pre-built bookstore those of you with websites can drop into its own page. Plus a lot of other goodies.

Your accounts are ready to go, and much to my surprise, I was able to import your account information, with a few minor issues.

Due to an import incompatibility between the two programs, EVERYONE is now from Afghanistan. If you DON’T live in Afghanistan, please mark the country you do live in. I’m basically guessing that would apply to everyone—country codes didn’t port.

Please do not add your tax ID to the software. Come tax time, if I need it in order to mail you a 1099, I’ll email you and request it. I’d rather not have sensitive information in the database. This means also please delete phone numbers if you had them in the other program. The only information I really need from you is your name, your user name, your website link (if you have one) and your PayPal address so that I can pay you.

And if you had a first initial instead of a full name, I had to insert (initial) in that line—you can change it to a full name, a nickname, anything but just one initial.

If you forget your password, you can have a new one sent to you. The link is right beneath the Login button.

If you need help figuring out the program, click the question mark button in the top right hand corner to use the system help. To log out, click the X button. There are many, many new features, and I’ll take some time to put together information on them.

I don’t have ads in yet. I’m working on it.

First, though, I want to get everybody’s money straight.

Welcome back. It’s better now.

Cheerfully,
Holly

–Holly Lisle
http://shop.hollylisle.com/jamaffiliates/

Once I get the e-mail working, the letter will go out to everyone who doesn’t read the weblog regularly. You’ll all get it, too. I apologize. But you’ll get a head start.