Here's an Amazon search widget. Now, I've pre-loaded it with the term "Mel Keegan," because, being Mel Keegan myself, I have a natural bias in that direction. But you can search for a camera, lingerie, and probably a taxidermed camel for all I know! Just choose your department and set your search term. Jump from here to Amazon, shop to your heart's content, and when you check out, you'll have the pleasure of knowing that about 4c on your shopping dollar came right here!

What do we do with these funds? To begin with, the wiki pays for itself with advertising, donations and -- soon! -- these referral fees. We use some of the funds to buy bandwidth ... because we're getting very busy now. Busy is good. Second, we invest ever-larger sums into off-wiki advertising, to drive up traffic, increase public awareness of this site ... and it's not cheap. 100% of funds raised go to the wiki. So, the next time you're shopping Amazon, start on this page!

Why do we use Amazon links and widgets, when as a community, GLBT writers, publishers and readers deplore the whole Amazon Fail situation, and can't believe it was a "glitch" ...?

There's method in our madness ... bear with us! The wiki has an Amazon affiliate account. When you shop for virtually anything from Amazon, starting from any link from a Carousel or a widget like the search box at left, the Bookshelf earns 4% of the sale, give or take a half a percent or so.

These dollars are turned around and invested in wiki advertising -- to grow and strengthen our community. Eventually, with 10x the members and 10x the "gene pool" of creativity, drive, even buying power, we'll no longer have any reliance on Amazon, Google or any of the big engines. Because it's that reliance which is our Achilles' Heel. If they filter us out (which many of us suspect to be the truth behind the Amazon Fail situation), we can, and will, vanish. It can happen. It could be waiting to happen next year ... and if it does, it'll hurt GLBT writers and readers. A lot.

However, if we had a powerful "hub" around which our online publishing and reading community revolved, we could, and would, be completely self-reliant. None of us would be reliant on an engine for our livelihood -- or our shopping!

And wouldn't it be "poetic justice" if the funding to achieve prosperity and self reliance for the GLBT literature community might be sourced from Amazon itself? So don't hesitate: if you're going to shop via Amazon, start on one of the widgets on this page, because around 4% of your purchases are invested in securing the sweetest revenge possible: success!

IMPORTANT!!

If you'd like to help us this way, you must click to Amazon from this page or another widget "belonging" to the Bookshelf itself. And your transaction must be completed within a day ... the Big A sets a 24-hour 'cookie.' Thank you kindly!

So, how does it work?

When you have an Amazon Affiliate account (and anyone can have one), The big A assigns you a tracking number, which is appended to every link made by you. When someone clicks on this link, the customer goes to the relevant Amazon page, and (!) the referral link is recorded...

Now, technically, you should get credited for every finalized sale going through that link; right? Doesn't actually work that way. The Big A also has a 24-hour cookie, so if the customer takes longer than a day to finalize the order, Amazon doesn't pay out. Also, sometimes orders just don't "connect" ... I've had mates and family members shop Amazon from my links, and I never saw the orders go through. Lastly, there are some weird sales where the referrer's fee is automatically set to "0" for reasons I know not...

But the majority of sales go through; or, I assume they do! The rest are hiccups in the system, and no system is ever perfect, so ... "deal with it," as my partner's dad likes to say. Amazon pays around 4%, give or take a little bit. And it accumulates. And if you start your shopping here (for anything, not just books!) you know where 4% of your purchases are going ...!

They're coming right back here, to build a bullet-proof GLBT publishing and reading community.