Make Money Selling Other People’s Ebooks with the SmashWords Affiliate Program

If you’ve ever tried to make money online, you’ve doubtlessly heard of affiliate programs. For those who haven’t, it’s the internet version of working on commission.

If you’ve got a blog, book review site, etc., you could make a few extra pennies by signing up for the Smashwords affiliate program and promoting some of the ebooks in their marketplace.

How It Works

1. Sign up
2. Find ebooks you’d like to promote
3. Post a special referral link to direct people from your site to that book
4. Sit back and rake in the moola

Reality Check

You’re not going to make a fortune doing this. (I’m a professional blogger for my day job, and I’ve made a lot from affiliate programs over the years, but not from selling books–they just don’t cost enough to make you a lot in affiliate commissions.)

That said, you could certainly make some money, like enough to pay for your web hosting or maybe a few ebook downloads of your own (the more people who visit your site each day, the more you can potentially make).

You also don’t have to litter your site with ads for this to work. Just sprinkle your affiliate links into the content of your site when appropriate (this program is ideal for someone who reviews books on his or her site already).

Just How Much Is That Commission, Anyway?

Ah, of course, you want to know how much you can make for each ebook you move off the virtual shelves. Understandable. And the answer is… it depends.

Smashwords authors get to set the amount of commission they’re willing to give to affiliates. The default is 11%, and most authors leave it at that. So, if someone buys a $4.99 ebook through your site, you’ll make (hang on while I whip out my calculator…) 55 cents. For a $9.99 ebook, twice that goes in your pocket.

Note: The higher priced ebooks may look appealing because of the potential for a larger commission, but most people aren’t going to shell out $10 or even $5 for an author they don’t know. You’ll likely make a lot more sales promoting the $2.99 and below ebooks.

What About Affiliate Programs from Other Ebook Sellers?

I’ve been an Amazon affiliate for ages, but they don’t pay affiliates for ebook sales at this time. It’s too bad because a lot of people trust Amazon and already have accounts there, so it makes selling to folks easier. But since they’re not paying their affiliates commissions on ebook sales…

For now, I recommend using Smashwords even if you’re promoting mobi (Amazon Kindle) files. Fortunately, Smashwords has just about every file format available on their book download pages (if something’s missing, it’s because the author didn’t upload it), including mobi, epub, pdf, and rtf.

[Update: Jan 8th, 2011] Since I originally wrote this post, Amazon has changed things so you can earn a 4-8.5% commission (rate dependent on how many items you sell) on ebooks, just as with everything else in their store. I now have no problem recommending their affiliate program for bloggers now. Smashwords offers a higher commission, but Amazon is great for brand familiarity and their easy one-click buying program.

The Most Effective Way to Make Money as a Smashwords Affiliate

I’ve already touched upon this, but the best way to sell ebooks is going to be by reviewing ebooks on your site and using your affiliate link in the review itself. People go looking for book reviews when they’re already thinking about buying a book. It’s easier to sell them something when they’re in buy mode.

Within your review, don’t be afraid to throw that link in there a few times. Also, at the end of the review, use a call to action and tell your readers to check out the ebook (via your affiliate link, of course).  Even if they don’t buy the book you linked to, you’ll make money if they buy something else at Smashwords within the next 48 hours.

What if I Don’t Have a Book Review Blog?

No sweat! Got a blog where you talk about your passion for soccer all the time? There are ebooks about soccer at Smashwords. Do you blog about writing? There are ebooks about writing. Is it all dogs all the time on your site? Well Smashwords has you covered in the dog ebook area too.

Throw a review into your regular content here and there, and make a few extra bucks while helping your visitors find ebooks they’re interested in.

Last Words

Do yourself (and your readers) a favor by reading the ebooks before you promote them on your blog. You don’t want to recommend lame stuff. And, hey, you might even be able to snag a free reviewer copy by contacting the author and sharing your intentions (Smashwords is great about listing authors’ Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, websites, etc.).