This weekend’s adventure is… setting myself up as an Amazon affiliate.
Dealing with Amazon itself wasn’t too bad: there was a minor blip when I opened the application form and discovered that for some insane reason Amazon.com thought my primary address was an old address of my brother-in-law’s that I once sent a Christmas present to. I have no idea why this happened, but my best guess is that it decided to pick the first address alphabetically.
Having disabused Amazon of the idea that I am my brother-in-law (because, really, honoured as I am, I can’t play the euphonium anything like well enough to impersonate him successfully) I filled in an application form and it let me through on probation.
However, it turns out that as soon as I cut and paste the HTML that’s supposed to turn into the little Amazon listing widget, WordPress officiously turns it into a whole nasty kludge of code full of hashes and what look like six-digit colour codes. I’ve seen this happen twice in front of my very eyes. I’m guessing it’s something to do with WordPress not supporting iframes. For what it’s worth, if I choose ‘text only’ it does seem to work, as you can see here:
The Maker’s Mask: Book One of Requite
I’ll have another go when the official cover image percolates through. Amazon also offered me the chance to have ‘image previews’ appear when people mouse over the text, but since I hate popup previews of any description and turn them off whenever I see them, I’m not going to inflict them on you either.
I’m also looking into the possibility of making the books available for the Kindle, but it looks as if I need a US tax identity to do that and I suspect that the hassle that would lead to would not be worth it, particularly as I hyperventilate when I see official-looking letters on the doorstep at the best of times.
Meanwhile, The Maker’s Mask has gone from ‘out of stock’ to ‘delivery in one to three weeks’, I’ve put a ‘customer image’ of the cover up and Helen has very kindly reviewed it. If you have also read it and liked it, please review it on the amazon page! I keep refreshing to see whether The Hawkwood War has landed yet, but so far it hasn’t. I’m finding all of this genuinely exciting – an Amazon listing feels like a real book, even if Amazon sales never amount to much. 🙂
Ankaret Wells 
Isn’t the Tax identity number just your social security number though?
I don’t have a US social security number – I’m British. 🙂
I’ve just had a knock back with their hideous form and will have to refile, so I’ve got every sympathy. It’s cost me £60 to get this far (notarising my passport) and they’ve now decided I filled the form out wrong. Still, if I get it right it will save me 30% withholding tax on $600 dollars and I’ll have the number for life, but I wouldn’t call it likely to do better than break even even on those amounts.
I’ve heard dire things about that form, and you have all my sympathy. I think for the amounts I’m making, the 30% withholding tax is a reasonable trade-off.
I do worry about not being able to provide electronic formats other than PDF, because I understand PDF doesn’t scale well to different screen sizes, but there’s not a massive amount I can do about it other than badger Lulu and encourage other people to do likewise.
It’s now on my wishlist… *g* Congratulations!