There is a concept known as affiliate (referral) programs. In short: you promote a store’s products, and in return, the store gives you a percentage of each sale. It’s generally beneficial for everyone: the store gains new customers thanks to advertising on external platforms, and the authors of popular resources get a small cut from the stores if their readers decide to make a purchase. Moreover, this is highly advantageous for stores (from my non-professional point of view). In most cases, when you pay for advertising, you spend money without any guarantee of getting it back. But here, you essentially receive free advertising and only pay a small percentage of the actual revenue generated by the user. Furthermore, as a store, you typically pay for a single purchase, but the buyer might stay and become a long-term customer. For subsequent purchases, you almost never pay anyone. Additionally, there’s the well-known factor of the first purchase—it’s much harder to convince someone to make their first purchase, but if they’re satisfied, the likelihood of a second purchase increases significantly.
As a devoted bookworm, I’ve always kept an eye on the development of online book sales. I witnessed the rise and growth of ozon.ru, and I even had a small hand in the creation of the Belarusian oz.by when it launched. From then on, I simply followed the market’s evolution.
As soon as such stores started offering affiliate programs, I signed up to test them out. This was especially advantageous when I was regularly writing the ” The Notes of Glitch the Hamster” series (the namesake of this blog), which reviewed all the latest sci-fi releases on the Russian-speaking market. Back then, I included links to books directly in my reviews, using my affiliate ID. I wouldn’t say I earned a lot, but I did manage to buy a few books (considering that getting books from Russian ozon to Belarus at the time wasn’t exactly easy).
When I launched my blog with book reviews, it seemed logical to revisit affiliate programs. To be honest, I don’t expect any significant earnings from this—I’m not that popular as a blogger. What’s more interesting to me is gaining an additional tool for statistics. Book purchases through my links provide insights into which books people find interesting and which of my reviews motivated them to make a purchase. That’s far more valuable to me.
Currently, I’m reworking the section with links to where books can be purchased (still a work in progress), aiming to provide readers with as many options as possible so that everyone can buy from their preferred source. Not all the links are affiliate links. For example, when I write about books by Henry Lion Oldie or Andrey Valentinov, I include a link to their store, OldieWorld, even though they don’t have any affiliate system. However, purchasing books there ensures that nearly 100% of the revenue goes directly to the authors rather than the platform. Still, I want to emphasize that affiliate links give me a little more information about user behavior and preferences, as some systems even show what else the reader bought after following your link.
Returning to affiliate programs, I decided to take a look at what’s actively working in this niche right now, covering all types of books: traditional paperbacks, e-books, and audiobooks.
The systems vary by type:
- Proprietary affiliate programs
- Operations through third-party services
Working through an aggregator service is generally more convenient for the partner, as it brings all stores together in one place, and the earnings accumulate into a single account, which can then be withdrawn collectively in a convenient way. Importantly, aggregators usually allow you to withdraw earnings as pure cash (to a bank account, card, or even in cash at payment offices).
A proprietary affiliate program is usually more convenient for the store itself, as it doesn’t have to pay a percentage to an aggregator. However, this comes with its own overhead costs for maintaining the system, tracking commissions, payouts, and more. On the other hand, this setup can sometimes be less convenient for the partner. Some stores issue earnings in “vouchers” instead of cash—essentially internal currency that can only be spent on purchases in the same store (many stores, including ozon.ru and litres.ru, operated this way in their early days). Others impose strict minimum withdrawal limits. Additionally, this usually requires registration in a third-party system. That said, the “reward” for the partner may be slightly higher when working directly with the store rather than through an intermediary.
I went through the major stores, identified which ones have affiliate programs, and applied to a few of them.
At the end of the article, I’ll provide a summary table of the programs I reviewed, comparing them across several parameters. Perhaps someone will find this experience useful. But first, let me share my experience of signing up and the “oddities” I encountered in working with stores that are supposedly interested in attracting affiliates.
As I mentioned earlier, in theory, stores should be eager to attract more people willing to advertise their products. Naturally, they also need to protect themselves from fraudsters and unscrupulous “partners.” I haven’t delved deeply into what constitutes dishonesty in this context—perhaps they want to avoid traffic from certain sources, or there are other reasons.
In practice, this means the sign-up process for an affiliate program should be as simple and quick as possible. However, in reality, this is far from always the case. That said, when connecting directly with a store, the process is usually easier than when going through an aggregator.
In the case of an aggregator, you first need to register as a user on their platform, providing quite a lot of personal information. Sometimes, they even ask for your tax residency and taxpayer identification number (due to legal requirements). Only then do you gain access to the program database, where you can apply to connect with each store individually. In most cases, there is a moderation process. During this process, the store manager essentially reviews your platform to see if it complies with their rules. A similar process often occurs with direct connections as well—your details may be reviewed on the other side before your partner status is activated.
Most Russian stores in the niche I’m interested in operate through admitad.com (as seen in the screenshot above showing Admitad). The standard moderation period there is five days. However, my experience shows that some platforms completely ignore this timeframe. You have to “prod” customer support, who then “prods” the store’s manager, but no one is held accountable for the timeline, leaving you waiting indefinitely without knowing what’s happening. Eventually, they may reject your application without giving a clear reason.
I had a funny incident. I tried to connect to the Book Depository program through Admitad. This is a very popular UK-based online bookstore that ships books worldwide, often with free shipping (you only pay for the items). I’ve purchased many books and textbooks for my children there. On Admitad, the moderation process took about two weeks, after which I was rejected because “this program does not support Russian-speaking geo.” Even when I explained that I have many readers who buy books in English and are not from Russia, my input didn’t matter. They simply marked my status as “Rejected” with the comment, “The advertiser is not interested in cooperation,” and closed my application. But I wasn’t upset at all. Want to know why? While waiting those two weeks, I checked what Book Depository itself offers on their website. It turned out they partner with another aggregator. Registering with this other aggregator and activating my partner status for the same store took less than 24 hours. While Admitad was dragging its feet and then rejected me, the British colleagues connected me directly and very quickly, with no questions asked—even though I also indicated that my blog is in Russian and primarily targets a corresponding audience.
Overall, it sometimes seems like certain stores implement affiliate programs with a clear understanding of their purpose and operation. When that’s the case, the registration process and partnership are smooth and enjoyable. Other stores, however, seem to neglect moderation or interact with partners in a baffling manner (if they communicate at all—I’ve been waiting three weeks for responses from two stores). It’s as if they launched the program just because “everyone else was doing it,” but the business side doesn’t actually care about its success.
Returning to the programs, aside from working directly or through intermediaries, various programs impose a number of restrictions on operations. You can’t just start driving traffic to them; you must also comply with a list of requirements. For mega-players like Amazon, this might be a way to clean up their partner base by eliminating affiliates who aren’t generating revenue. But let me illustrate with some examples.
Amazon. It’s fairly easy to get connected to their program, but then you’re subjected to a trial period lasting a few months. If no products are purchased through your links during this time, you lose your partner status. At that point, I had very few links, so I ended up losing my status.
ozon.ru. You’d think this legendary name in Russian e-commerce would have a seamless affiliate program. However, in its current version, there are two notable issues. First, you receive payments in coupons (although these can eventually be converted into real money). Second, to remain a partner, you are required to make monthly purchases of at least 2,500 Russian rubles. I’m not sure why they’ve imposed this requirement, but for me, it’s an immediate dealbreaker. I don’t live in Russia, so there’s no point in making regular purchases from a single store. Besides, I dislike this kind of coercion, especially when there are plenty of other options.
Overall, affiliate programs are a fascinating area for additional analytics on the popularity of your content, with the added bonus of potential monetization.
Now, here’s a small comparative table of the platforms I’ve worked with or studied.
| Platform | Goods | Program Type | Target Region | Restrictions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mann, Ivanov & Ferber Publishing | The publisher’s own books | admitad.com | RU | ||
| Litres | The largest platform for e-books and audiobooks in Runet | Own | RU | Вывод средств через Solar Staff | |
| Litmarket | A popular self-publishing portal for e-books and audiobooks | Not yet, but they plan to in the near future | RU | ||
| OldieWorld | A bookstore featuring works by Ukrainian science fiction authors Henry Lion Oldie, Andrey Valentinov, and Maria and Sergey Dyachenko | No program | RU | ||
| Amazon | The largest store in the world for everything, but I’m interested in their books and Kindle editions | Own | Worldwide | They require purchases through the link during the trial period; otherwise, you are removed from the program | There is no unified Amazon; instead, there’s amazon.com, amazon.de, amazon.co.uk, and so on. It’s impossible to create a link that works “across the board.” You have to choose either the U.S. site or a specific local one. |
| Alpina Books | The publisher Alpina‘s own books | admitad.com | RU | ||
| Book24.ru | A bookstore, the official platform of the Eksmo-AST publishing group | admitad.com or own (the latter is slightly more advantageous) | RU | ||
| Labirint | A bookstore | admitad.com | RU | ||
| Bukvoed | A bookstore | admitad.com | RU | Lengthy moderation (three weeks of deliberation, followed by a rejection with a general statement: “not interested in cooperation”). | |
| Chitai-Gorod | A bookstore | admitad.com | RU | Lengthy moderation (three weeks and still no response) | |
| oz.by | The largest online store for books and many other goods in Belarus | Own | BY | ||
| Book24.ua | Ukrainian bookstore | admitad.com | UA | ||
| Book Depository | An international bookstore from the United Kingdom | admitad.com awin.com | Worldwide | Oddities | |
| ebooks.com | One of the largest e-bookstores in the world | cj.com | Worldwide | A lengthy moderation process with no response from the support teams of either cj.com or ebooks.com | |
| ozon.ru | The largest online store in Runet | Own | RU | Payment in coupons, plus you need to make monthly purchases of at least 2,500 rubles yourself to remain a partner |
