Are Free Kindle (or Nook) Books Coming to an End?

I realize I’m a little late tackling this topic. For those in the know, as of March 1, Amazon.com changed its rules for those who have Amazon Associate accounts. What is an Amazon Associate account? It’s a special Amazon account for folks who actually make income (or referral fees) from their links when they advertise Amazon.com products online. Whenever someone purchases an Amazon.com product by following their links, they earn money. However, according to the new policy, they forfeit all income accumulated for a given month if the following criteria apply to their account: 20,000 or more free Kindle eBooks are downloaded; and 80% of all Kindle eBooks downloaded are free Kindle eBooks. Clearly Amazon.com is targeting free Kindle books and apparently discouraging Associates from selling so many free Kindle books. Sell too many free books, and you’ll get penalized in a big way. They are also apparently encouraging Amazon…

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