Citizen Reader

Just a bit of blog housekeeping today.

First off, I am no longer an Amazon affiliate. I have removed the banner ad at right that linked to Amazon, and also the links to Amazon from my "About" page. A few words about this change: THANK YOU so much to people who made their purchases at Amazon after following my links. For several years now, I have gotten a small percentage of any purchases made at Amazon from many of you, and I have been very grateful for that. I'm making this change now because Amazon has changed some of their rules, and demanded that all links to their site be changed, and honestly, I just don't want to figure it out. Secondly, I'm not all that fond of Amazon as a company (although I do periodically shop there, either because they have something I can't find elsewhere, or because I am reluctant to feed my credit card number to any more online sites than I have to), and I wasn't really comfortable asking you to shop there for me.*

I am still an affiliate for Powell's Books (my link to them is still at the right; anything you buy at Powell's after getting there through my link would provide a small kickback for me as well), because I believe in Powell's as an independent bookstore, and because I believe their site is relatively secure. If you ever shop for books online, I will still continue to humbly request that you go to their site through my link. Thank you so much!

SECONDLY: I am thinking of starting a new feature at this blog where I ask strictly nonfiction authors about their reading tastes, writing influences, and projects they are working on currently. You see a lot of this sort of thing for novelists--who do they read; what bookstores do they like, etc., but I think it's time to start showing nonfiction authors the same love. What do you think? Any nonfiction authors you'd like to see me contact with these questions?

LAST: For no reason whatsoever, an appreciate of Scottish actor James McAvoy. I've always been a big, big fan, but the other day I watched this video clip about how he is NOT on social media, and it made me love him all the more. It's an interview about one of his latest movies, "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby," but the part of this clip I loved starts at about the 1:20 mark. Because I firmly believe we should start every Tuesday listening to someone speak with a beautiful Scottish accent, particularly when they are saying they don't know what texting abbreviations mean.

*Also, there are many great blogs and authors out there who remain Amazon affiliates; if you like the feeling of having some of your purchases help out another blog writer, please consider shopping through author Stacy Horn's website or Savvy Working Gal's website.