Last week I noted with some disappointment that IndieBound doesn't give affiliates any information as to their sales volume, which, in my opinion, was a serious flaw in the service.
Paige from IndieBound responded in the comments to that post, and I wanted to promote this because I think her remarks are legitimate:
Thanks
for addressing this. I responded to Max's post so I won't repeat it
here, but since you raised some additional concerns I wanted to respond
to those as well.
About two weeks ago we made some updates to our affiliate program
and let everyone know that online sales tracking is coming soon.
Previously a report was sent along with payment. Now we're undergoing a
huge migration for all ABA IndieCommerce sites to an open-source
platform, and online options for tracking and reporting will be
available once enough sites have transitioned. We're also working on
widgets for affiliate links, and hope to work with WordPress and
TypePad on integrating that code into their templates.
This is great news, and I'll be eager to see what kind of functionality IndieBound will be offering to affiliates.
Paige also notes that "IndieBound is for new books only, and that won't change." Her rationale for this (to avoid price competition among members) is reasonable, but it does provide a good reason to keep open options for both Amazon and IndieBound, as many readers of this blog do prefer to purchase a used book when possible.




A Note on Links
More Essays by Milan
Speaking of Distraction
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
Another Review of The Novel: An Alternative History
The Orange Eats Creeps
The Unconsoled and the Annihilation of Plot




The Names by Don DeLillo (1982)
The Box Man by Kobo Abe (1973, English 1974)
Head in Flames by Lance Olsen (2009)
Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk (2006, English 2010)
The Weather Fifteen Years Ago by Wolf Haas (2006, English 2009)
You Say