A petite rant about Amazon links

Please make sure you use them! And please make sure to tell me.

I was at a conference last week, and one of the presenters threw up a slide with two QR codes. She said, “These link to a couple books I recommend,” and kept going.

Curious, I pulled out my phone and scanned one. It opened the Amazon app. I copied the link to peek at the URL and yup, an affiliate link. If I bought the book, she’d get a small commission (probably well under a dollar). If I bought literally anything else on Amazon in the next 24 hours, she’d get a cut of that too.

And don’t get me wrong—I love clicking affiliate links. If someone I follow says, “Hey, I use this and here’s my link,” I will happily click. I will click even if I don’t want the thing, just because I know it helps. If you're posting something sponsored and ask for engagement, I will like, save, share. I’ll drop a comment like, “How do you always have the inside scoop on the coolest stuff?” I am here for the social media economy. I’d rather you get a little extra money than let Amazon keep it.

But this felt different.

Not because it was monetized, but because it wasn’t disclosed. And because I didn’t even know what books I was being sent to. I had to scan the QR code just to find out. It felt sneaky. I felt manipulated.

And I think that’s the thing that bugs me. Not the hustle itself, but when people try to hide the hustle.

On to this week’s vitals:

What I'm Reading:
I was all the way down and out with a cold Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. While laying in bed, I tore through a ton of audiobooks:

I finished Careless People, the Facebook exec tell-all. (So juicy! Like the meanest glassdoor review ever.) I re-read the Frugalwoods book, and I re-read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. (She wrote Eat, Pray, Love, and this is a non-fiction book about how anyone can pursue the creative arts.) And I really enjoyed I Survived Captialism and all I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt. I'm still reading The Wedding People on Kindle and I see why it's so popular.

What I'm Eating:
I was at a conference for work this week! Can I just tell you I love a well-catered event? A hotel buffet is a wonderful thing.

What I’m Watching:
I just watched the first episode of the new season of You on Netflix. It's a super dark series about a serial killer who becomes obsessed with different women, but also you're kind of weirdly rooting for him? This is way scarier than I can usually watch, and I have to cover my eyes during the gory parts. But it's so clever!

How I'm Moving My Body:
Just some stretching and mobility. I came down with a cold on Sunday that knocked me down pretty good for a couple days. A zillion steps from being at a conference, that was enough for me.

What I’m Obsessed With:
How much I love living in a smaller space. We’re halfway through our experiment of going from our spacious house to a small one-bedroom apartment. It feels like living in a very nice hotel room. This may just be the beginning of my radical minimalist era.

Sending you love, my friends. Be safe out there.

xoxo,
Liz