The Amazons

Books at Amazon: Type what you are seeking in the "Keywords" box above and click "GO!" to start a search at Amazon; or just click the Amazon logo to go to their home page, or use this text link to shop at Amazon: books at Amazon.

Legal language: The Purple Crayon is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

I also link to Amazon Canada, at the suggestion of a visitor:

If you live in Canada, this is a good alternative to ordering from the US.

And if you are in the UK or Europe generally, you can order from Amazon UK.

[5% commission to The Purple Crayon, plus bonuses for an average of 7%]

Links to Recommended Bookstores

This is a personal, not-for-profit site, but I do need funds to keep it going: there are expenses, and I can't afford to donate all my time. So I have commission-paying links around the site.

Kinds of links:

--to individual books. Many books mentioned on this site are linked to their book pages on Amazon or to Bookshop, which supports independent booksellers. You can use the link to get more information or buy the book.
--"shopping pages": in various lists of recommended books around the site, and in a section about Award-Winning Children's Books, I've included useful links to the books.

This page includes all the companies that pay commissions to The Purple Crayon.

I have worked hard to make sure that all links are worthwhile. I do not link to books I don't recommend, for example. If you have a concern, please let me know about it via my Contact Page.

Read on to learn some background and more detail on the system.

Privacy policy

Background: I started The Purple Crayon in early 1995. It was one of the first sites on the Web dedicated to children's books. It grew while I freelanced for two years, it grew while I led the Charlesbridge trade editorial department, and it is still growing. All along, I have maintained it as a public service. I do land freelance work through the site from time to time, but the amount of this does not begin to compensate me for the time and money I have put into it. By now, there are nearly four hundred separate pages, counting both articles and links pages. I must keep them up to date, add materials, and pay for web hosting.

I have seen other editor's sites disappear due to this problem. Laura Belgrave shut down her "Slush Pile" because she just didn't have time for it--a few of her articles are now on this site, but it's not the same. And of course, the incomparable Inkspot went from being one person's effort to being a subsidiary of xLibris, and then was shut down.

I don't want that to happen to The Purple Crayon. And I know that people who visit my site also buy things online.

I have made the site an Amazon Associate and joined some other similar referral programs. I will maintain an independent viewpoint but will also be able to generate some income to support it. I now have direct links to buy specific books from pages around the site, or links to sections of bookstore sites. I have also set this page up as a page you can bookmark, with links to Amazon and other retail sites that interest me and might interest you.

Recommended books for writers and illustrators: Regularly updated, this is a carefully selected list of books on writing and illustrating for children, on children's books, and writer's reference, with links for purchase from Amazon. This is an expanded and more up-to-date version of the Resource Guide in the third edition of my Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books. Ordering books from the list will give The Purple Crayon a commission.

Bookshop.org: Independent Booksellers

Shop my curated lists at Bookshop, or buy any book there after using my link, and you will not only be supporting The Purple Crayon, but also this the online store that benefits independent booksellers. I've also built links to Bookshop into some of my book lists around the site.
[10% commission to The Purple Crayon]

More about how it works: You will find only two kinds of links to Amazon or other bookstores, both here and on other pages on the site. In articles or informational pages which mention specific books, I have added links that take you directly to that book's page on Amazon. You can buy the book--or you can just use the link to get more information about it. In all cases I link only to books I can recommend. There are also more general links that take you to Amazon, but not to a specific page. You can use these if you just want to go shopping--for other books, for DVDs, for electronics, for anything offered by them. I have tried to do all this inobtrusively, and if you want no part of this, you need only leave this page and not click those links--you will see no graphics or logos on any page other than this one and a few of the links pages. Clicking any of the links or graphics does not obligate you to buy anything. It just takes you through to a page about a book or a section of the bookstore's site.

If you do wish to buy something from one of these sites, and make sure that the commission goes to The Purple Crayon, please complete your shopping as soon as you can. The sites only credit purchases made within a certain "window," usually 24 hours.

Thanks for your help.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this.

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