Any advice about Amazon Capsules?

1. 96

   Pollyanna Jonesposted 7 years ago

   I've started writing more articles here after not being so active for a year or so. One of the reasons I was discouraged from putting time into HubPages was the removal of Amazon capsules. This had a hugely detrimental effect on my earnings, which plummeted around 80% since they were systematically snipped form articles.
   
   I'd never been spammy with the Amazon capsules; they were always relevant to the article itself, but I recall some policy here whereby they were taken out as apparently it improved hits to HubPages articles without them in.
   
   I wondered if you could advise if there has been any update around this? Can I start using them again, i.e. one per article?
   
   And no, I am not writing a product review with a link to Amazon for that product. I write about history and folklore, and use the Amazon capsules to link into copies of certain books that were used for research - relevant to my audience who really are interested and do (or did) purchase these books after reading the articles. These had been removed by HubPages editors when moving articles to Letterpile, etc.
   
   It's been frustrating, and I'm hoping that HubPages has revisited their decision to encourage writers to be loyal to this site to publish their works and gain income for their efforts.

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2. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   I've tripped over this problem too.   The problem is there are now TWO golden rules.
   
   One is that the product must be relevant and useful to the MAIN topic of the Hub.  I think you probably meet that requirement with most of your books.
   
   The other is that you must give your PERSONAL opinion as to why that product is the best for the job.  You can do that either in the "description" section of your Amazon capsule, or in the nearest paragraph.  This may be what's causing the trouble.   
   
   For instance, I've had a capsule snipped because I said something like, "This DVD is a good resource for drills."     That comment gives no indication that I had seen the DVD, so the moderators assumed I hadn't.  You must inject yourself into the comment, i.e. say something like, "I've found this DVD to be the best resource for drills".

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   1. 96

      Pollyanna Jonesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Many thanks, I will try that and see if it is acceptable. I appreciate your helpful reply!

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Also, I would severely limit the number of Amazon capsules I use or mix them with in text Amazon links.

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3. 96

   Pollyanna Jonesposted 7 years ago

   Well then. I put this into an article, and have discovered it has been snipped.
   
   
   As I am citing a source for this folktale, I had originally just listed the book and the ISDN in "Futher Reading" as a separate header in the article.
   
   My only change was to replace the ISDN and typed title, author, etc, with a link to the book itself on Amazon. I also included a little paragraph to entice our readers to visit the page.
   
   What on earth is going on?
   
   I'm despairing with HubPages and the Amazon capsules at the moment. It seems they want to encourage reviews of junk sold on Amazon with links to the Amazon product. These review articles themselves seem more along the lines of spam than the factual and fiction articles that many writers on here give their time to produce.
   
   I could write a meaningless article about a colander or salad spinner and have several Amazon links in there, yet when I insert a capsule to a cited source for one of my articles, it's removed. This is pretty soul destroying.

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Firstly, you haven't followed the second rule.  Your "little paragraph" gives no clue that you've ever read the book yourself.  It's impersonal.   
      
      Secondly, the book is not further reading about that place.  It's further reading about other folk tales, which is not the subject of the Hub.  I think the moderator may have felt the Hub was more about the place than folk tales.  I think you need to make the relationship clearer.
      
      So, I would put the Amazon product at the end of the section which relates the folk tale, NOT at the end of the Hub.   Say something like, "If you are interested in this story, this book tells the tale in more detail and also contains other folk tales about the surrounding area".  I would use a text link not a capsule.

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4. 88

   theraggededgeposted 7 years ago

   Try putting the book into an Amazon text link within the main body of the article, where you mention the title.

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