Set Up Your Affiliate Program
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Affiliate Program
Set Up Your Affiliate Program
Let other creators, bloggers and fans sell your work for a commission you set. Curios tracks every referral and pays them, so you only pay for real sales.
Reach new audiences
Affiliates share your books with readers you haven't met yet.
Pay only for results
You set the commission, from 5% to 50%, and pay it only when a sale happens.
No tracking work
Affiliates copy a link. Curios handles the tracking and the payout math.
How it works
You opt inPick products and set a commission and optional buyer discount.
They appear in the catalogYour products show up for affiliates at partners.curios.com.
Affiliates shareThey copy a link and post it in a newsletter, on social or on a website.
Everyone earnsThe affiliate gets the commission. You keep the rest, minus the platform fee.
1Open the Affiliate Program page
- Log in at studio.curios.com.
- In the left menu, click Promote, then Affiliate Program.
- First time here? Click Activate Affiliate Program.
2Set your default rates
Your defaults apply to every product you turn on. You can change them per product later.
- Default affiliate commission (1): the share of the sale the affiliate earns, from 5% to 50%.
- Default buyer discount (2): an optional discount for buyers who use an affiliate link, from 0% to 50%.
- To turn on every product at once, click Enable all (3).
Rule: Commission and buyer discount can each go up to 50%, but together they can't go over 80%.
Tip: A buyer discount gives affiliates something to offer ("10% off with my link") and usually gets more people to buy.
Tip: A buyer discount gives affiliates something to offer ("10% off with my link") and usually gets more people to buy.
3Choose your products
- Under Your products, switch on each product you want affiliates to promote (1). Use Search products to find titles in a large catalog.
- Optional: change that product's Affiliate Commission and Buyer Discount (2). The menus unlock once the product is switched on.
Tip: Each format (ebook, audiobook, paperback and so on) is its own row. Many authors offer a higher commission on a low-priced ebook and a lower one on a hardcover with tighter margins.
4Check your take-home
Scroll the table to the right. Total Cost and Take Home show exactly what a sale is worth to you.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Price | Your current selling price. A higher retail price shows crossed out. |
| Affiliate Commission | The percentage and dollar amount the affiliate earns. |
| Buyer Discount | The percentage and dollar amount the buyer saves. |
| Platform Fee | Curios's fee on each affiliate sale: 10% on Lite, 7% on Plus, 5% on Pro. |
| Total Cost | Commission + discount + platform fee. |
| Take Home | What you keep per sale. It doesn't include print costs for paperback or print-on-demand products. |
Example: a $1.00 ebook with a 30% commission and 10% buyer discount on the Pro plan.
Price$1.00
Affiliate commission (30%)−$0.30
Buyer discount (10%)−$0.10
Platform fee (5%, Pro)−$0.05
Take home$0.55
Changes save automatically. There's no separate publish step.
5Share your catalog link
Affiliates never need your Creator Studio login. Everything they need is on the Curios Partners site.
- Your catalog link is partners.curios.com/catalog/ followed by your username.
- Send it to the creators you'd like to promote your work. It shows only the products you turned on, with each commission and buyer discount.
Where's my username? It's the name in the bottom-left corner of Creator Studio.
What your affiliates do
- Sign in at partners.curios.com. Joining is free: enter an email (or use Google or Apple) and confirm a one-time code. There's no application to approve.
- Open your catalog link, or browse the Product Catalog. They can search by title, creator or genre, and sort by reward, price or discount.
- Click Details (1) to see the product and its commission, or Copy Link (2) to grab the affiliate link.
- The Details panel also has Copy Link, a View catalog storefront button, and the link's clicks and earnings once they share it.
- Paste the link into a newsletter, social post or website.
On the Partners Dashboard, affiliates see clicks, unique visitors, conversions and earnings. Bot and crawler clicks are filtered out. Earnings are credited right away, and affiliates cash out with Request Payout or turn on Auto Pay.
Bonus for affiliates: On the Invite Creators tab, affiliates get an invite link. If someone joins Curios as a seller through it, the affiliate could earn 1% of that creator's sales for a year.
Try a newsletter swap
Both opt inYou and an author friend with a similar audience both turn on the affiliate program.
Swap linksEach of you copies links from the other's catalog page.
Feature each otherAdd a "What I'm reading" spot to your next newsletter. You both earn on the sales you drive.
FAQ
Who pays for the buyer discount?
You do. The affiliate's commission isn't reduced by the discount. Take Home shows what's left for you after commission, discount and platform fee.
Do I have to offer a discount?
No. Set Default buyer discount to 0%. Commission alone is enough.
How long does a referral count?
90 days. If a buyer clicks an affiliate link and buys within 90 days, the affiliate earns the commission. If two affiliates referred the same buyer, the most recent one gets it.
Do affiliate links expire?
No. A link keeps working as long as the product stays turned on in your program.
Can affiliates promote other creators too?
Yes. There's no exclusivity on either side. Affiliates can promote anyone, and you can have as many affiliates as you like.
Can I change rates later?
Yes, any time. For example, raise a commission for a launch window, then lower it afterward.
You're always in control. Switch products on or off and change rates at any time. Changes save automatically.
Stuck? Contact Curios support. We're here to help.
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- TutorialCreate Coupon CodesRun a sale, reward your newsletter or thank a superfan. Create a discount code and choose what it covers, when it runs and how many times it can be used.