Riley Locke is free to browse, but it is not free to operate. Riley Locke may earn revenue from clearly disclosed affiliate links, author and publisher advertising, sponsorships, subscriptions, memberships, data licensing, research, consulting, and other disclosed services.
The practical rule is simple: money can create a commercial relationship; it cannot purchase an editorial conclusion, a better match, or a better organic position.
Affiliate retailer links
Some Riley Locke book pages contain affiliate links to retailers including Bookshop.org and Amazon. If you follow an affiliate link and make a qualifying purchase, Riley Locke may receive a commission. The price or offer shown by the retailer is controlled by the retailer.
Bookshop.org links may be generated from the book or selected edition's ISBN-13 using Riley Locke's configured affiliate identifier. Amazon links are operator-supplied Amazon Associates Special Links for a selected product or edition. Riley Locke does not cloak Amazon affiliate destinations behind a Riley Locke redirect.
Affiliate availability, commission level, or retailer economics are not inputs to:
- Reader Match calculations;
- search, Discover, genre, trope, collection, or recommendation ranking;
- Riley Locke Takes, summaries, direct answers, content guidance, or comparison reasons;
- Series Intelligence, recommended starts, requiredness, role, or startability;
- community authority, Keeper permissions, moderation, or contribution review; or
- correction, withdrawal, or data-quality decisions.
A book may remain in the Riley Locke catalog with no affiliate link. A retailer link may be disabled without changing the book's editorial or discovery state.
Amazon Associates disclosure
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
A shorter affiliate disclosure appears with retailer links on book pages. This page provides the fuller explanation.
Author and publisher advertising
Paid campaigns may include designated featured-book modules, launch spotlights, author or publisher spotlights, genre or category sponsorships, Reading Note sponsorships, and other promotional inventory that is clearly labeled before a reader engages with it.
An advertiser may purchase space, timing, format, and permitted audience context. An advertiser may not purchase:
- inclusion in the canonical catalog;
- a Riley Locke Take or favorable wording;
- a higher Reader Match percentage;
- a higher organic Discover, search, genre, trope, collection, or recommendation position;
- a recommendation reason or comparison edge;
- a genre, trope, mood, content-guidance, or series judgment;
- suppression of an unknown, correction, warning, or tradeoff; or
- access to private shelves, private notes, or an identifiable Reading Match Profile.
How commercial material is labeled
Affiliate retailer links are labeled or disclosed as affiliate links near the retailer controls. Paid advertising is labeled with direct terms such as Advertisement, Sponsored, or Paid partnership with [sponsor]. Paid modules are visually separated from Riley Locke editorial content and organic discovery results.
An advertisement may link to an author, publisher, campaign, or retailer destination selected for that advertisement. A sponsored destination is not automatically an affiliate link; if Riley Locke also receives an affiliate commission from that destination, the affiliate relationship is separately disclosed.
External retailers and advertisers control their own terms, privacy practices, prices, inventory, fulfillment, returns, warranties, and transactions.
Editorial firewall
Riley Locke summaries, Riley Locke Takes, reading details, content guidance, recommendation reasons, Reader Match calculations, Series Intelligence, corrections, and organic rankings are produced independently from affiliate revenue and advertising sales.
Affiliate revenue and advertising spend are not inputs to the Reader Match algorithm. Riley Locke Take is not a commercial placement product. No campaign or retailer relationship can be purchased as a disguised review or organic recommendation.
Sponsored editorial formats
If Riley Locke later offers a sponsored feature with editorial-style presentation, the sponsorship will be disclosed prominently at the beginning and the feature will not be represented as an independent Riley Locke verdict. Factual statements supplied by a sponsor may be checked, but the sponsor cannot convert paid copy into a Riley Locke Take.
Newsletter sponsorships
The Reading Note may carry clearly labeled sponsorship inventory. Sponsorship is separated from the editorial note and independent book selections. Subscriber addresses are not provided to a sponsor merely because it sponsors an issue.
Review copies, gifts, and access
Authors, publishers, and publicists may provide review copies or access. Receiving an item does not promise coverage, a Riley Locke Take, a particular score, inclusion in Discover, or favorable treatment. Riley Locke does not sell ordinary editorial review or correction outcomes.
Commercial measurement and privacy
Riley Locke may measure aggregate affiliate-link clicks by retailer, book, edition, placement, and day. Riley Locke's affiliate click registry is designed as aggregate operational measurement and does not need a reader identifier to count a click.
Retailers may independently receive the information normally transmitted when you visit their service and may attribute purchases according to their own affiliate systems and privacy terms. Riley Locke may receive aggregate or transaction-level affiliate reports from a retailer or affiliate program.
Riley Locke may provide advertisers with aggregate campaign information such as impressions, clicks, broad placement context, and campaign totals. Private reader shelves, private notes, and identifiable preference profiles are not affiliate or advertising inventory.
Any advertising technology that requires additional device or activity information is governed by the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy and must respect applicable choices.
Corrections and questions
A missing, unclear, or inaccurate affiliate or sponsorship disclosure is a correction issue. Use the contact form and identify the page or campaign involved.
For advertising enquiries, see Advertise with Riley Locke.