About
I have multiple reasons for starting this site.
First, I've started reading more, both fiction and non-fiction. I want to keep this up, and I like having some kind of outlet to mention what I'm reading. That's the book review portion.
Second, I've long wanted to have an Amazon affiliate website that didn't lock me into any one particular niche or forced me to rehash product reviews. I've got two other affiliate websites that I just don't enjoy updating anymore for this reason, so I don't update them.
Third, regarding my other affiliate websites, my Amazon dashboard shows me what other people purchase through my links. Amazon tracks any purchase made from the Amazon site after someone clicks an affiliate link, not just the one product that was linked. It's fascinating to see the shopping basket of a complete stranger - it's a real-life purchase, not just something a website was promoting.
Fourth, I want a front-end web development project to tinker on. Specifically, a Next.js-based project that uses Vercel for hosting and deployment, while also using a CMS for content. On other projects, I've used markdown-based content that lived in the same repo, and I wanted to avoid that this time. I'm trying Sanity.io. I'm also toying with ChatGPT and Midjourney to add a bit of character.
Taking all those things into account, I decided I would write an Amazon affiliate product blog that mentions a product that I've seen in my affiliate dashboard, and delivered through the lens of characters of the book I'm reading being the ones making the purchase. If that sounds ridiculous, I agree with you, but it motivated me enough to get this started, so we'll see where it goes.
Posts that mention products, many of which I've actually seen purchased (not necessarily by me), and combined with whatever extended fiction I can conjure from books I'm reading, together give me the name of this site: Literal Goods.