Disclosure
How KaraCooks Makes Money (And How It Doesn’t)
I believe in being straight with y’all about this stuff, so here’s the whole picture.
What KaraCooks is
KaraCooks is a food blog. It’s also, increasingly, how I think out loud about cooking, gardening, history, and the politics of what ends up on our plates. I write it because I want to, not because I have to, and that shapes every decision I make about money.
What KaraCooks isn’t
KaraCooks does not run ads. No display ads, no popups, no sidebar ads, no in-content ads, no autoplay video ads, no “you won’t believe what happened next” content recommendation widgets, no nothing. I don’t judge bloggers who go the ad route; it’s a legitimate way to make a living from this work. It’s just not the road I’m taking. If you’ve ever tried to read a recipe while dodging six ad units and a video that follows you down the page, you already know why.
How KaraCooks does make money
Affiliate links
I sometimes link to books, ingredients, or tools through affiliate programs. If you click one of those links and buy something, I get a small commission. You pay the same price you’d pay otherwise.
Affiliate links on KaraCooks are always marked with an asterisk (*). If you don’t see the asterisk, it’s not an affiliate link; it’s just a regular link to something I want you to know about.
Right now I use Bookshop.org for book links. Bookshop.org is an alternative to Amazon that supports independent bookstores, which matters to me. I’m building out a KaraCooks Bookshop.org landing page so y’all can see everything I recommend in one place.
I don’t use Amazon Associates. Amazon’s labor practices and market dominance don’t line up with the values on Where I Stand, and there are better options for the things I’d want to link to anyway.
Referral links
A referral link is a little different from an affiliate link: it’s usually tied to a specific product or service I personally use, where the company gives both of us something for signing up.
The one I currently use is for Mill, the food recycler I lease. If you sign up through my link, you get $150 off a purchase or a discount on a lease, and I get a $100 credit toward my own lease. Referral links are marked the same way affiliate links are: with an asterisk and full disclosure in the relevant post.
Sponsored posts
Occasionally a brand pays me to write about their product. When that happens, the post will say so clearly at the top, not buried at the bottom in 8-point gray text. I’m selective about which sponsorships I take, and I have turned down more than I have accepted. If a brand’s values or supply chain don’t line up with what I’d cook with or recommend on my own, I pass.
Gifted products
Sometimes a company sends me a product to try, with no expectation of coverage. If I write about something that was gifted, I’ll say so. If I tried it and didn’t like it, I usually just don’t write about it; I’d rather spend my limited blog hours on things I actually want to recommend.
Editorial policy
This part matters as much as the money disclosures, so I’m putting it in its own section.
I don’t recommend things I haven’t used. Every recipe on KaraCooks has been cooked in my kitchen. Every tool I link to is one I actually own or have used enough to have an opinion. Every restaurant I write about, I’ve eaten at. If I’m writing about a book, I’ve read it.
No one buys their way into a positive review. Sponsorships pay for my time and the work of producing a post; they don’t buy my opinion. If I take a sponsorship, I write what I think. If a brand doesn’t want the risk of an honest review, they shouldn’t sponsor me.
Affiliate revenue doesn’t drive what I write about. I don’t pick topics based on which links pay best. I write about what I’m cooking, growing, and thinking about, and if there happens to be a good affiliate link for it, I include one. If there isn’t, I don’t.
Corrections and updates. If I get something wrong, I fix it and note the correction in the post. Especially for the history-heavy posts in the “What Got Lost” series, where the stakes for getting it right are higher than whether the enchiladas turned out.
Credit where it’s due. Particularly for African American foodways, Mexican and Tex-Mex traditions, Indigenous foodways, and any cuisine that isn’t mine by birth. I try to get the history right, name the people whose work I’m drawing on, and link to their books. If I miss something or get it wrong, please tell me.
Questions
If you ever have a question about whether something on KaraCooks is sponsored, affiliated, gifted, or just something I happened to like, ask me. The contact form is here.
