41% Drop in Amazon Earnings

Amazon cut its affiliate commission rates on April 21st. It was a bitter pill to swallow (especially in light of the company's record sales), but because of backlogged or unshipped orders, it didn't manifest as a sharp drop in earnings. In fact, I'm only now able to quantify the true impact on my business: a 41% drop in earnings per click. Unfortunately, this rate cut has dramatically pressured independent publishers like me (while leaving unscathed the large publishers who have directly negotiated their rates).