Last updated: 25 September 2026
At ReadGem, we believe in being upfront about how the site is funded. This page explains the ways we may earn income from the content you read here, and what that means for you.
We’ve kept it short. If anything is unclear, you can contact us using the details at the end.
How We Earn
Running a website costs money — hosting, domain renewal, images, and the time it takes to research and write each article. To cover those costs and keep ReadGem free to read, we use a small number of revenue sources:
- Affiliate links — some links on the Site point to books, courses, tools, or services. If you click one and make a purchase, the merchant may pay us a small commission. You pay the same price you would have paid anyway.
- Pay-per-download links — some downloadable resources are hosted through third-party services that pay a small fee when a download is completed through their platform.
- Optional reader support — we accept voluntary donations from readers who want to help keep the Site running. Donations are entirely optional and are never required to access any content.
Between these three sources, the goal is simple: enough to keep the site online and free to read.
What This Means for You
Very little, in practice. But here’s what we want you to know:
- You are never obligated to click an affiliate link, use a PPD link, or make a purchase. You can read every article on ReadGem without paying anything.
- Clicking an affiliate link costs you nothing extra. The commission comes from the merchant, not from you. If you’d rather not use our links, you can always search for the same product directly.
- We aim to recommend resources we believe are genuinely relevant to the topic of the article. An affiliate relationship does not change what we recommend, and we don’t write articles solely to promote a product.
- Any purchase you make is a transaction between you and the merchant. ReadGem is not a party to that transaction and is not responsible for the product, its delivery, or any dispute arising from it.
In short: our recommendations come first, and any commission we earn is a side effect of that — never the reason for it.
How We Choose What to Link To
We write about books, ideas, and resources that we think are worth reading. When a book, tool, or course comes up naturally in an article, we may link to it — sometimes through an affiliate link, sometimes just as a plain reference.
The choice of what to cover is editorial. The choice of whether to use an affiliate link for a given recommendation is separate. We don’t promote a worse product because it pays more, and we don’t hide a useful resource because we have no affiliate relationship with it.
Third-Party Platforms
Some content we link to is hosted on external sites — for example, file-sharing services, Google Drive, or merchants’ own websites. When you click through to those sites, you leave ReadGem and become subject to that site’s own terms, privacy policy, and practices. We do not control what those platforms do with your data, and we encourage you to review their policies before downloading or purchasing anything.
Donations
ReadGem accepts voluntary cryptocurrency donations. Donations are optional, are not tax-deductible, and do not provide any goods or services in return. ReadGem is an independent website, not a registered charity.
Compliance
This disclosure is intended to comply with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s guidance on endorsements and disclosures and with general transparency standards for online content. In plain terms: if we may earn from a link, we want you to know it.
For more detail on how we handle data, please see our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.
Questions
If you have any questions about this disclosure, how we earn, or how we choose what to link to, please contact us:
Email: contact[at]readgem[dot]com
Contact form: readgem.com/contact
This page was originally published on 12 April 2025. It was updated on 25 September 2026 to reflect the current ways ReadGem is funded.