Looking for Advice on Amazon Associate

First, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. I think this is the most appropriate spot, but it might not be.

I have an informational site that helps people find colleges and universities. (No, I will not reveal it on WF). The pages are extremely text heavy, and I'm trying to break up the text with media. I have used (with permission) images and videos from the schools. I'm now adding amazon associate widgets to further break up the text.

My goals with Amazon Associate widgets are:
1. Primarily to break up text.
2. To increase my revenue slightly, although I'm only promoting books. Adsense is my primary form of revenue.

What I'm doing
I'm creating carousel widgets to feature 7-10 books from faculty members at each school. I'm then placing these carousels so that the phrase "Find books from faculty..." is just above the fold. I also have a carousel in my sidebar.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm new to Amazon Associates. A few specific questions I have are:
Are there any plug-ins I should be using? (I'm currently just copying the code for the carousel from Amazon).
Should I be using this program differently?
Should the text above the widget blend in or stand out on the page?
Has anyone tried multiple widgets on a single page?
Am I violating any TOS using multiple widgets?

Thanks for the help!