Relying on the Kindness of Strangers

I'm new to IM. I can see that I can waste a lot of time and money learning this business. Time I have, money's a little tight right now. I wanted to ask the folks here for some advice.

I have a business background and ran a consulting company that I packed in so I could start writing full time last year thinking I'd make some money self-publishing on Kindle. I have 2 personal development / motivational books out now in a series "Planning for Success" that aren't selling. I think the product is decent enough, although I'm sure there's room for improvement.

What's killing me is my lack of IM experience.

I'm just getting ready to monazite my blog Notes from the Edge and maybe fire up another site or two for affiliate marketing. I've learned a lot by cruising these boards but there's so much information I'm getting paralysis by analysis.

My idea was to get into affiliate markets that compliment the content on my blog and in my books. Hopefully to find some synergies in sales. I have started building a list with MAil Chimp. I have 35 names, a lead magnet and a simple landing page here: EdgeyNotes.com.

Until I started following the threads here I thought I would just find some appropriate affiliates on Clickbank, start slow and figure things out as I went along.

Now I'm reading about "lead Generation" and having to spend $3,000 for leads to make it work or buying turnkey packages off of WSO and on and on.

I'm lost.

I wouldn't know the first place to start with WSO and not sure if I should put the time and energy into researching that. I would know how or what to pay for leads, or even really what a good lead looks like. I'm like gazelle with busted leg out on the Serengeti by the time I figure things out every one will have a chunk of my ass.

If you were me, with the benefit of hindsight, what would you do? Is there a go-to book I should read or a pay site every uses for insider information?

I apologize for the long post and thank anyone who can offer suggestions.