Many people build email lists because they hear they are "supposed to build a list" and never make a dime from the list and don't know what to do with the list.
Today's podcast should give you an idea of people who are interested in only getting emails from you when they are commercial and contain affiliate links. No kidding. Types of people that WANT your affiliate links are people that like coupons or deals, new releases, product reviews, product news, etc. You add value to your affiliate links in this case
You can create a landing page that says something like "Sign up for our gardening coupon newsletter. The ONLY time we'll email you is when we have a gardening coupon or great sale to share. And then every time you email them they love hearing from you and you drop your affiliate links to the merchants having a sale.
I also talk about how programmers can automate the process. Of course this post should just get the create ideas flowing, come up with your own twist.