sangiovesse,
I know this may be a little late but maybe I can help explain reoccuring sales. You are competing with every other affiliate, merchants, and other merchants affiliates, its definetly a tough job. But finding the right programs will not only help, but will put you at the top.

I manage a program that uses this type of revenue (reoccuring, or subsequent sales) for attracting, and making affiliates tons of money. I recently pulled some statistics and posted them on another board. Here is my explanation.

Affiliates develop their sites, to attract visitors and convert the traffic into sales. This is the hardest part of affiliate marketing. For every $1 that our affiliates are making through referred sales, (not including the lead commission of $0.15), they are earning an additional $1.35 in subsequent (reoccuring)sales in future months.

What this means, is that your hard work to get people to buy the product, is backed by our hard work to get customers to purchase more, which you get paid for, for the life of the customer!

One other tip,

Listen to Linda, she knows what she is talking about!

Good luck, give it a year, learn all you can.