A concise how-to from Julie Broad (Book Launchers) describing why a single retailer link is problematic when a book is distributed widely and how a universal book link (UBL) solves that problem. Julie demonstrates using Books2Read (a Draft2Digital service that aggregates ebook storefront links) to create a storefront page showing all places a book is sold, then suggests creating a memorable redirect on your own site (e.g., with the Pretty Links WordPress plugin) and placing the UBL on your book page and in newsletters. She recommends keeping an opt-in opportunity on your website storefront page, explains that Books2Read primarily links ebooks (but often points readers to print options), and gives concrete examples (booklaunchers.com/gameplan). The video ends with a call to comment and links to related videos.
Questions this video answers
Books2Read (a Draft2Digital service); it only creates ebook links (though ebook pages often point to print options).
Did you set your book up for wide distribution so readers can buy your book on Apple and Amazon and Barnes and Noble and Google and beyond? And despite that wide reach, you always end up referring people to your Amazon page to buy your book. There is a much simpler way to give a link to your book that works for every buyer's preference. If you sell books wide and want an easy way to help people find your book, to buy it wherever they like to buy books, this video is for you. Hey there, I'm Julie the book broad from Book Launchers. We're your professional self publishing team helping you write, publish and promote a nonfiction book that will help you have a huge impact on your readers. And done right will help you grow your brand, build your business, and make you money. The best part, you keep all rights and royalties. So you decided to set your book up for wide distribution. That's all awesome. You're really meeting your readers wherever they are when you do that. But now you're faced with the tricky problem of what link to give people when they say, where can I buy your book? If you have international readers and your book is available everywhere, this can be really tricky. One solution is to refer them to your website and then just put a bunch of logos of those retailers on your website. And I actually recommend that because that gives you the opportunity for people to then opt into a newsletter so you can grow your author platform. But they this gets messy if you truly have an international audience, because a Canadian author with a following all over the globe, for example, will need to link not just to Amazon in general, but they're going to need to link to Amazon CA for Canada. Americans of course use Amazon.com Australians use Amazon AU and Amazon UK for those in the UK. So you're not linking to every single one of those. And then of course there's Nook and Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, and so on. So many links, so many logos. Even directing them to your website isn't a perfect solution alone. Plus, when you link to your book in your newsletter, you really want people to just go straight to buying your book because they're on your newsletter list already. You don't want them to have to do multiple clicks to buy your book. And so if somebody's already on your email newsletter list, or you really just want a simple way to send them to one place where they can choose where they want to buy your book, then a universal book link is the solution. That universal book link opens a storefront page displaying all the places that your book is available online. This service, books2read.com is my preferred service. It's from Draft 2 Digital and it only links for ebooks. But most of the ebook links allow people to find print books too. And it just keeps things simple. Just see how easy this is to work. Watch how this works. Go to any ebook storefront for your book. I'll just go to Amazon, find your book, grab your Kindle link, then go to Books to Read, drop the link in there and voila, you've got all these storefronts that you can now offer to your reader and then you can even add your own link in at the bottom. Now for me, what I would do is put this into my website plugin Pretty Links and I would create a lovely easy to remember link that would be website.com buy my book or something like that. For example, book launchers.com gameplan is a redirect link using Pretty Link that that takes you to an opt in page that's built on a different system. You don't have to do that, but it's easier than remembering bookstoread.com u megop capital V which is the link it created. So if you use WordPress, use the pretty Link plugin, put in the link, give it a name. See, it's super easy. So you just go to your Pretty link, give it a name so you know what the link is. Put the UBL in there and choose the link you want like book launchers.com mybook and then you can get the link here that you can use. Make it easy to remember so you can easily refer people to it. Now I also recommend you then take this Universal book link and put it on your book page. You can say my book is available Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Apple if those are kind of the three main retailers. And then you could have another link that says for all other places to buy books, click here and that could be your Universal Book link. There's so many uses for this link and it's free to set up. So head over to bookstoread.com and set yours up like this. Tip. Do you use a different universal book link than Books to Read or do you have another use for a universal book link? Let's chat about it in the comments below. Oh, by the way, I have no affiliation with Books to Read. I just think it's super cool. And when you comment, by the way, on the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet noboringbooks swag. We have new videos every Tuesday and Friday except in the summer when we take a little bit of a break. By the way, when you comment on my videos, you'll be one step closer to being one of my beloved YouTube besties like Coach Deb, Sandra Rodriguez, Poetry from the Heart, Michael Fakerty and of course Derek Silksky. Thank you so much for your likes, comments and shares. You guys make my day and sometimes my week and my month. Now I've really enjoyed our time together today. Let's keep this party going. And you know what? I think this video right here on Draft 2 Digital vs Author's Republic could be the exact thing you need to see. Why I'm a big Draft 2 digital fan or this video over here on author websites could also be perfect for you. Either way, I've put on some coffee and we'll get that noboringbooksmug out and spend a little more time together. Okay? So just go ahead, choose your adventure.
