Universal Links, Part 2

Books2Read

This universal link generator will create one link for your book to bring readers to many booksellers. These links reduce the clutter on your social media and websites.

First, sign up for a free account. Just a couple of steps, and boom, you’re in.

Next, begin creating links to your books. Go to a bookseller and copy the link to your book. Then paste the URL into Books2Read and press the Make My Universal Link button. It will take a second if you are wide. They check several places, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Store, Kobo, Google Play, and more.

Don’t see a seller? You can enter it manually on the Add A Store field. Just copy the link from your seller, and the app will add the link.

If the search takes too long, the site will prompt you to enter links manually. If your book is in KU, the exclusivity will cause the site to spin. But you might not keep the book in KU forever, so why not make a free link? You won’t have to change it when you go wide.

You can also add audiobook and print links. Audiobooks include Kobo, Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Overdrive, Hoopla, and more. Print links include Amazon, Barnes and Noble, !ndigo, Booksamillion, and several others.

Now that your links are in, we can make the link our own. On the left side of the screen under the Link Tools menu, choose Customize Link. Type in the desired name after the books2read part of the URL. The app will inform you the name is available.

You can also add Affiliate codes. I’m just going to leave that here for you advanced users.

Let’s check out what we’ve made.

Click on the Link Tools menu at the top-right menu. Choose UBL dashboard. Now the app generates a list of all the books you’ve added to the site. It shows the title, author name, and the universal link (to be copied and pasted to other places). Next are the sellers where the book can be purchased. The last column has the number of clicks on your links (once you’ve shared them everywhere.)

Wait, Ginny, you skipped one!

Yes, I wanted to highlight the Book Tab. This links to a page with the universal link, a copy of your cover, the blurb, and an Also By section. It’s beautiful. Book Tab is a landing page for your universal link. The image on the page is your book with the background a blurred, close-up image of the cover (making it all matchy-matchy). And if you worked with Books2Read through Draft2Digital, you could also have an author bio with links to your social media and, drumroll, a newsletter sign-up button!

You can edit content on the page by pressing the Enter Edit Mode button on the top of the screen or the Edit mode if you are in Reader view. (Readers do not see the buttons on top.) Anything with a green square around it can be edited. You can add a tag with promo information. You can format the description or change it entirely. A red light bulb will appear to let you know to save the changes. It will take you out of edit mode when you hit save.

Now that you’ve created and edited your links, time to use them. Readers will click the link and hit that landing page. The app will display all the places the reader can buy the book. Once they choose a seller, it will prompt them to default to that seller every time. The next time they click a Books2Read link, it will automatically go to that seller.

There’s more on the site and Draft2Digtal additional content, but for now, you’ve got the basics to get your universal links started.