Quick Tip #1
by Cathie Dunn
In between posts by guest authors and designers, I'll be sharing short, concise Quick Tips, to make your author life a little easier. Here’s the first:
* Clean Buy Links *
Your book is published. Yay! What to do now?
Well, share it!
It doesn't matter if you're traditionally published, hybrid, or independently – these days authors are expected to promote their books. But sharing your book's buy links – on your website, blog, or on social media posts – can trip you up, and even lead to reviews being removed.
Here's how to avoid your links being tracked:
If you link to Amazon (or other bookstores), one regular error I see is for inexperienced authors to share the link they got by searching for their book in the search bar. But beware!
That link includes hints for their bots to track it, so if you share it with your friends, or on social media, the stores (Amazon, in particular) will know!
That's one way for them to find out that your best friend on Facebook left a glowing 5* review for your book on Amazon – which they will then likely remove (or worse, the reviewer's account will be closed).
Here’s an example!
I put ’Ascent Cathie Dunn’ in the search bar. This is the link of the main result:
https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-story-danger-adversity-Normandy-ebook/dp/B09RNB6N5L/ref=sr_1_1?crid=25Y0W9XLU81UT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7pOejlWPjU7hFLeZSaafBUP9u2CARSjhcwKCakgGu-DGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.B1jyJAQjhG2vbjUIM1PKbCrptRYvDPTS34zz2vl2ftg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Ascent+Cathie+Dunn&qid=1726665030&sprefix=ascent+cathie+dun%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-1
The bit in blue contains the store's legitimate details about your book. But see the bit in red? That's your search criteria – which they can track!
Instead, remove everything after the book's number, so you'll end up with a clean link:
https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-story-danger-adversity-Normandy-ebook/dp/B09RNB6N5L/
You can do this in the browser line by highlighting everything from ’ref’ onwards, deleting all the coding, then refresh the page to get the clean link.
If you set up a universal buy link for your book (through books2read or booklinker, for example), make sure the link is clean, or everyone who clicks your universal link will share it!
The same goes for your Amazon author link.
This is an issue I see often, and it needs greater awareness to avoid those tracking bots. And it's not just online bookstores that do this. Many sites where authors are signed up use that technique. Just one of the many traps authors stumble into.
Ergo: Always check the link is clean, and remove the all the gobbledegook at the end! Make sure to test the link before sharing it, then you're good to go.
Happy sharing! 💝
The Coffee Pot Book Club was founded in 2015 by bestselling author, Mary Anne Yarde. Later, her daughter, Ellie, joined her.
Mary Anne’s goal was to create a platform that would help Historical Fiction, Historical Romance and Historical Fantasy authors promote their books and find that sometimes elusive audience.
The Coffee Pot Book Club soon became the place for readers to meet new authors (both traditionally published and independently) and discover their fabulous books.
In July 2022, Mary Anne and Ellie Yarde handed over the keys to The Coffee Pot Book Club to award-winning author, Cathie Dunn, who has many years’ experience as a book reviewer, author, publisher, and editor.
Cathie continues to feature quality historical fiction novels at The Coffee Pot Book Club and its wonderful tour hosts and associates.
great info! I never knew this!!!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome.
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