Which retailers should I link to from my author website?
Obviously, one of the primary purposes of your author website is to make it easy for people who visit to go on and buy your book. However you’ll be surprised - or perhaps dismayed?! - how many author websites I see that don’t have ANY links to online bookshops on them at all.
So please do not miss this crucial step when it comes to building your author website!! By not providing a direct link for visitors to easily go on and purchase your book you are REALLY missing a trick.
One of the key things to remember when putting together an author website (or any website) is to make it as EASY AS POSSIBLE for visitors to do whatever action it is that you want them to do (eg, sign up to your newsletter, follow you on social media, buy your book!)
So providing direct, clear retail links for website visitors is pretty much a no-brainer.
OK, so now you know just how important those crucial links are, let’s get stuck in to the main purpose of this post.
One of the questions I get asked the most by my website clients is ‘which retailers should I link to?’, along with ‘how many bookshop links is too many bookshop links?’
So in today’s post I’m going to hopefully help you decide by running through what I tell my website clients when they come to me with this query.
Think of your ideal reader
Before you get started on deciding which retailers to link to, it’s really important to spend some time thinking about who your ideal reader is.
You probably have an idea of this person already - whether consciously or subconsciously - but do take a few moments to picture them and their lifestyle.
Where are they most likely to shop? What kind of values do they have? Are they price-agnostic or is a bargain really important to them?
Do they collect physical books and display them proudly on their bookshelves, or do they read most books on Kindle, and wait for the 99p deals?
Do they follow particular authors loyally, or do they pick most books up on a whim while they’re doing their weekly shop?
Answering these questions will really help you get to grips with who your readers are, and this should give you a very good idea of which shops they are likely to buy books from.
The obvious retailer
Whether we like it or not, the majority of book sales still come through Amazon. It’s just the way it is (sorry).
So to NOT link to Amazon is a, ahem, bold choice. It’s entirely personal, and if you don’t want to support them then I don’t blame you at all, but again, do really think about your readers.
Who are they? Where are they most likely to buy books?
If you know in your heart of hearts that it’s Amazon, then you are doing both them and yourself a disservice by not linking to it.
In all cases, if you want to make the safest commercial decision, then linking to Amazon is pretty much mandatory, especially if your biggest format are ebooks.
A little note about Amazon clean links
An important thing to be aware of when you are linking to Amazon, is to use the CLEAN version of the link.
What’s the clean version of a link, I hear you ask?
Let me explain!
When you search for a book on Amazon, you type into the search bar and Amazon displays the relevant results. You then click on the image of the book you are looking for, and you’ll see a long URL in the bar in your browser.
It’ll be something like this:
This is a link to my own book, The One That Got Away.
However, everything after the final slash (highlighted in bold above) is extra tracking information, and we don’t need it.
It tells Amazon all kinds of creepy things about how the link was generated, what path the person who generated it took to get to this page, and other stuff that only secret bods at Amazon know.
The reason we don’t want to post this link to our author website is because if Amazon sees lots and lots of people clicking on this very specific link, it will assume something strange is going on, and may block the ability for people who’ve used this link to publish reviews, for example.
So instead, we just need to get rid of everything after that final slash, so that we have a nice clean link, with no dodgy tracking data behind it, such as this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-That-Got-Away-ebook/dp/B09V97WT2F/
Amazon affiliates
Did you know you can also become an Amazon affiliate?
This way you can link to your own book from your website and collect extra pennies from Amazon every time someone buys your own book through your website.
I’ve written a bit more about how to make money from your author website here, and you can find out more about Amazon’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates here →
Ask your publisher
But Amazon isn’t the only retailer I recommend you link to!
If you have a publisher, then I would definitely suggest speaking to your editor or sales team to ask them which retailers they would most like you to support.
It may be that they have a special promotion running with a particular store. For example, some books have special Waterstones editions, and there are retailers such as Goldsboro Books that do limited edition hardbacks.
You might also have signed copies for an independent bookshop, so it’s always a good idea to link to these places from your author website too.
Make sure you are supporting any additional sales avenues that your publisher has managed to secure for you, and make a fuss of any signed or special editions too.
Support the indies
What if you don’t have any special editions? What if your book hasn’t even secured any physical retail slots (don’t worry - this is very very common)?
In this case, then after Amazon, it really is down to you which retailers you choose to link to.
Some of the obvious ones in the UK are:
Amazon
Waterstones
WHSmiths
Hive
Blackwells
Foyles
Wordery
Bookshop.org
If you want to support your local independent bookshop, but they don’t sell directly through their website, then linking to Bookshop.org is a really good idea - as they send 80% of their profit margin directly to the independent booksellers signed up on their site.
You can also set up your own author bookshop on Bookshop.org.
I have a blog post all about how to do that here →
How many retailers to link to
Again, this is really your preference, but as I have a general ‘less is more’ rule for everything to do with websites (cluttered websites look ugly and are confusing and difficult to use), I would pick two or three retailers (again, thinking primarily of your readers and where they are most likely to shop) and focus on them.
If you DO want to link to more than two or three retailers, then I suggest moving away from using buttons for the links and instead stacking the links behind an accordion.
This just looks neater and will ensure your website doesn’t seem overwhelming.
How to use accordion block for your retail links →
I hope this article was helpful!
If you want more advice and information on what to put on your author website, then do download my Author Website Content Guide here →
If you want to get your author website up and running quickly with the least amount of stress, then do check out my DIY Author Website Course, which will hold your hand through building a beautiful, functional author website in just a couple of days.
