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Amazon, book marketing, books, D.G. Kaye, GeoRiot, intelligent links, links
Update: GeoRiot is now geni.us. Find out more!
I was reading a post on D.G. Kaye’s blog where she was explaining that “when we post links to our books on Amazon and people from different countries of the world click on them, you may be losing potential readers because many countries have their own country code in the URL and believe it or not, if they land on Amazon.com and aren’t tech savvy to navigate to their own country page, it results in a potentially lost sale.”
That’s when it occurred to me; I’m friends with Ryan Shepherd of GeoRiot fame, so why not ask him for a guest post on the subject? Here is what he has to say.
How To Sell More Books Through Your Amazon Links
In today’s break-neck, 24-hour news cycle culture, most people find it hard to decide what to pay attention to. So when someone elects to browse books online instead of their Facebook timeline or Twitter feed, it is a minor miracle. When someone chooses to consider your book, that’s a full-fledged, water-to-wine miracle (no matter your literary clout), which makes every interaction with potential readers a rather holy experience.
So whether you have an all-time best selling series or you are just breaking on to the scene as an independent author, making the most of each fan interaction is crucial.
Your email footer, your Twitter bio, your website, and any other outward facing medium you may have, has to take full advantage of your user’s attention. One detail that is far too often overlooked however, is the experience you offer your users via the Amazon links you provide for purchasing your book.
There are good experiences and there are bad experiences. Each experience can boil down to one simple thing: your “Purchase” links.
Bad Experiences
When you use raw Amazon.com URLs that send every person to your book in the U.S. Amazon storefront, that’s a bad experience for your users.
Here’s why.
You may know that Amazon has 13 storefronts globally. The result of these multiple storefronts (combined with the various devices people use to access them) is a phenomena known as the “purchasing gap”. This purchasing gap is defined as the barriers between potential customers and the products you promote (like your book) that arise from the ever-increasing complexity of the online marketplace, and it’s where potential sales go to die.
If you or your book has earned any international esteem, you have fans overseas that would rather not shop in the US Amazon storefront (Amazon.com) for a few reasons:
- They may not be able to purchase items with a foreign bank account
- They may have to wait abnormally long for shipping
- They may have to pay for international shipping
- They may not even understand the language
Luckily, there’s a way to bridge that purchasing gap and fight that bad experience.
Good Experiences
Good user experiences mean a higher chance of a sale, and are provided by intelligent (or even Genius) links. These links are able to tell where in the world someone is when they click your link, and then send them to your book in their local Amazon storefront.
There are a few tools for converting your links into “global” links, but I’ll tell you about the best one: GeoRiot.com.
This platform allows you to take the URL for your book (or any book) on Amazon and turn it into an intelligent global link that translates each click and sends it to that book in the user’s local Amazon storefront.
GeoRiot also incorporates your Amazon Associates parameters for each country (because the Associate’s program is country specific too), and makes sure you get any referral commissions you’re owed for each purchase. Yes, even if it’s your own book.
By replacing raw Amazon links with intelligent links you can be sure that every fan is sent to your book in the storefront that best suits them. This leads to happier fans and, often, seriously increased sales numbers.
Hallelujah.
Don’t forget that for a few more days, The Power of Six will be on sale. Read seven short sci-fi stories for only 99c!
The Story Reading Ape said:
Hi Nicholas – I’m so happy to see this article – it explains the subject of GLOBAL sale much better than me in my article at: http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2014/07/18/authors-a-little-advice-that-will-increase-your-book-promotions-reach/
AND it gives some links for authors to get third party Global Links for their Amazon books.
THANK YOU! 😀
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
That’s so sweet of you, thanks! 🙂
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The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog….. An Author Promotions Enterprise! and commented:
I’m so happy to see this article – it explains the subject of GLOBAL sale much better than me in my article at: http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2014/07/18/authors-a-little-advice-that-will-increase-your-book-promotions-reach/
AND it gives some links for authors to get third party Global Links for their Amazon books.
THANK YOU Nicholas and Ryan! 😀
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you so much! 🙂
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geraldine said:
Reblogged this on geraldineevansbooks and commented:
Excellent article!
If you want to put global links in your posts but don’t want to lose your Associates’ income, this is the way to go. The best of both worlds. I’m definitely going to give it a go.
With thanks to thestoryreadingape and Nicolas Rossis (originator).
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It’s the affiliate support that sold me! 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
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First Night Design said:
Exactly what I needed to know for my Amazon Associate links and eventually, I hope, for my own books. Much thanks for sharing.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I know, it’s the affiliate support that sold me, too! 🙂
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Elizabeth Melton Parsons said:
Interesting article for those worried about losing a sale. I also think it’s a good thing to make buying as easy and convenient as possible for readers. I disagree in part though, because I give readers more credit than that. I believe readers are savvy enough to type an author’s name into the search box at their version of Amazon and find the book they want.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I agree. I suspect you may lose some of the more spontaneous shoppers, though. As to how many these may be, I guess it’s anyone’s guess! 🙂
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danniehill said:
Always great info from you, Nick! Thanks
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you! 🙂
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Nat Russo said:
This is amazing! No…seriously…my mind is blown!
I’ve been doing this wrong all along. The only link I send out takes potential readers to the U.S. store front!
Thanks so much for posting this, Nicholas. I’m going to be checking out georiot later today, and I’m going to start converting my links.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Me too! 😀
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Laine Jensen said:
Thank you for this very interesting and valuable post. I would never have imagined that universal Amazon links were not universal.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
My jaw dropped, too! 🙂
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theowllady said:
Thank you so very much Nicholas! This is amazing! Happy to share! @v@ ❤
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I love how sharing you are, thanks Viv! 🙂
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GeoRiot said:
Big thanks to Nicholas for working with us to put this post together.
We love seeing such excitement in the comments!
If anyone has any further questions regarding global Amazon links, using GeoRiot, or even a good name for your new puppy, feel free to email us at contact@georiot.com. We are always happy to answer questions and hear feedback.
Cheers!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks, Ryan! As you can see, everyone appreciated the informative post you pulled together for us. 🙂
Perhaps in the future you can do a follow-up with further info from the world of Amazon links.
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M T McGuire said:
Wow. Mine are on book linker but the affiliate links thing sounds handy. I have to set myself up for ca and au.
Thanks for the heads up.
Cheers
MTM
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I know, I have to to do it too! 🙂
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D.G.Kaye said:
Thanks Nicholas for reading and reposting my post on the same issue. 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Of course! After all, it was the inspiration behind mine 🙂
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D.G.Kaye said:
Always happy to inspire! 🙂 Love your blog!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks, likewise! 🙂
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marianallanos said:
Thank you so much for this!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Glad you found it useful! 🙂
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Gina said:
Thank you, Nicholas and Ryan. Anything I can do to make shopping easier for my readers is golden.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks! Glad you found the post useful! 🙂
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M. C. Dulac said:
This is fast becoming my favourite blog. I’ve just followed the link to your short stories – I’m a spontaneous shopper 😉
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Aaaand you just became my favorite person in the world. Thank you! 😀
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Effrosyni Moschoudi said:
I am sold! Used booklinker.net in the past but not too happy with it. I’ll give this one a try and great to know it intergrates the Amazon Affiliates parameters. Thank you for this very handy post, indeed!
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cav12 said:
Excellent tip! Must go and change my links. Thanks Nicholas 😀
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Me too! 😀
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profesorbaker said:
Reblogged this on Profesorbaker's Worldwide English Blog and commented:
.@Georiot: Sell More Books Through Amazon Links http://wp.me/p4h3m4-y4 #IndieAuthor #IARTG
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D.E. Haggerty said:
When I’m on amazon.com it automatically asks me if I want to shop in my ‘home’ store of amazon.de. I click yes and it takes me to the book page on amazon.de.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I wonder if that’s the case with everyone. If so, the only benefit for having a booklinker account is the fancy name (such as author.to/rossis or mybook.to/pearseus)
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D.E. Haggerty said:
I think if you have a kindle registered with amazon, amazon.com will automatically direct you to whichever store your kindle is registered with. If you don’t have a kindle registered with amazon, I’m not sure.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks for that! I’ll see if I can dig up some more info 🙂
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D.E. Haggerty said:
Let us know please!
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