How to Add an Instant Preview of your Book to your Site

Tags

affiliate network, Amazon, custom code, embed, instant preview, Kindle

In case you’ve missed the exciting news, Amazon has now made possible to embed book previews on sites (only self-hosted ones) and apps.

Kindle instant previews are similar to the “Look Inside” feature that Amazon offers on their website that lets customers preview samples of most books.

Here’s how it works:

If you click the embed option (see image above), you get a custom code that you then paste into your page. This works on your blog, website, forum, or even an app.

The book preview widgets are available in custom sizes, and come with a couple of settings, like the option to hide the buy button, open the preview in a new window, and even add an Amazon affiliate ID.

As this is not a self-hosted blog, you can see an example of the new book preview feature in action on my nicholasrossis.me one. Note the option to go full screen, the sample percentage indicator, and the option to read using a Kindle app. If you click on the widget you can increase and decrease font size. You can also quickly turn pages by hovering the mouse over the widget and using the mouse wheel.

Keep in mind that Amazon has been making the feature available only gradually. If it’s not yet available for your book, just check again every few weeks, until it is. Read more on Amazon’s site and the e-book reader blog.