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!
Excellent tip! Must go and change my links. Thanks Nicholas 😀
Me too! 😀
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!
This is fast becoming my favourite blog. I’ve just followed the link to your short stories – I’m a spontaneous shopper 😉
Aaaand you just became my favorite person in the world. Thank you! 😀
Thank you, Nicholas and Ryan. Anything I can do to make shopping easier for my readers is golden.
Thanks! Glad you found the post useful! 🙂
Thank you so much for this!
Glad you found it useful! 🙂
Thanks Nicholas for reading and reposting my post on the same issue. 🙂
Of course! After all, it was the inspiration behind mine 🙂
Always happy to inspire! 🙂 Love your blog!
Thanks, likewise! 🙂
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
I know, I have to to do it too! 🙂
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!
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.
Thank you so very much Nicholas! This is amazing! Happy to share! @v@ <3
I love how sharing you are, thanks Viv! 🙂
Thank you for this very interesting and valuable post. I would never have imagined that universal Amazon links were not universal.
My jaw dropped, too! 🙂
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.
Me too! 😀
Always great info from you, Nick! Thanks
Thank you! 🙂
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.
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! 🙂
Exactly what I needed to know for my Amazon Associate links and eventually, I hope, for my own books. Much thanks for sharing.
I know, it’s the affiliate support that sold me, too! 🙂
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).
It’s the affiliate support that sold me! 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
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: https://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! 😀
Thank you so much! 🙂
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: https://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! 😀
That’s so sweet of you, thanks! 🙂