How many book stores is your site linked to?

When you add purchasing links to the books on your website, which sites are you linking to? 



Amazon is easy to link to and one of the top players when it comes to selling online but they are not the only online retailer we should be supporting. Rumors have been going around that Barnes and Noble may choose to not carry your book if you only link to Amazon. Whether this is true or not, it does raise a valid issue.

As an author you have worked hard to get your book published and the fact that multiple sites make it available to the public can only be a good thing. If we want these other bookstores, both physical and online to survive in this business we really should be doing our bit to support them like they are supporting us.

If more writers linked their work to the so-called smaller retailers they might just find that they sell more books. After all most people like to be able to choose where to buy from and don't necessarily want it to be from the internet giant.

I'm by no means against Amazon. I thank them for listing my own books and have placed links to them on my own website and also promote those links as part of my marketing. What I am saying though is that we should give equal importance to the alternatives.

My books are available in various formats so I make sure I promote links to Barnes and Noble for nook buyers, ibookstore for ipad and smartphone readers etc...

What buying links do you include on your website? Do you show multiple purchasing options for each book?

3 Comments

  1. Virginia Lori Jennings10 January 2012 at 21:34

    While I was surprised to hear that rumor about Barnes and Noble... I too, think it is best to post multiple stores from which to buy your books. Some stores have cheaper prices or cheaper shipping options. Last time I checked, Barnes and Noble holds the cheapest price on my book (even under my publisher). I have also been known to post beside the link the listed prices and highlight which one is cheaper.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jo Linsdell11 January 2012 at 12:47

    The rumor has been going around for a while so it's probably a fake. Barnes and Noble almost certainly have better things to do with their time than controlling the links individual authors post on their sites. It does make you think though.

    Highlighting the cheapest option is a nice way to save your customer time and thanks the seller at the same time.

    My own books are listed in a lot of places. Every time I do a general search on Google or Yahoo new sites pop up that I wasn't aware of. That being said I've also come across my book on sale for ridiculously huge amounts of money. I'm the first person to want my books to be valued but selling them for hundreds of pounds is just over doing it ;) makes me wonder if they actually manage to sell copies at those kind of prices. My books are all POD so there is nothing special about the copies they're trying to sell to make them more valuable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Book publishing5 June 2012 at 09:29

    Barnes and Noble is a great platform for books...

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you. So feel free to comment, but keep in mind the basics of blog etiquette — no spam, no profanity, no slander, etc.

Thanks for being an active part of the Writers and Authors community.