Draft2Digital Universal Book Store Links Review

3.67/5 (3)

Review Draft2Digital Universal Book Store Links

With one Draft2Digital link readers can buy your ebook from their preferred bookstore

Where do your readers buy your ebooks? Are you missing out on potential book sales?

Book buy links have always been a problem. Which store do you choose to add to your promotions, or do you add a long confusing list?

Most choose Amazon links of course, but this is not ideal if your ebook is available from a number of online ebook retailers.

Draft2Digital offers authors and publishers a way to overcome these problems with its Universal Link, which gathers all bookstore buying options into one small link. The service runs from Draft2digital’s reader focused site, Books2Read.

Even if you are not publishing on Draft2Digital, you can set up Universal Book Links by registering for a free account on Books2Read.

Another great feature is that you can add affiliate links.

Setting up a link is very easy. Copy and paste your individual store links and start a scan. If you publish on Draft2Digital, many of your stores will already be set and you will only probably need to add your Amazon links.

 

Setting up Draft2Digital Universal book links

Draft2digital bookstore links

Once your stores are locked in, return to your book list to find your book’s Universal link.

Draft2Digital Universal links

Now all you need to do is copy your new Universal Link to your book promotion pages, blog posts or promotional emails. When the link is first clicked by a user, it will give an option to set their favourite bookstore.

Draft2Digital Universal links stores

Once a user makes a selection or chooses not to set a favourite store, the buying choices appear.

Draft2Digital all book store links

To see how a Universal Link works in real-time, you can click on a link I created, books2read.com/u/mgR9q3 or on the image above.

Of course, it is better to embed your book buy link into text or image.

Books2Read Universal links are very simple to create and use, and offer a solution to a longstanding problem when your book is available from a list of retailers.

However, in my testing, I came across a couple of small issues that will hopefully be resolved in the near future.

One is a problem with the Safari browser on Apple laptops and desktops running OS El Capitan. Short links have been a problem on Safari for some time, especially Twitter short links, as this article from OSXDaily explains. I tried to use Universal links on two MacBook Air laptops, and Safari would not open the store links.  Update: This problem is now resolved.

In all other browsers on my MacBook Air, including Chrome, Opera and Firefox, the links worked fine. On iOS, however, on iPhones and iPads, Safari opens the links without a problem. This is definitely an Apple issue, so I can’t say there is anything that can be done by Draft2Digital to fix the problem, other than wait for Apple to update Safari.

The only other small issue I found was with affiliate links. I tried to add my Amazon Associates code to my links, but there was no way to save. Update: This problem is now resolved.

All in all, though, Universal book links are exactly what the doctor ordered for authors and self-publishers.

To find out more, read the Universal Book Links User Guide.

If you want to know more about self -publishing with Draft2Digital, read my full comparison review between Smashwords and Draft2Digital.

 

Update: Books2Read Universal links now work perfectly on Safari browsers and affiliate links can be saved.

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Derek Haines

Derek Haines is an Australian author, living in Switzerland.

3 thoughts on “Draft2Digital Universal Book Store Links Review

  • Just wanted to let you know that we (D2D) have fixed the issue with saving your Amazon Affiliate codes. Thanks for pointing that out! And I’m glad you’re digging the service.

    Reply
    • Thanks, Kevin. I still have one issue with Universal Links on desktop Safari not opening. Is this being looked at?

      Reply
  • OH, if you are not active on business portals like IndiaBizClub.
    then god be your saviour

    Reply

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