You have one book, five stores, a dozen Amazon countries, and you’re pasting a different set of links into every post. Then somebody asks where they can buy it in the UK.
A universal book link gives you one URL that gets readers to the right store or country, either automatically or through a page of store choices.
For Amazon-only books, use Booklinker. For books sold wide, use Books2Read. If you want a page that shows all your books, that’s what I built 1link.st for.
One link gets readers to your book. The cover sells it.
Before you share your link everywhere, make sure your cover is doing its job. My six free Microsoft Word cover templates and seven video lessons walk you through genre, images and fonts.
What is a universal book link?
There are two different things people mean when they say universal book link, and confusing them makes choosing a tool unnecessarily difficult.
A geo-redirect link sends readers to the appropriate country storefront automatically. Somebody clicks your Amazon link in the UK and gets the UK store, instead of the American one. They don’t have to figure out why you’ve sent them somewhere they don’t normally shop.
A landing page gives readers a choice. Your book is on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Google Play; instead of putting all those links into your newsletter (and making the whole thing look like the bottom of a receipt), you share one page with the store buttons.
Those solve different problems.
UK readers sent to amazon.com often just leave. Readers who buy from Apple Books need an Apple Books option. Getting everybody to the same URL doesn’t help much if that URL still sends them somewhere useless.
There’s also a longer universal book link article on Creativindie, but the first decision is simple: do you need to send someone straight to a store, or let them choose?
Booklinker: the universal Amazon link
If you searched for “book linker,” you probably want Booklinker. It’s free and localizes Amazon links, so readers get sent to the appropriate Amazon storefront.
That’s the practical answer for an author whose book is only on Amazon. You can share a universal Amazon book link instead of expecting readers to find the same title again on their own country’s site.
But it’s Amazon only.
Booklinker won’t give your Kobo readers a Kobo option or your Apple Books readers an Apple option. If you publish wide, an Amazon universal link only handles the Amazon part. Don’t make your other readers dig through your website to find the store they actually use.
Books2Read universal link
Books2Read is the free universal link tool from Draft2Digital. It gives your book one page with links to the major stores, so readers can choose where to buy.
This is the obvious starting point if you’re wide (selling through stores beyond Amazon). Books distributed through Draft2Digital get added automatically, which saves you some of the work of gathering everything together.
Say you write cozy mysteries and somebody shares your new release with a friend. You don’t know which store that friend uses. A Books2Read universal link lets them pick, without turning the recommendation into a conversation about ebook retailers.
If you’re looking for a universal Apple book link because Apple Books is one of several stores you sell through, this is a sensible option. Keep the Apple Books choice visible alongside the others. The point is to make buying easy for the reader, even if their favorite store isn’t yours.
Geniuslink
Geniuslink offers geolocalization, click analytics and retargeting. It’s paid and more technical, aimed at people who need more control over their marketing.
For authors running ads, those features can matter. Knowing where clicks are coming from gives you something to examine when a campaign isn’t doing what you expected.
But don’t pay for a more complicated tool just because it has more stuff.
If your immediate problem is sharing a book with readers in different countries, start there. Analytics are useful when you have a question they can answer; otherwise you’re giving yourself another dashboard to stare at instead of fixing the thing that’s actually wrong.
Linktree and other link-in-bio pages
Linktree is a general link page. You can put your website and book links together so people have one place to start.
That makes sense when the link in your profile needs to do several jobs. Somebody might want your latest book, while somebody else wants your website.
But a general link-in-bio page doesn’t automatically localize your store links. Adding an amazon.com button still gives you an amazon.com button. The page gathers links together; it doesn’t fix where those links go.
Also, don’t give every link equal importance. If you’re promoting a particular book, make that book easy to find. A reader shouldn’t have to search past every social account you’ve ever opened before they can buy it.
1link.st: my own book link page
I made 1link.st because general link-in-bio tools aren’t built for books. It’s a page for showing your books and giving readers somewhere useful to go from your profile.
You create a free account, add your books and links, and share one URL. The free plan includes one page, colors and style options, a banner image, space to showcase your books, and social and custom links.
The free account is enough to get your page started. Premium is US$3.99/month with the launch deal, normally $6.99, for up to 10 pages.
It’s a PAGE. It doesn’t automatically redirect readers to their local Amazon store.
Pair it with Booklinker or Books2Read links for the store buttons when you want localization or store choices. Then your author page can show the books, and the links underneath can handle where readers buy them.
Keep the colors and banner from fighting with your covers. The books are what people came to see.
What is the best universal link solution?
Choose according to where the reader needs to end up:
- Amazon only: Booklinker. It’s free and handles the country storefront problem.
- One book sold wide: Books2Read. Give readers the store choices on one page.
- Running ads and need geolocalization, click analytics and retargeting: look at Geniuslink. Have a reason for the paid features before taking on the extra setup.
- Several books to show from your author profile: 1link.st, with Booklinker or Books2Read links underneath as needed. You can start with the free page.
- A general collection of links: Linktree can do that.
Don’t spend a week comparing universal link generators when all you need is a working Amazon link. Set it up, click it, and check the destination. For a store choice page, check every button and make sure it goes to the correct book.
Make the link worth clicking
The link gets readers to the store. The cover sells the book. If it looks like crap or suggests the wrong genre, a better URL won’t fix it.
Use my free 3D book mockup tool to turn your flat cover into a book image for your link page or social posts. Check the cover itself with Does my book cover suck?, the instant AI cover critique tool.
If you’re still working on the design, get my six free Microsoft Word cover templates and seven free video lessons for help with genre research, images and fonts.
