A year ago I told you about GeoRiot, a service which creates universal Amazon and iTunes links. These universal links detect where visitors live and redirect them to their own national Amazon store. For example, a customer clicking on the link in the US will automatically get directed to Amazon.com and a customer in England will see the equivalent Amazon.co.uk page.
Using these universal links when promoting an e-book online gives both a professional image and a smoother customer journey in two ways:
- There is no need to list different Amazon links for different countries
- The customer always lands on the Amazon page where he or she can make an immediate purchase, without having to re-route themselves from Amazon.co.uk to Amazon.com or vice versa.
When GeoRiot first started it was essentially a free service, funded by taking a small percentage of Amazon affiliate earnings. However recently GeoRiot introduced a charge. The first 1,000 clicks per month are free and then the cost is $10 per 10,000 clicks. This charge doesn’t affect the very small user (I haven’t yet paid anything) but all users have to give their credit card details to GeoRiot.
But there is now an alternative which is always free and may suit indie authors better. BookLinker is also managed by GeoRiot but directed specifically at indie authors using Amazon (it will not convert iTunes links). Like GeoRiot, BookLinker provides statistics so that you can see how many clicks you are getting and from where in the world. BookLinker is more basic than GeoRiot but, for most writers, will do the job just as well. I intend to move over to it in the near future.
If you are an Amazon affiliate, both GeoRiot and BookLinker will allow you to include your affiliate code in the links.
There is more useful information about using BookLinker on Nick Daws’ blog, Entrepreneur Writer.
My original post, explaining how universal Amazon links work, is here.
Sally Jenkins 
#1 by Patsy on May 12, 2015 - 7:22 pm
Thanks, DSally – I’ll have a look at that.
#2 by Patsy on May 12, 2015 - 7:37 pm
I’ve just tried, but it keeps telling me my URLs are invalid!
#3 by Sally Jenkins on May 13, 2015 - 6:35 pm
Oh dear. Just tried & it worked for me, it produced getBook.at/Museum from http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00L2X8O66/
I chose the domain (getBookat) from a selection & then entered Museum as the link name.
#4 by susanjanejones on May 13, 2015 - 5:36 pm
That sounds good, but it’s flown right across my head, sorry, Sally. The fact that I’ve got any e.books at all, and people have bought some of them amazes me. Maybe if I read over it a few more times it might make sense to me. Great post.
#5 by Sally Jenkins on May 13, 2015 - 6:37 pm
Thanks, Susan.
#6 by Patsy on May 14, 2015 - 10:04 am
All sorted now! I emailed them to say I was having trouble and they responded very quickly and where very helpful.
#7 by Patsy on May 14, 2015 - 10:06 am
Suzy, it’s because there are lots of versions of Amazon. If you put a link up it will just be for one (probably the UK one) If someone from another country clicks on it they won’t be able to buy the book, they’ll have to find it on their own version of Amazon. They might do that, but they might not bother or they might start to and get distracted and never get round to it.
#8 by Sally Jenkins on May 14, 2015 - 12:20 pm
Thanks for explaining, Patsy! And glad your problem with the links is all sorted.
#9 by susanjanejones on May 14, 2015 - 5:57 pm
Thanks, Patsy and Sally. I get it, and will investigate.
#10 by Nick Daws (@nickdaws) on May 18, 2015 - 7:21 am
Thanks for the mention for my new Entrepreneur Writer blog, Sally. I would just like to confirm that the people at GeoRiot/BookLinker are very helpful, and always go the extra mile to help anyone who may be having problems using their services. If you’re an Amazon author (and/or affiliate) using a service like this to promote your books is a no-brainer, in my opinion.
#11 by Sally Jenkins on May 18, 2015 - 4:37 pm
I agree with your comment about helpfulness, Nick. When I had cause to email Georiot they replied very promptly.