If you’ve read my last post, you’ll be aware I recently fell foul of my own decision to publish (via the aggregator, Draft2Digital) my initial novels to Apple as a separate entity, rather than using the same master file for all platforms.
This was a result of Apple’s strict policy of no links in your book that lead to any competitors.
My main file had in it’s back matter:
- A ‘thank you for reading and please leave a review’ request, with direct links to the UK and US Amazon pages where readers can leave their reviews without having to go hunt for the right page. Okay, so a small number of people buy the books on other platforms (such as Kobo, and Barnes & Noble), and won’t use the Amazon links, but the vast majority of purchases are on Amazon. This, however, is anathema to Apple, and they rejected this version of the book.
- Covers and blurbs for my other books, with separate links to each of the retailers. Also not acceptable to Apple.
- My author biography, with links to my social media sites, including my Amazon Author page – you’ve guessed it: not acceptable!
The reason behind putting all these links in, is that research shows that readers are far more likely to buy a product if you give them a one-click link. The more times they have to click (so the more pages they have to go through), or, heaven-forbid, you expect them to find the pages themselves, the less likely you are to make a sale.
I now have 4 novels with separate files: one for Apple, and one for everyone else. However, when I uploaded my most recent, it was rejected by Kobo for the same reason!
I have now given in. I don’t want to go to the bother of creating different files for each platform , so I edited the back matter of THE PRINCE’S HEIR to include the universal link to Books2Read. People will now be taken there, where they can click on the retailer of their choice in the hopes their desire to buy the next book will be strong enough to overcome the extra page/click step.
I have also removed the review links – which is a great shame – and the link to my Amazon Author page. That did the trick, and this book has been accepted by all the retailers.
Phew!
Next, I plan on querying D2D to see if I can amalgamate my other books, each into a single version, without causing problems with Apple. Assuming I can do so, I will need to unpublish the version already on Apple, and lose the current ratings, but as they are lower there than elsewhere, perhaps that’s for the best!
Authors, what do you include in your backmatter? Have you had any issues with competitor links, or do you not put links in at all?
deborahjay 
Wow, no wonder I dread publishing, what a pain with all those links accepted and not accepted by different platforms. Makes our job more intense. I admire your tenacity Deb, especially with publishing with different platforms. Hugs xx
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Do you only publish to Amazon, Deb?
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Yes, as of this far. 😦
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Ah, well then, if you want to try going wide you can use my experience!
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I’m taking it all in girl! 🙂
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😁
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My fiction publishes only to Amazon so that works, but my non-fic publishes to many different places. It was crazy trying to keep up with where links were allowed and which. And my non-fic requires about a yearly update. That got ridiculous. I’ve mostly removed links, but definitely think it hurt sales. That’s when I wish I was traditionally published. Someone else could make sure all those details were done right.
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Ah, but Jacqui they wouldn’t; they’d send it back to you every year to update!
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You’re kidding–right? I didn’t know that. Hunh.
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Every time one of mine goes to reprint, they send it to me to update. I would guess your publisher might well do the same?
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Yet more reasons why I’ve never been brave enough to branch out from Amazon. 😲 I do want to explore that entire concept in the months ahead, but we’ll see how I do with all the other projects we’ve got going on right now. Rest assured, though, I’ll be saving the link to this post (along with several of your other posts) for reference when the time comes. Thanks again, Debby!
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Cheers Marcia 😀
I’m in the process right now of delisting the old Apple book and republishing a single book without any competitor links. It’ll mean I lose the current ratings, but there are only a handful and they aren’t as good as anywhere Amazon or B&N ratings, so I’m okay with starting from scratch!
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I used to have Amazon links, Deborah, and when I went broad, I ran into the same problem and deleted them all. I need to get set up on Books2Read and then do updates on all my books across all platforms. UGH! It must be done though. Thanks for the nudge!
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Lol, as I went through my D2D books, I discovered many things that needed updating, not least my own website!
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It’s hard to keep up with it all, isn’t it? I need to get going on this. 🙂
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Just one more time suck, but it has to be done.
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I just started. It’s a slow process. Sigh.
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I keep thinking I’m done, and then finding I’m not 🙄
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