by | September 9, 2015 · 5:59 am
↓ Jump to Comments

Quick How-To: adding a link to Amazon from your WordPress.com blog

You may have noticed that at the top of this blog’s right-hand sidebar there’s now a pic of the Shizzle, Inc cover with an invitation to download. If you click on it, it will take you straight to Amazon Kindle (the American one).

You may also wonder why I haven’t done it to begin with, as soon as the novel was published. The answer is, I couldn’t. In my naivete, I assumed that there would be an easy-to-use widget like the one WordPress.com has for Goodreads, but there isn’t one. I don’t know why. Maybe WordPress and Amazon have had a falling out, Like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. All I know is that setting up this little link was a pain.

I won’t take you through everything that I had to go through – suffices to say that there’s A LOT of useless, outdated advice out there. In summary, THIS WILL NOT WORK:

  • Trying to insert HTML code, as per Kindle own instructions. This is probably meant for WordPress.org websites.
  • Trying to use Text Widget.
  • Trying to use any other widget, like Goodreads, and posting a url somewhere. (Ok, so it was a stupid idea, but innovative!)
  • Crying.

JUST DO THIS:

1.  Add an image of your cover to your media library (see Media in Admin sidebar).

2.  Add an Image Widget (go to Appearance – Widgets in Admin sidebar). The dialog box will look like this:

Capture of image widget

3.  Put a widget title in, if desired. I put in “Download Shizzle, Inc.

4. Now go back to your media library, find your cover image and double-click on it. You will see this:

Capture of image in image library

See the box in the top right corner? Copy THAT url (ignore the permalink or the “shortlink”).

5. Paste the url in your Image Widget.

6. Save and move the widget up in your sidebar (if desired).

7. Go back to your website and admire the results!

Hope this has helped or will help you in the future. It will certainly help me when I get to post my second novel, cause I’m guaranteed to forget it all by then.

51 Comments

Filed under Self-publishing and marketing

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

51 responses to “Quick How-To: adding a link to Amazon from your WordPress.com blog”

  2. circumspect41
    September 9, 2015 at 6:09 am

    Thanks for that!!! I was putting in a hyperlink per instructions and I finally figured out the link wasn’t working. I researched and could not find an actual true answer that worked!! Thanks so much!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Patricia Robertson
    September 9, 2015 at 6:22 am

    Thanks – always appreciate wordpress.com tips!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. @SylviaHubbard1
    September 9, 2015 at 7:19 am

    Reblogged this on How To Ebook and commented:
    Great How to article! Must share

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Pingback: Quick How-To: adding a link to Amazon from your WordPress.com blog | The Ana'Gia Wright Way

  7. On Becoming a Lemonade Maker
    September 9, 2015 at 8:23 am

    Thank you so much for posting this! I followed your directions, and they worked perfectly! I now have my book link, a link for my art and photos, as well as follow me buttons for various social media! I was able to rearrange the order of appearance on the sidebar, and I’m thrilled with the results! Thank you! I’m going to re-blog this to help people!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. On Becoming a Lemonade Maker
    September 9, 2015 at 8:25 am

    Reblogged this on On Becoming a Lemonade Maker and commented:
    Thank you so much for Ana posting this! I followed your directions, and they worked perfectly! I now have my book link, a link for my art and photos, as well as follow me buttons for various social media! I was able to rearrange the order of appearance on the sidebar, and I’m thrilled with the results! Thank you! I’m re-blogging this to help more people!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. peterwetherill
    September 9, 2015 at 8:50 am

    Thanks Ana! I just added a picture link to my first book to my page. I hope you don’t mind if I copy your instructions and post them to my next entry. I will give you credit, and it will help me remember for my next book release!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Pingback: Quick How-To: adding a link to Amazon from your WordPress.com blog « Peter Chase Wetherill

  11. johnpbaur
    September 9, 2015 at 10:17 am

    Thank you. I had given up on the image link and was making do with links in the text. I will try this. Given my level of technical expertise, sholdn’t take more than a week. (Kidding – I think)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. dottiedaniels
    September 9, 2015 at 3:24 pm

    Thank you for this valuable tidbit! I think they need a WordPress University, personally for all of this stuff… lol. 🙂
    Seriously.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. Pingback: Ever Felt Dumb and Motivated at the Same Time? | The Write Perspective

  14. nickgreensreviews
    September 10, 2015 at 12:41 am

    Thank you for this! I always put a “album of the month” in my widgets, and link to my review (if I’ve done it) so that if my readers click on they can read the review on my chosen album of the month.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  16. The Opening Sentence
    September 10, 2015 at 5:22 am

    I just double checked the text widget method and it works for me. I’ve put a book cover in a sidebar and linked it to the book’s page on Amazon. When you click save in the text widget box make sure it saves with the HTML tags still in place. (Sometimes they mysteriously disappear and you have to save it again.

    Another tip is when you use the Amazon URL for your book you can use a very short URL like amazon.com/dp/fjdhfkjdhkdfhfk (where jdjdfdfjdd is the string of numbers and letters for your book) and then copy and paste that address changing com for .co.uk and .fr or .ca for all the international Amazon websites.

    Your book would be:
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014XFQPZ6 for the US
    http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B014XFQPZ6 for Canada
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B014XFQPZ6 for Britain
    http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B014XFQPZ6 for France etc

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  17. Glynis Jolly
    September 10, 2015 at 11:13 am

    If you’ll give me permission, I’ll promote your book on my blog. Oh, and I’ll need to download a copy of the cover you have in this post too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Ana Spoke
      September 10, 2015 at 11:22 am

      Oh, Glynis, I would love for you to do that! Are you able to download the jpeg? I’m about to post a request for people to host my blog tour, so if you’re interested in doing an interview or a guest blog, please let me know!

      Like

      Reply
  18. Laurel Wanrow
    September 11, 2015 at 7:35 am

    Thank you! I tried to figure this out months ago for my debut release and gave up. Today, I gave it another go and succeeded!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. Pingback: Learning how to add a link using my book cover | Laurel Wanrow

  20. milesmv81writes
    October 2, 2015 at 1:29 am

    Thank you so much!! I love your blog!! Thanks so much!!!

    Like

    Reply

  21. Pingback: Even more fun with WordPress widgets: how to create an Amazon affiliate link and make a ton of cents! | AnaSpoke.com

  22. Pingback: How to make a “floaty” banner in WordPress.com | AnaSpoke.com

  23. Pingback: Quick How-To: adding a link to Amazon from your WordPress.com blog – Rebecca Chaney

  24. Pingback: How to make Goodreads giveaway widget work on WordPress.com | AnaSpoke.com

  25. susanjanejones
    February 15, 2016 at 3:45 am

    Thanks, Ana, I was struggling on how to do this, you’re ace.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  26. VanessaxGrace
    February 26, 2016 at 6:55 am

    Thanks, Ana. You answered the question before I knew to ask it!

    ~Vanessa

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  28. Pingback: Follow me on BookBub for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift certificate! | Ana Spoke, author

  29. Becky B
    February 1, 2017 at 2:30 am

    Absolutely invaluable advice! Thank you for posting this.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Ana Spoke Cancel reply