Smartlinks for Smashwords

How To Improve Your Speculative Fiction Openings, by Robert Qualkinbush
Anthopology 101: Reflections, Inspections and Dissections of SF Anthologies, by Bud Webster
Staying Alive - A Writer
Space Travel - A Science Fiction Writer
The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells, by Ben Bova

[More tools for writers from ReAnimus Press]

We at ReAnimus Press think Smashwords is great, and use it to distribute the ebooks we produce for our authors. We also think "Other books by this author" or "If you liked this then you'll also like..." promotional links inside ebooks to an author's other ebooks are helpful to the author and reader alike.

A problem arises, however, in that Apple requires links to other books point to the ibooks store—while links in an ebook a reader gets from the Smashwords site should point to ebooks on the Smashwords site. (And from B&N to B&N, Kobo to Kobo, etc.) Uh oh... A link can't point to two or more places at once... Nor does Apple allow an author to list other stores, so you can't say, "Click -here- for iBooks, -here- for Amazon", etc. The only "solution" has been not to have links to one's other books at all.

Until now: With Smartlinks, your links in a Smashwords ebook will land on the Apple ibooks sales page for that book when clicked from within ibooks— and will land on the bn.com page for that book when clicked from a Nook, Kobo from Kobo, and so on; and otherwise will go to the Smashwords sales page for that book. Problem solved!

We figured out how to do this, and wanted to share it as a free service to our fellow Smashwords authors.

It's easy to use: Simply enter the ID numbers for the various channels below. To add/update information: just enter the email/password/smashwordsID# and the new/updated other data items.


1. Authentication data:

    Your email address:

    Password: (For this site only, not your Smashwords password. To set your password the first time, just enter one)

2. Smashwords data:

    Smashword's book ID#: (required)

    ISBN# Smashwords is using: (required; used by Apple, Kobo, others)

3. Optional: Book information (helpful if an ID# is missing):

    Author:

    Title:

4. Optional: Enter channel specific ID#s for the other channels you wish the smartlink to work for. This is for channels who don't use the Smashwords ISBN# -or- if you've uploaded a non-Smashwords version to a channel. (You may have to come back to enter these ID#s after these channels receive the title from Smashwords.)

    Amazon ID#: (only needed if you uploaded directly to them)

    Barnes & Noble ID#: (always needed regardless how it got to B&N)

    Apple ID#: (only needed if you uploaded directly to them)

5. Save the data & generate smart link:

(And if you need any other help with your ebook production, formatting, covers, scanning, OCRing, proofreading, etc., please contact us. It's what we do, and we'd be glad to help you.)

Fragments of America, by Norman SpinradAlpha 7, by Robert SilverbergThe Eye in the Stone, by Allen L. WoldPredators and Other Stories, by Edward BryantThe Juror, by Harvey JacobsXPERTS: The Telekinetic, by Hermann Maurer with John BarnesThe Science Fiction Novel, by Basil Davenport, Robert A. Heinlein, C. M. Kornbluth, Alfred Bester, and Robert BlochAlleymanderous and Other Magical Realities, by Bruce TaylorBobbyKaheesh, by Jerry SohlBells of the Kingdom, by Leona WisokerHave Trenchcoat--Will Travel and Others, by E. E. Doc Smith