Author Topic: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books  (Read 6997 times)

Lysmata Debelius

[Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« on: October 03, 2018, 02:07:18 AM »
There are two stages to this. Stage 1: Getting the info you'll need to make the link to your book and its cover. Stage 2: inserting this into your signature.  I find it easier to do all of the following in Notepad, and then copy it across to the signature block, rather than trying to edit it in the signature block.

To get the book's URL

Open the Amazon page of the book you're linking to. Copy the URL of the book's page. Make sure you only copy the info up to the ASIN. So for example, if your book was "The Fellowship of the Ring", you'd copy only the black part of this URL and leave out the blue part: https://www.amazon.com/Fellowship-Ring-Lord-Rings-Book-ebook/dp/B002RI9THI/ref=sr_1_2_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538495929&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Lord+of+the+Rings+Kindle

To get the picture link

Right click on the book's image on Amazon and choose "copy image address". Depending on your browser, that might be phrased slightly differently. The Microsoft Edge browser doesn't seem to offer this option, so try another browser e.g. Chrome or Firefox  :icon_cool:

Create the signature

Go to Profile > Forum Profile. 
On that page, find the "Signature" field. This is where you'll be pasting the code.
Copy the following code (click on the "select" link to easily copy just the bit of code you need):


Code: [Select]


[url= ] [img] [/img] [/url]




Then paste the book url after that first "=" where the x's are below:



Code: [Select]


[url= xxxxxxx ][img] [/img] [/url]

 



Then paste the image address after the image height tag where the x's are below:



Code: [Select]


[url= booklink ][img] xxxxxxxxxx [/img] [/url]

 

But now the image will be too large!

There's a bit just before the final ".jp" in the image address that specifies the size. For example:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41W%2BRH8kJgL._SY346_.jpg

See that blue bit? That needs to be changed to

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41W%2BRH8kJgL._SL125_.jpg

Where the "125" stands for the height in pixels. Anything up to "150" should be fine.

Just copy and the bit below and paste it before the ".jpg" end of your image address.
Code: [Select]
._SL125_

Make sure that every opening square bracket has a closing square bracket. Make sure that you don't change the way the brackets are nested.

For more than one book, just rinse and repeat, add the next one after the first. Don't put carriage returns between the lines of code or they'll appear below one another in your signature. You can space them out by adding spaces between the last "url" tag of a book, and the first "url" tag of the next book. Like this:


Code: [Select]


[url=booklink1 ][img]imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2][img]imagelink2 [/img] [/url]   




If you want to add a bit more descriptive text, for example what genre you write do it outside the "url" brackets like so:




Code: [Select]
[url=booklink1 ][img] imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2][img]imagelink2 [/img] [/url]
Genre: Epic Fantasy   




To turn that extra bit of text into a link, for example to your blog or mailing list signup page, add url brackets like so:




Code: [Select]
[url=booklink1 ][img]imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2] [img]imagelink2 [/img] [/url]
[url= blog-url-goes-here ] Read my blog! [/url]   
Good luck! :)
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« Last Edit: November 17, 2018, 02:32:02 PM by Lysmata Debelius »
 

Lysmata Debelius

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2018, 02:11:40 AM »
...and if you want to add Tim's affiliate link to your signature, to contribute a bit of money to the forum each time somebody clicks one of your links, you can do it like this:

Add

?tag=cirofatl-20

after your book link. So the book link will look like this:


https://www.amazon.com/Fellowship-Ring-Lord-Rings-Book-ebook/dp/B002RI9THI/?tag=cirofatl-20
 

NathanBurrows

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2018, 02:39:15 AM »
Perfect, thank you for that.
 
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VanessaC

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2018, 07:23:31 PM »
A huge thank you for this - the instructions were really clear, easy to follow and so helpful, even for non-tech-savvy me!  Also nice to be able to include the affiliate code for the new site.

Got a fright when I clicked on one of my book covers and it enlarged itself, but they seem to have settled down now.   :icon_mrgreen:

Having a mini celebration now.

 :banana:  :dance:  :banana:

     



Genre: Fantasy
 
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Kay Inglis

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2018, 02:17:45 AM »
Very many thanks for this helpful post - I think I have my signature sorted.

Writer of Cosy Apocalypse Tales
 
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Lysmata Debelius

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2018, 03:41:57 PM »
A huge thank you for this - the instructions were really clear, easy to follow and so helpful, even for non-tech-savvy me!  Also nice to be able to include the affiliate code for the new site.

Got a fright when I clicked on one of my book covers and it enlarged itself, but they seem to have settled down now.   :icon_mrgreen:

Having a mini celebration now.

 :banana:  :dance:  :banana:

That resize thing does seem to be a problem. There's another way to specify image size. I've edited the OP with the better way - basically the important bit is this:

You need to paste ._SL125_ in the image address just before the ".jpg" like this:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41W%2BRH8kJgL._SL125_.jpg
« Last Edit: October 24, 2018, 03:49:32 PM by Lysmata Debelius »
 

TimothyEllis

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Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2018, 09:48:30 PM »
If you get the image location off the .com site, you get the whole code, but it's set to 375. So you need to edit it down to at least 150.
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Lysmata Debelius

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2018, 09:59:14 PM »
If you get the image location off the .com site, you get the whole code, but it's set to 375. So you need to edit it down to at least 150.

Ah I didn't realise that. I'll adjust the OP.
 

Lysmata Debelius

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #8 on: October 24, 2018, 10:05:50 PM »
If you get the image location off the .com site, you get the whole code, but it's set to 375. So you need to edit it down to at least 150.

I've changed it. Does it work now?
 

Talbot

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2018, 02:26:50 AM »
Nothing I do is working. Could some kind soul paste the entirety of their cover image link so I can swap out your info with mine?

Al Stevens

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Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #10 on: November 17, 2018, 06:43:02 AM »
Check out this tool. It's still under development, but most of its features work now. I used it to create my signature without any tweaking of the BBCode needed.

http://www.alstevens.com/forum/Sources/Link

It defaults to my tag, but the Tag button lets you change that. It's free and eventually might even be accessible from this forum. I'd appreciate comments and bug reports.

It works out the urls for the amazon product page and cover images. The links below the pictures are where you would paste your own urls.

The documentation is incomplete so far, but I'll answer questions.

« Last Edit: November 17, 2018, 06:56:07 AM by Al Stevens »
     
 

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Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #11 on: November 17, 2018, 01:57:21 PM »
Code: [Select]

[url= ]  [/img] [/url]
...
Code: [Select]

[url= xxxxxxx ] [/img] [/url]
 
...
Code: [Select]

[url= booklink ] xxxxxxxxxx [/img] [/url]
 
...
Code: [Select]

[url=booklink1 ]imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2]imagelink2 [/img] [/url]   
...
Code: [Select]
[url=booklink1 ] imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2]imagelink2 [/img] [/url]
Genre: Epic Fantasy   
...
Code: [Select]
[url=booklink1 ]imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2] imagelink2 [/img] [/url]
[url= blog-url-goes-here ] Read my blog! [/url]   

I believe these BBCode fragments are all missing the required [img] tags.
     
 
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Lysmata Debelius

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #12 on: November 17, 2018, 02:27:25 PM »
OK that is bizarre. They must have somehow gone missing the last time I edited the post. Thanks for picking that up, will fix it now.
 

Lysmata Debelius

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #13 on: November 17, 2018, 02:33:05 PM »
Nothing I do is working. Could some kind soul paste the entirety of their cover image link so I can swap out your info with mine?

Talbot, my apologies. A gremlin got to work and some of the crucial bits of code in my example above went missing. It should work now. But better you use All's signature creator, it's very easy to use and a lot more convenient!
 
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Jeff Tanyard

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #14 on: November 17, 2018, 03:59:12 PM »
Nothing I do is working. Could some kind soul paste the entirety of their cover image link so I can swap out your info with mine?


Here's the code for Buddy.  I put spaces between the url and img tags so that they won't work as intended.  If you remove the spaces, you'll get what you see in my sig for Buddy.


[u r l=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ME4EDBC/?tag=cirofatl-20][i m g height=125]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51M5Tg7XouL._SL160_.jpg[/i m g][/u r l]


The first part is just the Amazon product page link.  Then there's Timothy's affiliate tag.  That's the ?tag=cirofatl-20 part.  Then you have the image, and that's snagged from the Amazon product page.  You can go to your own book's product page, right-click the cover, and then select, "copy image location," and that should give you the link.

That should work as a template.  Just substitute your own page link and image link for mine, and then remove the spaces from the url and img tags.

Here's a screen cap of what the code looks like in my profile setup page:





When I made my sig, I just copied over my sig code from kboards and then swapped out affiliate links.  But if you want to build your sig manually, then hopefully this post will help.  Good luck.
v  v  v  v  v    Short Stories    v  v  v  v  v    vv FREE! vv
     
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy (some day) | Author Website
 
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Talbot

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #15 on: November 20, 2018, 04:53:17 AM »
Nothing I do is working. Could some kind soul paste the entirety of their cover image link so I can swap out your info with mine?


Here's the code for Buddy.  I put spaces between the url and img tags so that they won't work as intended.  If you remove the spaces, you'll get what you see in my sig for Buddy.

That's it! Thank you so much for helping me out.

Talbot

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #16 on: November 20, 2018, 04:54:20 AM »
Nothing I do is working. Could some kind soul paste the entirety of their cover image link so I can swap out your info with mine?

Talbot, my apologies. A gremlin got to work and some of the crucial bits of code in my example above went missing. It should work now. But better you use All's signature creator, it's very easy to use and a lot more convenient!

No problem! Good to know I'm not totally crazy. Thanks!  :dance:

Talbot

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #17 on: November 20, 2018, 04:55:01 AM »
Code: [Select]

[url= ]  [/img] [/url]
...
Code: [Select]

[url= xxxxxxx ] [/img] [/url]
 
...
Code: [Select]

[url= booklink ] xxxxxxxxxx [/img] [/url]
 
...
Code: [Select]

[url=booklink1 ]imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2]imagelink2 [/img] [/url]   
...
Code: [Select]
[url=booklink1 ] imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2]imagelink2 [/img] [/url]
Genre: Epic Fantasy   
...
Code: [Select]
[url=booklink1 ]imagelink1 [/img] [/url]space[url=booklink2] imagelink2 [/img] [/url]
[url= blog-url-goes-here ] Read my blog! [/url]   

I believe these BBCode fragments are all missing the required [img] tags.

Wunnerful! Thank you so much.

dikim

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #18 on: January 15, 2019, 10:11:18 PM »
Thanks for the clear instructions. Thanks to you, my signature is finally up and running.

I'm particularly pleased to be able to include books not published through KDP.



Author of more than 40 books and several scripts. Writes fiction and non-fiction for children, young adults, adults and other writers.
www.dianakimpton.co.uk
 

Lysmata Debelius

Re: [Guide] How to create a signature with links to your books
« Reply #19 on: January 15, 2019, 10:18:52 PM »
Thanks for the clear instructions. Thanks to you, my signature is finally up and running.

I'm particularly pleased to be able to include books not published through KDP.

Excellent!