Amazon KDP Policies: External Links in Your Kindle Books

Jun 11

Have you included links in the back of your Kindle Books? Great! Have you checked to make sure you’re not violating one of Amazon’s policies with those links? Hmm…

This question came up in a recent book publishing meeting I attended, and the discussion that followed showed two things:

Many independently published authors are not aware of this policy
Even if they are aware, they don’t understand how to interpret it, and what to do next

Which KDP policy are we talking about?

Inside an ebook, you can link to both useful locations within the book (a table of contents or glossary, for example), and useful locations outside the book - for example, your author website.

The Amazon KDP policy states:

“External links within Kindle books should be present only if they directly enhance the reader experience and the content of the title as determined by Amazon.”

Here’s where you might get into trouble:

Most savvy authors understand the benefits of engaging the reader, above and beyond their experience inside the book. And asking a reader to join your email list is the obvious next step. Many authors are doing just that, by linking to their newsletter signup page.

But does that “directly enhance” the reader experience? Possibly not.

The examples listed by the policy as acceptable types of links are:

“- Links to previous or subsequent books in a series
- Links to multimedia content directly related the content of title
- Links to additional ancillary material (e.g., checklists, assessment forms, craft patterns, and similar printable materials)
- Links to topical websites (e.g., link to whitehouse.gov in a Kindle book about the American government)
- Social media related to the book or author (e.g., Twitter hashtag)”

The KDP policy goes on to give examples of prohibited links, including:

“Links to web forms that request customer information (e.g., email address, physical address or similar)”

Now, there’s a tricky phrase in all this, the introductory part that says as determined by Amazon. So we don’t actually know for sure what’s okay. Perhaps they’ll only check up on you if they get a complaint. Perhaps AI is now visiting all of your author links and judging your destination pages. We really don’t know.

But my interpretation of this policy, and a view shared by Monique Nelson at Atticus is:

Give your reader something useful, before (or at the same time as) asking for their email address

So, I think you’ll be okay if you link to your author website, as long as there is wider, general information there. Or, link to a book resources page that has helpful content, as well as your email signup form.

Do not simply link to a “landing page” or “squeeze page”

Wait a minute, what are those?!

Many new clients who come to me use the term “landing page” when they mean “website home page”. For example, my home page is the one you see when you simply visit paulinewiles.com.

On the other hand, a “landing page” or “squeeze page” is constructed for a single purpose, usually to get the visitor to take a single action. (More info from Wikipedia and also MailerLite)

Typically, menu options and footers are hidden, so that the visitor’s only choices are to complete the action, or to leave. Most often, the desired actions are:

Buy something
Join an email list

These are the types of pages that contravene the Amazon KDP policy.

Example external link for back of book — *Example: bonus page for Indie With Ease*

Example of a destination page that I think is fine:

I’m no longer actively promoting my self-help guide for self-publishers, Indie With Ease. However, I do still offer this page on my website with resources related to the book.

On that page, you’ll see there are several useful items, including workbooks, planners, and checklists. No email address is required, to access these.

Then, lower down the page, in my standard website footer, is my current lead magnet and email sign up form.

Because there is so much useful material available before asking for the email address, I am willing to wager that this page would be acceptable, if I linked to it from the ebook itself.

Examples of destination pages that I believe contravene this policy:

Any “free” landing page offered by your email list tool, designed for the sole purpose of growing your list.
A page on your own website that simply says “join my newsletter”, with no other useful information.
A custom-designed page on your own website that has a single Call to Action, and was intentionally designed as a squeeze page.

Another reason to avoid landing pages provided by your email list tool

I’m not a fan of linking to the free landing pages offered by your email list provider.

Why? Aside from the fact that you’re probably violating this Amazon policy, you’re sending readers to real estate that you don’t own.

If you change your email list provider in future, you’ll need to update that link in all of your ebooks. And if you’ve used the link in paperbacks, you have no way of capturing readers who will go to a dead page.

On the other hand, once you buy your author website domain name, that address can live as long as you do (and even beyond). Even if you change website platforms or hosts, the domain name will still work just fine.

And by the way, that same argument applies to linking to social media accounts. By all means, include one or two if you love them and are active there. But since social media platforms come and go, always link to your own author website, too.

Action steps

Check the links in the back of your Kindle books!
The external page where you’re sending readers must offer something useful, not just demand their email address.
If in doubt, change these links to your own author website, where you can create a page containing helpful resources as well as a signup form.

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