Ways to make money with Draft2Digital (Even if you don’t write books)

by | Mar 29, 2021 | Features & Walk-Thrus | 0 comments

Let’s face a harsh fact: When it comes to making money, there are a lot easier ways to do it than writing and publishing.

Stroke for stroke, books usually bring a poor return on investment (ROI), once you factor in the time it takes to research and write, the cost and time of editing, the cost of cover design, and the time and expense of marketing. All that time and money adds up and getting it back in any measure can be challenging. Definitely not impossible, but not easy.

We could just chalk this up to “managing expectations,” but this is Draft2Digital we’re talking about—we go out of our way to provide equal doses of hope with our realism. And here’s a hope you can bank on (if you’ll pardon the pun): There’s more than one way to make a buck in the publishing world. Even if you haven’t written a book, or never even plan to, there are some ways D2D can help you put more cash in your bank account.

And if you have written (or will write), the following tips can help you improve your bottom line while you’re working to bring your books to greater success.

Affiliate Sales with D2D Universal Book Links

One of the most useful tools Draft2Digital has in its toolbox for authors is the Universal Book Link. This is a unique, customizable URL that you can use to send readers to the sales page of your book or books, regardless of what storefront those readers prefer. This makes it pretty handy as an evergreen link you can use in either digital or print marketing, since you can update the link to include new stores with just a click of “re-scan.”

Something you may not know about UBLs, however, is that you can add affiliate links from various retailers, and these links will be embedded within the UBL.

Affiliate links are provided by retailers, and the way they work is pretty straightforward: If someone clicks on your UBL and purchases a book, you will receive a referral fee for that purchase. This will be in addition to the royalties you make on that book sale!

So, some things to note:

Referral fees are paid by the retailer, not by Draft2Digital. You’ll need to have an affiliate account set up with that particular retailer, and they’ll pay you on their own terms and scheduling.

D2D only supports select retailers for this feature, which include: 

  • Amazon
  • Apple
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Kobo
  • Google
  • Smashwords

You do not have to publish a book to use this! Universal Book Links can be created when you have an account with Books2Read.com, and there is no requirement to publish through Draft2Digital to use them.

Likewise, you are not limited to creating or using UBLs for your own books but you can create and use them for anybook. If you supply a URL for any book, from any of our supported retailers, we can give you a free UBL that you can use anywhere. If you have affiliate accounts associated with that UBL, you’ll be able to earn referrals from retailers when readers buy using your link.

For Amazon Associates, here’s a nice bonus! If a user gets to Amazon using your link and affiliate code (meaning they just clicked on the link you shared), anything they buy on Amazon at that point can give you some referral money. So even if they don’t buy the book you’re promoting, but they go on to buy something else (jewelry, clothes, sporting equipment, just about anything), you’ll still earn a percentage of that sale.

Universal Book Links are handy for things like blog posts, podcasts, websites, social media, and more. And since they can send users to a storefront for their specific region, you can use them without worrying about whether the country can get to a .com URL.

One last thing: Books2Read Reading Lists are another incredible tool for using UBLs, allowing you to create an entire page of featured books, in customizable carousels.

To get started, go to https://books2read.com and either sign in with your existing D2D account or create a new account. Then click on My Account > Affiliate Codes in the main menu.

Read more about these features here:

D2D Refer a Friend

If you have a Draft2Digital account, you can use it to help authors get their manuscripts converted and distributed online, worldwide, all while earning yourself a little something-something.

D2D Refer a Friend is our own referral tool, allowing you to earn a percentage of another author’s book sales.

Here’s how it works:

  • Sign in to or create your account at https://draft2digital.com
  • Click on My Account in the main menu
  • Click on Refer a Friend Program
  • Set up your URL, and even customize it if you wish!
  • And then, share!

You can share your Refer a Friend URL anywhere you like—on social media, in emails, on your blog or podcast, on YouTube, anywhere.

Once a user signs up using your URL, and starts making sales, you’ll start receiving 10% of D2D’s cut of those sales for two full years.

The more authors you refer, the more you can earn. So even if you never publish a book yourself, you can get a nice cashflow going, under the right circumstances.

Of course, the more sales those authors make, the more you can earn. So it’s in your best interest to help market and promote those books as much as possible. And you can do that using tools such as the Universal Book Links above—which means you could even earn more affiliate dollars.

Mwahaha!

Read more about D2D Refer a Friend here:

Of course, if you’re author yourself, we want to see you and your books reach the kind of success that would make all these little side trails of income look petty by comparison. But with the right strategy, you can boost your income even further by putting all of these options to work for you.

So what about you? Do you have any clever ideas for using D2D to make money, with or without publishing a book of your own?

We’d love to hear them in the comments below!