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Guides and answers for getting the most out of BookSparker.
Getting started
Books
Mailing lists
Connect your mailing list
Connect MailerLite, Mailchimp, Kit, EmailOctopus, Flodesk or AWeber to BookSparker, activate a list for swaps, and keep the connection healthy.
7 min readSwap settings: make your list available for swaps
Set up swap settings for a mailing list: your audience, target categories, the weekly schedule of Solo, Feature and Mention slots, how long you accept bookings, and what Save needs.
4 min read
Book swaps
Book swaps: how they work
What a book swap is, the three swap types, where requests and active swaps live, what you need before your first swap, and how your response rate is calculated.
4 min readFind a partner and send a swap request
Search other authors’ mailing lists, read what each row offers, send a swap request step by step, handle the book link and its deadline, and send requests in bulk.
6 min readRespond to swap requests
Read an incoming swap request, accept it with the book, date and link it needs, make a counter offer, decline, and understand paid requests and the upgrade hold.
4 min readConfirm swaps and change dates
What happens after a share date: the seven-day confirmation window, the confirmation wizard, what a fully confirmed swap looks like, requesting a date change, cancelling, hiding and private notes.
4 min readOutgoing calendar: your send dates
Read your outgoing calendar one list at a time: what each colour and chip means, what opening a day does, changing or blocking a single date, the scheduled tick, and private day notes.
4 min readPaid swaps: charge for promoting other authors
Sell promotion slots instead of swapping them: how the money moves, setting prices per swap type, connecting Stripe to get paid, what buyers see and pay, accepting a paid request, when earnings are released, and refunds.
7 min read
Group promos
Join a group promo
What a group promo is, which of your books and landing pages qualify for lead magnet and sales promos, how to find one and apply, what happens after you apply, and how to change or leave an application.
6 min readHost a group promo
Who can host, the five steps of the promo wizard, what each setting does, how drafts and publishing work, and what changes once the first author applies.
6 min readManage applications to your promo
Where applications to your group promo arrive, how to review and decide on them, what auto-approve handles for you, edit requests, withdrawals, featuring a book and sending an update to participants.
4 min read
Reader pages
Landing pages: give readers your book
The four landing page types and what each needs, creating a page in three steps, where signups go, sending ARCs to your review team, what the reader gets on their device, and how to manage, disable and export from your pages.
8 min readCreate a Smart Book Link
What a Smart Book Link does, how to create one from an Amazon link, ASIN or ISBN, the rules for names and addresses, your affiliate tags, managing and pausing links, reading click stats, and the free tool that needs no account.
5 min readConnect a custom domain
Use your own web address for Smart Book Links and author websites: which plans include it, how the domain is registered, the one DNS record to add, how validation works, and what differs between links and websites.
4 min readSet up your author website
Create a website for an author name in one step, find your way around the builder and its checklist, publish, change your address, and know what the site serves, what the free plan shows, and how subscribers and deletion work.
5 min readCustomise your author website
The sections of your page and how to order and hide them, the top of the page and featured book, the Books layouts, the newsletter signup with an optional free book, links, themes, colours and fonts, the settings, and what is shared with your author profile.
8 min read