Set Up Custom Buy and Borrow Buttons for Your Bookstore or Library Club

Bookclubs' mission is to inspire meaningful connections through reading and discussion.  

Bookstores and libraries have always been an integral part of building community around books, and here at Bookclubs, we want to support that.  Read on to find out how to set up custom Buy or Borrow buttons for your bookstore or library club.  

How bookstore custom buy links work

Hosting a club already turns your customers into a community. It gives people a reason to keep coming back to your store beyond browsing, and it gives you a direct line to your most engaged readers when you have a new release, an event, or a display to promote. Every book your club discusses becomes another chance to create a sale.  

Custom buy links make sure that community drives sales back to your store. Add a Bookshop affiliate ID and every buy button links to the specific book on your Bookshop.org page, so you earn the commission when a member buys through the club. Prefer something simpler? Add a Buy from Us link instead: one link to your own store, used across every book. Either way, the sale goes to you.

How library custom buy links work

A Borrow from Us link turns the buy button on your club into a Borrow button that points straight to your catalog page. It's free for every club, on every plan, no upgrade required. Members go directly from the Bookclubs meeting invite to your library website.  

Now you can set it up yourself

Before, you needed to email us with your Bookshop affiliate ID or library URL.  Now, the process is fully self-service.  You can connect your own links so buy and borrow buttons across your club's book pages, meeting pages, and recommendations send members straight to you.  Here's how.

Go to Club Settings. If you haven't already told us you run a bookstore or library, you'll see a quick yes/no prompt; answer yes and the relevant fields appear. From there, add your links and they go live immediately, no page reload needed.

• Bookshop affiliate ID, if you have one: buttons link to the specific book on your Bookshop.org page, so you earn the commission on every purchase made through the club
• Buy from Us link: one link to your own store, used on every book's buy button. It doesn't change per book, so it's a fast option if you don't use Bookshop.org but will require club members to then search the book on your page. 
• Borrow from Us link: a link to your library's catalog or holds page, shown as a "Borrow" button instead of "Buy." This one's free for every club, no upgrade required

Once you set any of these, your club's own button becomes the only one that shows for that book. Amazon and "Buy from Bookclubs" buttons disappear everywhere your club's buy buttons appear: on book pages, in meeting book lists, on currently reading and recommendation lists, and in meeting emails.

Upgrade your club to any tier to gain access to the Bookshop affiliate ID and Buy from Us links.  Borrow from Us is available to every club, on every plan.

Running more than one club?

If your store or library runs multiple clubs, reach out to help@bookclubs.com. We can set you up with a discount to upgrade all of them to Premium at once, and build you a single hub page that lists all of your clubs together, so readers can find every group you run in one place.

Grow your community even more by listing your clubs on our Join a Book Club page

Any club on Bookclubs can be submitted to our Join a Book Club page, where readers search by location and interest to find a club to join. That means your bookstore or library club is discoverable to readers nearby who have never walked through your door, not just the members you already have. The more clubs you run, the more chances you have to show up in that search.

Not a Bookclubs member yet? Join Bookclubs and find or start a book club today.