LinkBaton for Books (was: Linking to Amazon.com for Big Bucks)

[Eric Hellman]

As part of my company's quest for "world domination", I'd like you 
all to know about LinkBaton.

First, an explanation, then a "manifesto" (separate), and finally a 
request for help (separate).

1. Explanation

A while back, there was a thread on this list titled "Linking to 
Amazon for Big Bucks".

Many of you know that Amazon.com and a number of other internet sites 
are encouraging people to link to their ISBN search facilities. These 
sites are rapidly becoming rather useful databases of information 
about books and adding a link to them from an internet OPAC page can 
let you provide a lot of information for your patrons without 
spending any money. You can sign up for their affiliate program and 
even make a little money. Those of you who have tried it probably 
find that the income stream is not really worth the effort, and many 
of you may feel uncomfortable about endorsing one on-line bookseller 
over another.

LinkBaton is a way for you to make ISBN links to Amazon.com, Bn.com, 
varsitybooks.com, seekbooks.com, dealpilot.com, amazon.co.uk, 
amazon.co.de, borders.com, and fatbrain.com, with one link which gets 
redirected according to a user's preference.

The "Big Bucks" from affiliate programs will go to charities.

Here's how it works:

You use the ISBN to make a link. For example, Jacob Nielsen's new 
book was plugged on this list:

Author  Nielsen, Jakob
Title  Designing Websites with Authority
Subtitle  Secrets of an Information Architect
Publisher: New Riders Publishing
ISBN  156205810X
Price: $45.00

The LinkBaton for this book is
http://my.linkbaton.com/get?genre=book&item=156205810X

Follow the link, then "make a shortcut" to Amazon or which ever you like.

Another book recently discussed on the list is
Eric S. Raymond, The Cathedral And The
Bazaar (O'Reilly, 1999)
The LinkBaton is: http://my.linkbaton.com/get?genre=book&item=156205810X

When you follow on this second link, your shortcut gets followed.

LinkBaton is built for high availability and large traffic volumes. 
It is ready for use.

Although we've tested LinkBaton pretty thoroughly, it's impossible to 
test under all conditions; we'd appreciate any reports of bugs or odd 
behavior.

Eric



Eric Hellman
Openly Informatics, Inc.
http://www.openly.com/           21st Century Information Infrastructure
LinkBaton: Your Shortcuts to Information  http://linkbaton.com/