For anyone using IndieBookClub to post what books you’re reading to Micro.blog, I changed how Micro.blog links ISBNs for you. Instead of always redirecting to Amazon, it now shows a page like this with the book cover and links to Amazon and Bookshop.org.

@manton Thanks....

While on the subject of books... how’s that book coming along, sir ? 😊

@maique Actually made a bunch of progress on it this summer, but haven't wanted to say anything yet for fear of jinxing it.

@manton 😃 Yay! I won’t say another word, fear not.

@manton Is there any way to configure this to Amazon UK and say Waterstones or another book store?

@manton I’m a huge advocate of not entrenching quasi-monopolies like Amazon through linking, so really pleased to see this change!

@manton Nice! This is the kind of feature that could be considered as part of a reason to stop relying on the likes of Goodreads.

Per @samclarke's request, I've sent a message to the people at Hive to even see if it is possible to use their search in this way.

@samclarke Not yet, but I'd like to come up with a way to do that.

@manton It’s great to give a link to indie bookstores. I also like Maria Popova’s way of also linking to local library search. See this post for an example - www.brainpickings.org/2020/07/1... Any chance of adding a button for that?

@adamprime I like that. I might not be able to exactly match that because I don't know the link, but I think I could add a link that searches WorldCat.

@manton 👏 Also, love the book you chose for the example. :)

@adamprime Okay, I've added the button! Thanks for the suggestion.

@toddgrotenhuis I am finally reading the Earthsea books. Just started on the 3rd one a few days ago.

@jwhevans I wasn't aware of it either until last week!

@manton Thank you! Wow, that was fast.

@manton wait, Micro.blog autolinks ISBNs?

@jthingelstad Not everywhere. Only if you're using IndieBookClub.

@lrhodes Good post. I agree. I'm exploring how I could bring in additional metadata that might give us more options. For now, having multiple links will at least help it not all go to Amazon.

@manton Excellent! Thanks for this change.

@lrhodes I’m comfortable linking to Bookshop, considering it’s explicit connection to indepedent booksellers. I think the reality is that any book linking requires easy API for generating those links or getting other book data, and publishers do not provide that.

@manton Are posts from IndieBookClub supposed to be automatically categorized for Books? It doesn't for me, and can't remember if it is supposed to. I see the emoticon that is added that I guess works for Discover but not for my blog.

@frankm No, but you can add a Filter to your blog that automatically assigns the Books category for any post that contains 📚. Click Posts → Categories → Edit Filters.

@jsonbecker It's great to see proof of how the independent, crowd-sourced power of the web can match the silos. 👍