diff --git a/bookwyrm/outgoing.py b/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
index bc170748..9421ca39 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ def find_mentions(content):
 def format_links(content):
     ''' detect and format links '''
     return re.sub(
-        r'([^(href=")]|^)(https?:\/\/(%s([\w\.\-_\/+&\?=:;,])*))' % \
+        r'([^(href=")]|^|\()(https?:\/\/(%s([\w\.\-_\/+&\?=:;,])*))' % \
                 regex.domain,
         r'\g<1><a href="\g<2>">\g<3></a>',
         content)
diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py b/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py
index ba0d7d7d..c4324773 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py
@@ -497,6 +497,9 @@ class Outgoing(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(
             outgoing.format_links(url),
             '<a href="%s">www.fish.com/</a>' % url)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            outgoing.format_links('(%s)' % url),
+            '(<a href="%s">www.fish.com/</a>)' % url)
         url = 'https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.72113/page/n25/mode/2up'
         self.assertEqual(
             outgoing.format_links(url),