When sending your book out into the world, how can you make sure that it is found by as many readers as possible? Certainly your marketing efforts play a large role in this, but so do your retail channels! This is particularly important for eBooks because if an e-reader is looking for your book, they may only search for it in one place… and you don’t know where that is! It’s wherever their preferred reading platform happens to be. Is your book going to be there?
When you sell your books with us, you have the opportunity to not only reach the over 24,000,000 readers in 190 countries who like to read directly with Kobo. You can also reach readers who prefer shopping with our 20+ partners! These include:
- American Booksellers Association (variety of participant websites)
- Angus & Robertson (Australia)
- Bol (Netherlands)
- Bookworld (Australia – formerly Borders AU)
- Collins (Australia)
- Eason (Ireland)
- FNAC (France)
- FNAC (Portugal)
- Indigo (Canada)
- La Central (Spain)
- La Feltrinelli (Italy)
- Livraria Cultura (Brazil)
- Mondadori (Italy)
- National Book Store (Philippines)
- Orbile (Mexico – will launch on September 30th 2015)
- PaperPlus (New Zealand)
- PriceMinister (France)
- Rakuten (Japan)
- WHSmith (UK)
(Please note that we are constantly forming new partnerships, so the list above is only accurate as of today and will expand in the future.)
So, you may be wondering:
How can I distribute to Kobo’s partners?
The books you publish through your KWL account are automatically distributed to each of our partners, as long as you’ve indicated that you have rights to sell in that country. So, if you select “World Rights” then your book will be sent to all 20 of our partners!
Here’s a refresher on setting territory rights:
- Select the book in question from the “eBooks” tab of your account.
- Go to the “Choose content rights” step:
- Either leave Worldwide rights as checked, OR uncheck it and individually select the countries to sell in:
While we will send your books to all of our partners, our partners of course reserve the right to choose which titles they will sell in their store.
Next question:
How can I view sales made through these partners?
In your sales report, of course! While your dashboard provides a top-level view of sales, as a KWL author, you are also emailed a monthly sales report that provides a detailed breakdown of each sale. This includes a “Partner” column (and it’s easy to spot, because it’s the second one!):
So, that’s how you can make sure your books are found by all readers, regardless of where they are in the world, or where they prefer to read!
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Hi Fantastic of Kobo. About me, I am at a confusion that my ebook is publishing on Amazon. I like Kobo. Shall I need republish on Kobo? Is it possible?
Thanking you
Ibomcha
If you want to make your books available on Kobo you’ll need to publish directly with us. You can find some more information on our site – http://www.kobo.com/writinglife.
Under “Asia” I notice that you don’t have India and Pakistan listed. How do I reach readers in these countries if my book is published through Kobo Writing Life?
They’re not currently listed as they’re not in our IPP territories but this list is always being updated. If you choose WorldWide rights you’ll reach those areas.
What happened to the much publicised India launch and partnerships with WH Smith and Crossword in October 2013?
India is the sixth biggest book market in the world and of of now the second-biggest English-language book market, yet Kobo has a negligible presence there.
With Flipkart looking to close soon there are just two western ebook players taking India seriously. Amazon and Google Play.
Hi Mark, our books are available for sale in our Kobo store in India. We’re always working to improve our global presence and will forward your feedback to our partner team.
As an Author, is there a way to read my own book through your system to be sure that it is correct and downloading properly to our customers?
We don’t currently have this feature but would love to include it in the future. However, if you email writinglife@kobo.com they’ll be able to add the book to your reading library so you can see it from the customers point of view.
Would authors incur any costs if they upload future eBook editions of the book?
Nope, it’s free to upload titles to our site.
Will KWL be talking more about marketing in other territories? For example, I’m a US author, but my fantasy series has cast and settings from all over the world and is intended for global appeal. Would love more insights into gaining traction outside the US and in emerging markets.
Our merchandising team do work globally and have different promotions running in different territories. It’s certainly something we would like to include as we expand our merchandising options.
Can people with iPads order Kobo books?
Yes! You can download the Kobo App for iOS. While you can’t buy directly from this app, you can buy books on a browser on iOS. Here’s some more info about our apps:
https://www.kobo.com/ios
If I wanted to order 500 Kobo readers preloaded with certain titles of mine, to give to my clients, would that be possible?
It’s certainly something we can look into doing. Please send an email to us at writinglife@kobo.com so we can discuss it further.