The Kobo Writing Life team has recently added two types of NOTIFICATIONS to the KWL Dashboard.

The first type of notification involves basic systematic information that allow us to keep KWL users informed of important system updates, forthcoming maintenance windows, etc. It appears at the top of your screen when logged into Kobo Writing Life.

An example of what a Systematic Notification will look like

As seen in the example above, the notification informs users about a forthcoming maintenance window in which the dashboard will be unavailable. There is a little box on the far right that allows the user to dismiss it after having read it.  (Please note that some important notifications may be set to non-dismissable)

The second type of notifications allow the user to customize their own experience and receive information that they find valuable.

You can set your own personal preferences by going into your Contact information.  (In the main/top header of the KWL dashboard, go to My Account –> Contact information)

Once you are in your Contact Information screen (When you are logged in, this is the URL you will be at: https://writinglife.kobobooks.com/account#accountSettings/contact), scroll down to below your MAILING ADDRESS and you will see EMAIL SETTINGS.

There are four options for your email settings. Below is an explanation of what each means.

Kobo news and updates

These are emails that are targeted to our reader customers. While many writers might not be interested in receiving these, savvy authors might consider keeping this box checked to YES so that they can receive the same emails that are being mailed to our customers and gain a better understanding about what titles and features Kobo’s Merchandising and CRM teams regularly send out. Being familiar with the types of books, the themes and the content of these emails may help authors and publishers align their own marketing and promotional efforts.

Kobo Writing Life news and updates

This is for the monthly newsletter that we send out to Kobo Writing Life authors. It includes valuable information and updates from the KWL team regarding new features and updates to our systems, links to some of the most popular blog posts from the KWL Blog (which keeps its focus mainly on the business and craft of writing), as well as features and spotlights on authors, publishers and other industry folks. Though we typically stick to sending no more than 12 updates per year (our monthly newsletter), we might also, from time to time, email additional important updates.

When your eBooks are published

To ensure that you are kept informed of when your eBook is actually live in Kobo’s catalog, you will be sent a quick and simple email to notify you when the book is actively listed in our catalog. Because of various unpredictable circumstances, when you click the PUBLISH button there is a pop-up box telling you that it typically takes anywhere between 24 to 72 hours for a book to go live. However, in some cases, when there is reduced “traffic” in the systems, it may take significantly less time than quoted. This option saves you the worry of having to log in or search our catalog to keep checking to see when your title is actually published.

When your updates to your eBooks are live (beta)

Similarly, when you make an update to a title that is already published, some users prefer to be notified of those updates. This is useful when you are planning various promotional activities and want to be assured that the update you made has been received by the downstream web systems.

If you have ever used the PRICE PROMOTIONS tool, you will be familiar with the reminder emails that the system sends out to you indicating when a price promotion is about to go live. These emails will be similar in nature and are designed to keep those who want to be informed up to date.

Please be aware that this feature is currently in beta testing and not all messages will necessarily arrive. However, having this feature live and with active data, will assist our development team with refining and ironing out some of the downstream notifications to the KWL database so that we can improve it and thus the experience for those authors who would prefer the more enhanced and detailed updates.