By Joni Di Placido
Welcome to the Literary Round Up, a new weekly feature where I’ll share Kobo and KWL updates, as well as any weird and wonderful bookish news from around the world! If you have news you’d like to share, please do email me at writinglife@kobo.com!
Walmart now officially sells Kobo eBooks and eReaders!
It finally happened, and we’re pretty thrilled about the possibly of converting even more US readers to the cult of Kobo!
https://www.cnet.com/news/walmarts-e-books-store-opens-for-business/
You can now borrow library books on ALL Kobo eReaders!
Another huge win for KWL authors. Kobo has just added Overdrive functionality to the Aura H2O Edition 2, Kobo Aura Edition 2 and Kobo Clara HD. Get yourself a device! (Did you hear? You can buy them at Walmart US now!😁)
The Netherlands loves Kobo Originals and Kendall Ryan!
The Kobo Original translation of Kendall Ryan’s Filthy Beautiful Lies series into Dutch was the most-read series on Kobo Plus this week!
https://www.kobo.com/nl/en/ebook/heerlijk-stoute-leugens-1
KWL author Rosalind Minett on the benefits of going wide
ALLi (The Alliance of Independent Authors) published a great blog post from author Rosalind Minett on having the best of both worlds—using an aggregator for most retailers, but uploading directly to Kobo.
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/going-wide-kobo/
Former Kobo UK Content Lead launches female-fronted digital publisher!
Congrats to our ex-college, Lindsay Mooney and her business partner Keshini Naidoo, on the launch of Hera books!
Mooney and Naidoo found commercial digital publisher
Lindsey Mooney and Keshini Naidoo are launching a female-fronted digital-first publisher ‘Hera’ with support from Canelo, The Bookseller can reveal. Naidoo left her role as associate publisher at Bookouture in July, while Mooney departed as UK content lead for Kobo in May to launch the company focused on commercial fiction “particularly by under-represented voices”.
A bookstore at luxury resort in the Maldives is hiring a “barefoot bibliophile”
Sorry guys, I love KWL, but if they accept my application, I am 100% leaving you all to go work on the Maldives and talk about books. My teammates seem to think I’m joking, which is adorable. (Though, I don’t know, is it a dream job, or sort of a nightmare to be “near” – possibly excluded from? – a resort and dealing with A-listers and their kids? Thoughts?)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/19/dream-job-desert-island-maldives-bookseller
NYPL is using Instagram Stories to bring classic stories to life
On Thursday, New York Public Library (@nypl) launched Insta Novels, which they describe as “a reimagining of Instagram Stories to provide a new platform for iconic stories”. It’s a pretty cool concept.
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/08/22/instanovels?utm_campaign=instanovels
A great Christmas gift (I know, I know, but it’s sooner than you think!) for the Harry Potter fan in your life
(Side note: It has recently come to our attention that KWL director Chrissy has never read the Harry Potter series. Please join us in gasping and loudly shaming her.)
KWL Titles On the Bestseller Lists This Week
Shoutout to the following indie authors! These KWL titles were all featured on the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists
NYT Bestsellers
Meghan March made #15 on the NYT Bestseller List this week with Richer Than Sin.
USA Today Bestsellers
#17 Meghan March, Richer Than Sin
#71 Lisa Regan, Vanishing Girls and Her Mother’s Grave at #94
#73 Sawyer Bennet, Bishop
Lauren Blakely comes in at #89 on USA Today with Unbreak My Heart
#90 is Meredith Wild with The Red Ledger, Part 4
#120 Dannika Dark, Blackout
Staff Book Recommendation
Carmen Giraudy, Content Operations Manager
“The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is a story told by the same man over many lives; of discovery, love, heartache, the reason for life, the past, and the future to come. It takes an interesting concept—rare people who are born into the same life again and again, remembering everything—and threatens the world when one of them eschews the rules they live by.”
This is an AWESOME new feature. Plenty of great info and written in a very fun and personable voice! Nicely done, Joni! Looking forward to reading this every week!
Thank you Mark!