Applying to Promos and Custom Pricing
Hi everyone, As you might already know, we recently made a change to the promo application process. Now, when you submit a title for certain promos, like our 40% off sales or our Buy More Save More sales, you no longer need to input a price. Our system will now…
Read articleNew Pricing Control
Setting The Price On a New Book You will first set the price of your book starting with your default currency. If you set a list price of $2.99 USD or more you will earn maximum royalties of 70%. Once you enter the price in your default currency, we will…
Read articleHow to Take Advantage of Kobo Writing Life’s Pricing Tool
Do you make the most out of Kobo Writing Life’s platform when it comes to pricing your eBooks? Do your prices match the different markets where your books are available? Here are a few tips to help optimizing your eBooks’ prices and sales: Define the price of your eBook in…
Read articlePower Pricing: How should I price my eBooks?
Nathan Maharaj, Kobo’s own Director of Merchandising (otherwise known as Head Bookseller) put together some thoughts to answer the question he most often gets from publishers and authors: “How should I price my eBooks?” The answer: Price deliberately: Have a plan, and measure your results. Price responsively: Be prepared to…
Read articleKWL – 199 – Selling Audiobooks to the Kobo Customer with Elyse Daniels
Kobo’s Global Audiobook Merchandiser Elyse Daniels is on the podcast this week discussing all things audio. Elyse tells us the ins and outs of selling audiobooks on Kobo, including what genres do especially well as audiobooks, how she curates audiobook promotions and emails, what types of promotions are the most…
Read articleFive Things You May Not Know About KWL
We always want to make sure all of our authors are up to date with everything that KWL has to offer. Here are five things you may not know about KWL: 1. Promo CodesOne big request we get from authors is for personalized promo codes, and I’m happy to…
Read articleNew year, new you, new book
This content was originally published on Kobo.com As the Senior Manager of Author Experience at Kobo, Tara Cremin is constantly working with authors. Over the years, she’s gained a lot of insight into how and why you should finally take the plunge, and start writing your first book. Here, she shares her wisdom. New Year’s…
Read article2019 Holiday Content Processing
This is a friendly reminder that as the holiday season approaches, the schedule for our regular content processing services will be adjusted.* December 19 is the final date you should make any holiday price changes or any other changes to ensure they go live. Dec 20–Jan 6 — Content processing and…
Read articleKWL Ep 171 – Making Your Backlist Work for You with Zoe York
Zoe York talks to us about how she began her career writing “the stories of her heart”, and then went on to turn those stories into a commercial success as an indie publisher. Zoe explains how she runs her business and handles her separate pen names, Zoe York and Ainsley…
Read article#164 – Learning the Habits of your Readers with Emma Chase
Emma Chase, NYT bestselling author, discusses the importance of learning the habits of your readers and setting reader expectations before the release of a new book. She discusses how she built up her newsletter audience and gives us hints about what to expect next from her Royally series.
Read articleBreaking News: Kobo Writing Life Launches Direct Audiobook Upload!
A video tutorial on the audiobook publishing process, plus tips and resources to help KWL authors succeed with audio.
Read articleFive Most Common Self-Publishing Mistakes
So you’ve written a book! Now what? Regardless of how long you’ve been writing, there’s a lot to learn about actually publishing your book. We’ve put together some of the most common blunders we see from indie authors. Some of these may seem like no brainers to you, others might spark a light bulb moment.
Read articleThe A to Z of KWL
Not sure where to start with publishing? Tara Cremin lays out the A-Z of Kobo Writing Life!
Read articleKWL EP 138 – Brenna Aubrey
Breakout star in France, Italy and Germany, Brenna Aubrey gives listeners tips on translations. Brenna also discusses how she fell into her niche (writing “geek romance”) and why ultimately, she decided on self-publishing rather than traditional.
Read articleLiterary Round Up: October 19th
Marina here with this week’s Literary Round Up! A few announcements: The Kobo Writing Life podcast is now releasing new episodes weekly! Check out the newest one with our European Manager of KWL, Camille Mofidi. Camille shares her thoughts on why authors should go global, the questions they need to…
Read articleKWL EP 120 – Camille Mofidi: Translation
In this episode, we sit down with the European Manager of Kobo Writing Life, Camille Mofidi.
Read articlePromoting Your Books (and Career!) Through Multi-Author Boxsets
By Erin Wright In the summer of 2017, I got together with five other Western Romance authors and we decided to put together a boxset for a two-fold purpose: 1) So we could hit the USA Today list. By pricing at $0.99, we were hoping to be able to…
Read articleMy Title Was Rejected From a Kobo Promotion – Why?
By Elyse Daniels, Global Audiobooks Merchandiser *If you don’t yet have access to the Kobo Promotions tool and your titles are uploaded directly through KWL, email us at writinglife@kobo.com and we can set it up for you! So you’ve been rejected. Story of an author’s life, am…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 100 – Behind the Scenes at Kobo with Featured Author Sarah Woodbury
For our 100th episode, we decided to give our listeners a behind-the-scenes look into Kobo Writing Life and the magic that goes into publishing a new title on Kobo. We follow Sarah Woodbury’s upcoming release The Favored Son, as it makes its way on to the Kobo store and into the libraries of our customers. We also introduce an exciting edition to the KWL podcast, Chrissy Munroe’s newest co-host, Stephanie McGrath!
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 099 – BookBub
The episode you can’t miss: how to sell more books with BookBub.
Read articleFree Download Tracker – fixed!
Dear authors, you have been very patient with us. Our free download tracker has been broken for too long, and the behind-the-scenes work towards getting it fixed has resembled the plot of a lengthy international spy thriller. Our development and analytics teams finally cracked the code, and finished crunching the…
Read articleFive things I learned putting together bundles at Bundle Rabbit
By Barbara G. Tarn Have you heard this great marketing tip? Include your book in a multi-author bundle, so that readers can cross-pollinate among various authors. There are plenty of bundling services, such as StoryBundle, but personally, I never made it there, in spite of trying a couple of times.…
Read articlePublishing on KWL: A Step-By-Step Guide
Once you have a Kobo account, you can create your author account here. Remember that you will need to confirm your registration by clicking the link in the email you will receive before your account is active. Click here for a detailed…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 093 – Interviews from When Words Collide
Episode 93 includes a series of short interviews that KWL Director, Mark Lefebvre conducted at the 2017 When Words Collide conference in Calgary, Alberta. Mark speaks with authors Robert J. Sawyer and C.C. Humphreys as well as marketing consultant Mickey Mikkelson about digital publishing, global eBook pricing, author promotion strategies…
Read articleA Global View on Kobo
Chances are you already know Kobo is a global company. But did you know that Kobo has merchandisers around the globe creating unique web store views in the major global territories? Did you know that the merchandisers in Canada might have special features on Books by Canucks, or the merchandisers…
Read article2016 Kobo Holiday Processing Schedule
This is a friendly reminder that as the holiday season approaches the schedule for our regular content processing services will be adjusted. Please be advised that normal content processing will be unavailable between December 19, 2016 and December 29, 2016. To ensure all new titles and promotional pricing scheduled for…
Read articleNew Country Store View on Kobo
You may have noticed that we’ve recently made some adjustments to our store at http://www.kobo.com. You now can see how our store looks in different countries, throughout the world! This may come in handy when you have sales in certain territories or just to see what your books look like…
Read articleGo Global with Kobo Writing Life
Did you know that when you publish with Kobo Writing Life your books are not just available for sale at Kobo, but are also available in our many partner sites? If you provide us with the rights to distribute your content Worldwide, your eBooks can be made available in a number of…
Read articleHow My Sales on Kobo Topped All Other Vendors
SALES ON KOBO TOPPED ALL OTHER VENDORS DURING MY FIRST GLOBAL DISCOUNT-PRICE PROMOTION By Diana Deverell This result surprised me. I’m an ex-pat American living in Denmark and I own a Kobo Mini eReader and a Kobo tablet. I love Kobo. The only eBooks I buy elsewhere are ones sold…
Read articleBuild Your Global Sales with Kobo Writing Life
NOTE: This piece originally appeared on The Book Designer. By Christine Munroe Why should self-published authors and small publishers distribute directly to Kobo? And how can you grow your global sales? Here are detailed tips on maximizing your potential with the Kobo Writing Life (KWL) platform, featuring advice from some…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 058 – Insights from Kobo Merchandisers
Episode 58 features an interview with Kobo Merchandisers Liz Hilborn (Manager of Merchandising) and Sarah Smith-Eivemark (Canadian Merchandiser) conducted by Mark Lefebvre, KWL Director. In the interview, Mark, Liz and Sarah discuss: What a merchandiser is and what they do at Kobo How merchandisers work with publisher sales reps to…
Read articleFrequently Asked Questions
We thought it might be helpful to answer some questions that our help-desk gets on the regular. Here are the most common questions we get. GENERAL INQUIRIES How do I distribute my content through Kobo? It’s simple. Once you sign up for Kobo Writing Life you can download and review…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 042 – Kelley Armstrong
New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong is interviewed by Kobo’s Nora Parker about the hot serialized summer release CITY OF THE LOST. Nora and Kelley discuss: How Kelley has always enjoyed the serialized format and how the project came about at the request of her Canadian publisher The changes…
Read articleHow My $19.99 Boxed Set Became a #1 Kobo Bestseller
Lately, it feels like the loudest voices in the indie community are all about exclusivity and low eBook prices. Well, here’s a story that disproves everything you’ve read recently: a $20 boxed set hit #1 on our charts. Author Lauren Royal generously offered to share the details here. KWL: What…
Read articlePromote your KWL Titles With PW Select
You may have noticed that Kobo Writing Life is now offering Author Services. One of the services that we’re excited to be involved in is with PW Select. Every month, Publishers Weekly and BookLife, its website for indie authors, publish PW Select, a supplement dedicated to covering the self-publishing industry that features…
Read articleJapan Consumption Tax Will Apply Starting October 1, 2015
We wanted to let you know there is going to be a change to how tax is applied to eBooks in Japan starting October 1st, 2015. What’s changing? Presently these books are tax exclusive, which means they are sold for the JPY price you set and tax is added to…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 032 – Dan Rubinstein
Director of Global Merchandising at Kobo, Nathan Maharaj interviews Dan Rubinstein, author of Born to Walk: The Transformative Power of A Pedestrian Act. The case for getting back on our feet The humble act of putting one foot in front of the other transcends age, geography, culture, and class, and…
Read article7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Book Series (Part 1)
By Julianne MacLean Back in 1999 when I sold my first book to Harlequin, very few historical romance authors were writing novels as part of a series. Each contract I signed was a one-book deal, but I soon discovered that building a devoted readership with one standalone book every twelve…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 021 with Diane Capri
In the latest episode of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, we welcome NYT and USA Today bestselling author Diane Capri. KWL Content Manager Christina Potter and US Manager Christine Munroe speak with Diane – who offered jokingly to change her name to Christine for the purposes of this episode –…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 020 with Pamela Fagan Hutchins
In our latest podcast, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews bestselling author and self-publishing expert Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Pamela has written the book on self-publishing, WHAT KIND OF LOSER INDIE PUBLISHES, AND HOW CAN I BE ONE, TOO? In the summer of 2013, she embarked on a 60-cities-in-60-days book tour, which…
Read articleIndies for Indies: My Partnership with My Local Bookstore
By Robert L. Slater Bellingham, Washington, has as many bookstores as many small towns have churches and bars. You can literally have a top ten… I frequent many of them, but the one I know best has become a great friend—Village Books. VB did a lot for me as a…
Read articleKobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 008 with Johnny B. Truant
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Johnny B. Truant author of the Fat Vampire series, and co-author of The Beam and Unicorn Western. The two discuss: How Johnny is continuing and concluding the Fat Vampire saga, which began as a joke during a discussion on the Self-Publishing Podcast, but…
Read articleMaking sense of the KWL terms and conditions
All KWL authors received an email recently regarding a small change to the terms & conditions of the KWL agreement which will be in effect Oct 17, 2013. Here’s a quick plain-English rundown of what those changes are and why we’ve made them. The Kobo Writing Life team is constantly…
Read articleA Dead Price Point
By Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations, Kobo “I see dead prices!” Yes, I know, I’m riffing on a line from M. Night Shymalan’s The Sixth Sense. But if it gets your attention and helps you earn more money as an author, I’m okay with that. I had…
Read articleBig houses, small press, self-publishing: the good, the bad, and the surprising
By Sarah Carless The recent and phenomenal success of a handful of self-published authors has made the no-brainer decision – what publishing option is best for an author — into a hot topic and hotter debate. Back in the day, the only way to rocket to the top of the…
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