The KWL Cover Contest 2018: Week 1––ROMANCE
By Joni Di Placido As we approach the end of the year, it’s time to celebrate some of the best covers of 2018! We’re going…
A Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up Affiliate Links
By Joni Di Placido Affiliate income is an absolute no brainer for any independent publisher or author. Vivian Arend wrote a comprehensive guide about making the…
KWL EP 124 – Eve Langlais
Kobo Writing Life Podcast Insights and inspiration for growing your self-publishing business, featuring interviews with bestselling authors and publishing experts. In this episode, Stephanie sits down…
5 Children’s Books That You Can Read Again, And Again, And Again
By Dani Di Placido I read an article online a couple of years ago, stating that most American parents read to their children for less than…
What, Why, and How Readers Read: 10 Fun Facts
This one is for those stat-hungry authors among you! A KWL author conducted a reader survey: here are some of the take-home messages.
4 Steps to Starting Your Novel
By Signe Pike “I’m working on a novel” If you’ve ever uttered these words you are most likely acquainted with the particular horrors of trying to…
KWL EP 123 – Shayla Black
KWL EP 123 – Shayla Black In this episode, Stephanie and Laura sit down with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shayla Black.…
Killing it at the Dublin Murder One Conference
KWL author Robert Craven was invited to do a reading at the 2018 Murder One festival in Dublin. Here he shares some snippets about his experience.
The Best Romance Novels for Fall 2018
Originally posted on Kobo.com There’s a chill in the air, leaves are falling, and we’re layering up with scarves and sweater dresses. But who says that…
Go Global with Literary Translation
We’ve partnered with Language+ Literary Translations, a team of experienced translators who specialize in literary genres. Language+ Literary Translations will offer a special discount to Kobo Writing Life authors as part of our partnership.
Ready, Set, WRITE! NaNoWriMo 2018 is kicking off!
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) began today! Wishing all you NaNoNovelists a fantastic month of writing!
KWL EP 122 – Toronto Public Library
KWL director Chrissy Munroe spoke with digital collections specialists Maria Cipriano and Beth Godlewski, who were informative, engaging and hilarious. Tune in to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify or anywhere you can download podcasts!
Literary Round Up: October 26th
By Joni Di Placido Happy Friday! Before we head into the weekend, let’s recap what’s been happening in the world of books this week! The…
Publishing (And Pasta!) at the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera
This literary festival is a unique conference in Europe dedicated to women’s fiction, with a four-day program for authors to learn more about the craft of writing fiction; the book market; the new landscape of both traditional and self-publishing.
KWL Author Takeover #4: Damon Courtney
The Kobo Writing Life team is excited to announce our latest Facebook takeover on October 26th 2018. From 12:00 PM-1:00 PM EST, our takeover host, Damon Courtney from Bookfunnel will be answering all your questions on the Kobo Writing Life Facebook page.
Each person who comments with a question and “likes” the Kobo Writing Life page will be automatically entered to win one of two $25 gift cards to the Kobo store.
How To Win NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo is a fun way to connect with a global writing community and a great way to focus on really prioritizing your writing for 30 days
KWL EP 119 – Sasha Cottman
KWL EP 119 – Sasha Cottman In this week’s episode, Chrissy sits down with Australian author Sasha Cottman. Sasha talks to us about her first-year…
Literary Round Up: October 12
By Joni Di Placido Welcome to this week’s literary round up! What’s new in the wonderful world of books this week? HUGE thank you to everyone…
How To Build An Author Platform And Why You Need One
By Victoria M. Patton First, what is an author platform? In essence, it’s a way for you to reach your potential readers, fans, followers, and ultimately…
Self-Care Strategies for Authors on World Mental Health Day
While many of us work to keep ourselves physically well and look after our bodies, it’s easy to neglect our mental health. This is a gentle reminder today and every day, to be kind to yourselves and take care of you.
Writer in residence: Learning the Difference Between a café and a cabin
By Vannessa Barnier After working 9-5 for six months, I was itching to get into the woods and wash my hair with dirt. I organize poetry…
Why Library Discovery is the Best Discovery
If I could focus on one means of discovery for my books, I’d focus on libraries.
The Best Podcasts for Writers
by Christine Munroe Happy International Podcast Day! These days, it seems like everyone has a podcast (including us!). But there are only so many hours and…
Weekly Round Up: Sept 28th
By Joni Di Placido Hello hello! Thanks to Marina for keeping this going while I was flitting around NYC last weekend! Chrissy is in NINC this…
Meet Marina, KWL’s Newest Staff Member!
Hi Marina! We’re really happy to have you on board! Can you tell our authors a little about yourself? Hello! My name is Marina, and I…
Academics Should Consider Self-Publishing—Here’s Why
What I can say is this: Whether through Kobo, or through a different platform, I am absolutely convinced that more professors will soon be self-publishing.
Literary Round Up, Sept 14th
By Joni Di Placido If you’re based in NYC, or visiting for the weekend, the Brooklyn Book Fest looks pretty incredible – let us know in…
Carrie Ann Ryan is Taking Over!
The Kobo Writing Life team is excited to announce our latest author takeover on September 21st 2018. From 1:00 pm-2:00 pm EST, our author takeover host,…
KWL Podcast EP 117 – Kevin Tumlinson
KWL EP 117 – Kevin Tumlinson In this episode Chrissy interviews award-winning and bestselling author, Kevin Tumlinson. Kevin talks to us about overcoming the stigma of…
Four Unexpected Lessons from My Trip to Australia
by Chrissy Munroe Once upon a time, in 1996, there was an older sister, whose younger sister went to Australia for a soccer training trip, while…
Reflections: The Inner World of a Multi-Genre Author
By Barbara Avon Enter, if you will, the mind of a multi-genre author. Images, ideas and words swirl aimlessly in my mind. A 3 a.m. wake-up…
Literary Round Up!
By Joni Di Placido And we’re back, post long-weekend! I hope those of you in North America enjoyed the last long weekend of summer and are…
How to Do Everything
by Dr. Melissa Yi KWL: Hi, Melissa. How come you’re wearing a white coat? Melissa: Because I’m an emergency doctor. I also have one husband, two…
How I Found My Story and Made Sense of My Early Drafts
By Mackenzie Belcastro For eight months, my novel went through a series of identity crises. My high fantasy morphed into magical realism, as I killed my…
The Best Audiobooks for your Labour Day Weekend
By Stephanie McGrath We recently spoke to an audiobook narrator Sean Pratt for an episode of the Kobo Writing Life podcast (listen here) and it got…
KWL Podcast EP 116 – Sean Pratt, Audiobook Narrator
KWL EP 116 – Sean Pratt Join Steph and Joni as they sit down with Sean Pratt, an audiobook narrator who has recorded over 975 audiobooks.…
6 Literary Destinations Every Book Lover Should Visit
By Carmen Giraudy, Kobo Content Operations Manager There are a multitude of bookstore bucket lists available out there, describing the stores serious book lovers should visit…
Literary Round Up: Dispatches from Around The Web
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…
The Walmart eBook Store is Now Open!
Good Morning Authors! Early this morning, Kobo launched eBooks with Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. Kobo’s CEO, Michael Tamblyn, has more details to share below: Walmart’s…
KWL at Romancing the Capital, 2018
By Tara Cremin The fourth annual Romancing the Capital conference took place in Ottawa on August 2-4th. The conference is the brainchild of New York Times…
KWL Author Takeover #2: Adam Croft!
I’ve been writing crime fiction and psychological thrillers for a decade now, and have been self-publishing for around eight years.
I’m now fortunate enough to have sold more than 1.5 million books all around the world, and I’ve reached the position where I’m able to give something back.
KWL EP 115- Rachael Herron and J. Thorn
KWL EP 115 – Rachael Herron and J. Thorn In this episode, Chrissy chats with authors Rachael Herron and J. Thorn from the Writer’s Well podcast…
My 30-Year Road Trip to Indie Publishing
It’s a great time to be an author.
KWL EP 114 – Scott Bintz
KWL EP 114 – Scott Bintz In this episode, Chrissy chats to Scott Bintz, the founder of RealTruck.com, a 100-million-dollar e-commerce store from North Dakota. Recently,…
The Wonder Women of Steele Ridge
We’ve all been traditionally published and wanted the control and flexibility that independent publishing would allow us. Traditional publishers don’t tend to be interested in collaborations like our Steele Ridge series, but we had a vision and wanted to make it a reality.
Overcoming Writer’s Block with Automatic Transcription
Here’s the core idea: thinking out loud is often less arduous than writing. And it’s now easier than ever to combine the two, thanks to recent advances in speech recognition technology.
KWL Author Takeover Series: BRYAN COHEN
The Kobo Writing Life team is excited to announce our first author takeover on July 27th 2018. From 1:00 pm-2:00 pm EST, our author takeover host,…
KWL EP 113 – All About EPUBs with Simon Collinson and Ben Dugas from Kobo
KWL EP 113 – All About EPUBs with Simon Collinson and Ben Dugas from Kobo Join Chrissy as she sits down with EPUB experts Simon Collinson…
Where Did Your Writing Journey Begin?
I believe that everyone has a story to tell. Mine began in a library.
A Librarian’s Top Five Tips For Indie Authors
By Joni Di Placido With library distribution via OverDrive now available to all KWL authors, we want to ensure our authors can take full advantage of…