How Going Wide Helped Me Quit My Day Job
by Tracy Cooper-Posey Here’s a question for you: Why did you get into indie publishing?
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 099 – BookBub
The episode you can’t miss: how to sell more books with BookBub.
Single-Focus Marketing (or How to Write Better Email Newsletters)
We all want to increase our reader engagement, right? More social media comments, more newsletter opens, more purchases. But did you know that offering more choices might actual result in less action from your readers?
Author Experience: Judy Ford on Cover Design
Author Judy Ford discusses her experience using the Kobo Writing Life cover design service.
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 098 – Rachel Amphlett
In Episode 98, Mark Lefebvre interviews bestselling Australian thriller author Rachel Amphlett, who came to Kobo HQ during her international author tour. Rachel, her husband Nick, and Mark sat down to talk about how she finds inspiration, never giving up, sticking to a schedule, and more
Free 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…
2017 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 – Final…
Multi-Layered Readers and How to Reach Them
When I thought about my readers, I lumped them all into one huge bucket. When I sent an email newsletter to my 500 readers, I couldn’t understand why some didn’t open and others didn’t click. . .As an indie author, identifying your readers offers opportunity to brainstorm new ways to connect with her.
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 097 – James Alan Gardner & Spider Robinson
Mark Lefebvre interviews James Alan Gardner and Spider Robinson, co-editors of the Tesseracts Twenty: Compostela anthology. The stories in this anthology in their own way tell the tale of futuristic travelers who journey into the dark outer (or inner) reaches of space, searching for their own connections to the past, present and future relics of their time.
Five 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.…
Tips and Tools to Help You Complete NaNoWriMo (or any writing project)
You’re down to the wire. The deadline for NaNoWriMo (or another writing project) looms on the horizon. But you’re behind. You’re afraid you’re not going to make it. You simply don’t have enough time to write the requisite number of words at your typical writing pace. Or the words just won’t come. Or both. What’s a writer to do?
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 096 – Pep Talks from NaNoWriMo’s Grant Faulkner
It’s day 8 of National Novel Writing Month, which is perfect timing to listen to some excellent inspiration from Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. He…
Be A Smart Indie
If you’ve been an independent author for any length of time, you know the market has grown more competitive. So how can your books stand out in such a crowded marketplace?
Using Triggers to Poke at a Character’s Emotional Wound
When it comes to acknowledging what hurts us, the old saying, Deny, deny, deny! comes to mind. It’s no different with our characters, and in both cases, refusing to deal with wounding events carries a steep price.
Thank you, Mark
After six years at Kobo, Mark Lefebvre is leaving his position as Director of Kobo Writing Life in order to pursue other dreams. Mark built KWL…
What Is a Comma Splice?
By Mignon Fogarty How to Use Commas Commas are always tricky because there are so many different ways you can use them, but one of the most…
Fighting the Demon of Self-Doubt
By Eve Langlais When Kobo approached me for an article I jumped on it because how cool is that, to be asked to write something to…
YOU Are the Brand!
By putting your name front and centre, even if you’ve only sold to family and friends, you’re making a statement that you deserve to be discovered.
Making Promotional Videos on the Cheap
I started making videos last July to promote my first novel, A Time and a Place, published October 1st 2017 by Five Rivers Publishing. I chose videos as a primary means of promotion because I believed they could make the biggest impact, and I could distribute them via multiple platforms for free.
How do I make a change to my book after it is published on the Kobo store?
By Stephanie McGrath You have successfully published your book and it is now live on our store. Congratulations! However, you notice a typo that needs immediate…
NaNoPlanno: Tools for NaNoWriMo Prep
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month: a frenzy of writing with the goal of producing a 50,000-word novel during the thirty days of November.
The Five Stages Of Revising Your Novel
You’ve finished a first draft of your novel. Now what?
Learn to love Microsoft Word
By Joan Frantschuk Have you ever screamed at Word because it just will not cooperate? Word is a writer’s best tool, best resource, best friend. Writing a…
Even Snowflakes Follow the Rules
The art of storytelling has been around as long as language, and its current form—what story nerds call structure—is not an accident. It works. It resonates. It strikes all the right chords deep inside the lizard part of our brains.
Sunburst Award Winners Announced!
Huge congratulations to Claire Humphrey, winner of the 2017 Sunburst Award for Adult Fiction! Kobo Writing Life is proud to be a sponsor of the Sunburst…
5 Habits of the World’s Most Successful Writers
by Justin Osborn Every writer dreams about the moment when their work hits the bestseller list. We wish for the perseverance and inspiration to churn out…
Five things I learned at a professional writers workshop
By Barbara G. Tarn As an introvert, marketing one’s own work is a huge challenge. Free advertising seems like a great way to get your name…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 094 – Heather Tucker
It’s never too late to start writing.
Multi-Author Bundles: Dos and Don’ts
by Donna Fasano Multi-author anthologies require a lot of hard work. However, if 100% of the participating authors pull together to make the boxed set a…
Find your next read and promote your books with Helloreads
How do you decide what you’re reading next? Checking various book lists? Asking friends? Browsing endlessly through the bottomless internet? Helloreads has built one platform to…
Happy International Podcast Day!
by Christine Munroe September 30 is International Podcast Day, and we’re excited to join this “international celebration of the power of podcasts.” You can spread the…
6 Social Media Tips Just for Authors
By Frances Caballo You’ve self-published your book, celebrated your launch, and sold books to most of your friends, family members and colleagues. Now, you’re even blogging. But…
Are you a KWL Affiliate yet?
You can earn more with Kobo Writing Life’s Author Affiliate program! This program is free to join, easy to sign-up, and requires no technical knowledge. It’s…
Let’s Get Social
Are you looking for more ways to promote your books on Kobo? Are you looking to build your author profile on social media? Kobo Writing Life…
Supporting The Survival Instinct
By Janie Crouch I write romantic suspense. Best job in the world. In every book I write there comes a moment when the main characters have…
The “Sweet 16” First Lines of Your Manuscript
by Chris Mandeville The first page of your manuscript contains only sixteen lines, and this “sweet sixteen” is an essential tool for hooking a reader. If…
Author Experience: Jason Currie on Cover Design
KWL author Jason Currie discusses his experience using Kobo Writing Life’s cover design service.
Which Came First? Awesome Writing Tools with All the Answers
by Chris Mandeville The other day I was talking to another writer about the young adult time travel story I’m writing. Her first question was,…
Are You On Track to Meet Your Writing Goals?
by Chris Mandeville At the start of a new year, it’s common to take stock of where we are in our careers and set goals for…
Tech 101: Reflowable EPUBs VS Fixed Layout EPUBs
Last summer, Kobo Writing Life launched its professional EPUB conversion service on the Author Services tab of the Dashboard. Since then, we’ve seen one question come…
Music: a Tool to Help Writers Focus?
by Chris Mandeville It can be easy to lose focus when trying to write, especially when there’s distracting stuff going on around you. According to psychiatry…
Cruising Writers France 2017 Retreat
Feed Your Creativity with a Writing Retreat This time of year, it’s easy to crawl into our writing hole and disappear for a few months. We…
Eat Your Words! A Tool to Carve Out Writing Time
by Chris Mandeville Life is fast-paced and full, and we’re all busy, even during an average month. But during the holiday season, we add all sorts…
How to Grow Sales in France
If you write in English and have translated your books into French or some other foreign language, you’ve undoubtedly found yourself faced with the unique challenge…
2016 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…
Ebook Quality Assurance: The last 20% is the most important
by Joshua Tallent You’ve done it! You finally finished the last sentence of your book. Maybe it was the novel you wrote for NANOWRIMO (my 12-year-old…
The Essential Proofreading Toolkit for Creative Writers
by Gloria Kopp When writing creatively, it is important that the words flow well. But it is equally important that the words are correct. Spelling, punctuation…
Rakuten Kobo and FNAC Partner To Lead The Digital Book Industry in Spain
Rakuten Kobo, leading innovator in eBooks and digital reading, today announced it has partnered with Fnac, beloved retailer of cultural, entertainment and technology products, to bring…
Take a Hike! A Writing Tool. Really.
by Chris Mandeville Any hikers out there in writer-land? Or writers who love to go for walks? Well, hiking-slash-walking isn’t just for pleasure-slash-exercise. It can actually…
Best-Selling Books That Started From NaNoWriMo
It’s the end of week 3 of NaNoWriMo and anyone participating might be hitting a slump. But keep your chin up and your hands on the…