KWL EP 137 – Nana Malone
In this episode, Stephanie and Marina interview USA Today best-selling author Nana Malone. Nana talks to us about her writing journey and how adapting and changing…
Telling vs. Showing When Emotions Are at Work
By Angela Ackerman Show, Don’t Tell is one of those writerly phrases thrown out often enough that many writers can’t help but roll their eyes when…
Calling All Authors: The Indie Unconference is coming to Italy!
By Elizabeth Jennings and Tiziana D’Oppido The Indie Unconference, Europe will take place in April 11–13 2019 in Matera, Italy SPECIAL GUESTS: Camille Mofidi and Sandra Lonchamp of Kobo Writing Life,…
The Best of the KWL Blog 2018
Happy New Year from us all at Kobo Writing Life! As we leave 2018 behind, let’s take a moment to celebrate and revisit some of the…
Update: New Categories for your Book
You’ll now have the option to browse through over 2,000 categories to find the ones that best suit your book and help tell your story.
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…
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.…
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.
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…
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…
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.
My 30-Year Road Trip to Indie Publishing
It’s a great time to be an author.
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.
Promoting 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…
KWL at RT Booklovers 2018
By Tara Cremin Last month, thousands of romance writers and fans converged for the annual Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. What most people didn’t know upon…
Now is the Time to be the Writer You Want to Be
There has never been a better time to be an independent author. Powerful platforms like Kobo have made it possible for us to write the stories we want to write and put them before a huge audience that, twenty years ago, wouldn’t have been available to us.
How I Became an Author in Retirement
by Michele Sabad We define ourselves in various ways, depending on time, mood, inclination. Many of our identities are stable throughout life. I am a woman.…
Turning a Passion into a Podcast: Adam Croft and Robert Daws—Partners in Crime
There aren’t many jobs in which you can meet up with friends and colleagues for a beer or a coffee and discuss the best way to dispose of a dead body.
5 Ways Travel Writers Earn Money From Their Craft
The most successful travel writers today are not writing for magazines on the newsstand or books on a store shelf.
The Lasso of Truth About Entrepreneurial Publishing
Independently publishing my books gives me freedom and empowers me to pursue my passions, connect with my fans, and create the life I always dreamed of.
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 106 – Maxwell Alexander Drake
In this episode, Chrissy Munroe interviews award-winning author and creative writing instructor Maxwell Alexander Drake.
The 5 Traits That All Successful Authors Share
Great authors are seldom born; instead they’re moulded, sculpted and polished over time.
Marie Force: Building a Self-Publishing Empire
My life was changed forever by self-publishing, and I’ll always be thankful for the opportunity to take control of my career.
Indie Publishing: Making Time and Everything Else Your Friend
For me, becoming an independent publisher (nice ring, right?) has given me back the happiness and joy I used to receive from writing.
10 Things Top Kobo Authors Have in Common
Christine will be hosting a free Bublish webinar on Wednesday, March 21 to talk about what’s new and exciting at KWL and what’s driving book sales at Kobo today.
Exclusive Preview of Holly Evans’ Latest Book!
The Kobo Writing Life blog is getting the first peek at Holly Evans’ newest title, Blood of The Wolf, available for preorder now only on Kobo.
The Queer Eye: LGBT+ Voices in Fiction
When I’m asked why on earth I write gay and bi protagonists, the answer’s really very simple. I’m bi, I grew up around a lot of LGBT+ people, and the majority of my close circle are LGBT+, so I’m doing what writers are told to do again and again—I’m writing what I know.
Not Taboo Anymore: The Rise of Self-Publishing in the Netherlands
The idea of the indie movement is slowly spreading in the Netherlands and I personally think that our 17th century forefathers would be proud to see that their adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit is still alive and well.
Interview with Cecile Bertod (AKA Celia Hayes)
Sandra Lonchamp, our European Coordinator, interviews Italian KWL superstar Cecile Bertod.
What Makes A Good Author Bio?
Like yodelling on a mountaintop, when I say the words ‘author bio’ I can hear the collective author groan echo from every corner of the globe. Like eating your vegetables or doing your taxes, writing your author bio is unfortunately an inescapable part of literary life.
Read a Book, Help Find a Cure
KWL author Terry Odell is splitting her February royalties for her novel “Deadly Engagement” with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
From Chaos to Success: My First Twelve Months as an Indie.
Valentine’s Day celebrates love. For me, it also celebrates my first twelve months as an indie author. Some fifteen years after writing the first draft…
How to Reach Readers on Kobo
By C.J. Archer C.J. first started publishing independently in 2011 and was an immediate success—making enough to become a full-time author within her first year.…
Go Wide, Go Big—Go For It!
KWL is a team of 7 strong women running a major pillar of Kobo’s content catalogue. We LOVE hearing stories about how self-publishing empowers female writers to build booming independent publishing businesses, making enough money through writing to quit their day jobs, and even hire their partners, family members, or friends to support them. Here Julia Kent shares her tips for success.
Renowned KWL author K.L. Slater shares tips for twisty tales
Everybody loves a twist, right?
A great twist is an enticing prospect for many readers in choosing their next read and it is my view, this is never more important than in the psychological thriller.
5 Ways to Make Your Editor Think You are Awesome
By Lisa Lepki As the Editor of ProWritingAid’s blog, I am constantly reading submissions from writers, and few things irk me more than common technical gaffes…
An Editor Is Your Novel’s Best Friend
By Carrie D. Miller If you’ve taken the self-published route, you have a little more than a hint of control-freak in you. I know I do.…
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?
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?
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…
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.
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?
Once Upon A Time . . . Retelling Classic Fairytales
Fairytales are stories that never die. Storytellers breathe new life in them, but the essential tale is the same, because we love those stories so much.
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…
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…
The Five Stages Of Revising Your Novel
You’ve finished a first draft of your novel. Now what?