Literary Round Up, Sept 21st
News from around the book world this week.
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…
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…
How I Make a Six-Figure Income From My Writing
I’m in this business for the long term, so I’m always looking to the future and keeping an eye on the volatility of markets. The publishing industry can and does change on a dime, sometimes without notice
Kobo Announces Partnership With Walmart
As announced in Tokyo yesterday, Rakuten Kobo and Walmart are entering a strategic alliance, making Walmart the exclusive mass retail partner of the Kobo brand in the US.
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.
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
KoboWriMo Update: #TheStruggleIsReal
By Joni Di Placido I got a lot of dark glares when I asked the Kobo team for updates this week. Everyone is all out…
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.
Team KoboWriMo 2017: Fifteen Days In
Today, I wanted to know where everybody has set their novels, and what inspired them to choose that setting?
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…
Team KoboWriMo 2017
Aaaaand the big day is here at last! Here at Kobo we have an intrepid team of fifteen staff members (our biggest yet!) attempting the…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 094 – Heather Tucker
It’s never too late to start writing.
Kobo 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…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 092 – Charles de Lint
In Episode 92, Mark Lefebvre interviews Charles de Lint, who is the author of more than seventy books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 091 – Special Audiobook Announcement: Let Me Tell You A Story
Episode 91 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, narrated by Jim Dale, beloved actor and narrator for the Harry Potter books in Canada and the United…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 90 – Mr W’s Math Study Guides
Episode 90 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast features an interview with Dennis Weichman, (AKA, Mr. W.), a retired math teacher who has brought his passion…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 88 – Five Strategies for Using Free
Episode 88 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast isn’t the usual interview, but rather, features KWL’s Director, Mark Lefebvre outlining five strategies that successful authors use…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 85 – Scaachi Koul
Episode 85 of the KWL Podcast contains an interview with Scacchi Koul conducted by Johanna Schneller about Scacchi’s new book One Day We’ll All Be…
Kobo Writing Life Gets Lit Up!
KWL Director, Mark Lefebvre was recently a guest on Lit Up! with Angela Breidenbach on TogiNet Radio. In the interview, Mark talks a bit about his…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 83 – RT Booklovers Conference Part 2
This episode continues from where episode 82 left off with KWL’s recent live interviews with attendees from RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in early…
6 Winners of Kobo’s “6 Novels In Search of An Author” Italian Writing Competition
On Thursday, April 20, 2017 the 6 winners of Kobo Writing Life’s collaborative publishing prize (Six Novels in Search of an Author – the name inspired…
TCK Publishing Podcast Interview with Kobo Writing Life’s Mark Lefebvre
Tom Corson-Knowles, Founder of TCK Publishing, recently interviewed KWL Director Mark Lefebvre on the TCK Publishing Podcast. In the interview, Tom and Mark discuss a wide…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 79 – Julie Czerneda on Dreamers & Dreamweavers
Julie Czerneda, an international bestselling science fiction and fantasy author from Canada, was one of the Author Guests of Honour at the 2016 When Words Collide…
Kobo Plus Launched in Netherlands
On February 22, 2017, Rakuten Kobo and bol.com launched ‘Kobo Plus’ – a new subscription service offering readers the largest all-you-can-read selection of digital books in…
Kobo Writing Life Community
In the past month, the Kobo Writing Life team has migrated our author care email system over to a new one (ZenDesk) in a move that…
Third Annual Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Announcement
THIRD ANNUAL KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS Award shines a spotlight on debut authors – includes monetary prize and marketing support for books across…
A 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…
Top 25 Bestselling KWL Titles from 2016
Self-Published titles at Kobo represent nearly 1 in every 4 books sold in the English language for 2016. To spotlight some of the highest selling titles…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 073 – Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead is the author of Zone One; Sag Harbor; The Intuitionist, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award; John Henry Days, which won the Young Lions…
The Creative Penn Podcast Celebrates 300 Episodes
Kobo Writing Life is a proud sponsor of The Creative Penn podcast for a very good reason: Because of the incredible value that Joanna Penn brings…
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…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 072 – Affinity Konar
Described as “One of the most harrowing, powerful, and imaginative books of the year” Affinity Konar’s MISCHLING is a novel about twin sisters fighting to survive…
Kobo Writing Life Titles Top Best-selling and Best-Read Lists in UK
In a recent media release in time for the UK’s FutureBook conference, Kobo’s PR and Communications team released some stats based on reading data that has…
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…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 071 – Robert Harris
Executive Vice President of Publisher Relations and Content at Kobo, Pieter Swinkels introduces a “Kobo in Conversation” interview of Robert Harris about his latest book, Conclave.…
New Country Store View on Kobo
You may have noticed that we’ve recently made some adjustments to our store at www.kobo.com. You now can see how our store looks in different countries,…
Go 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…
What I Do: Alex Adsett on the Ins and Outs of Working as a Literary Agent
by Malcolm Neil For most of us, working as a literary agent seems like a dream. Reading books for a living, hobnobbing with incredible creators from…
Rakuten Kobo Keeps Sainsbury’s eBook Customers Reading Digitally
Rakuten Kobo, a global digital reading company created by booklovers for booklovers, is working with Sainsbury’s Entertainment on Demand (part of Sainsbury’s, one of the UK’s…
Kobo Brings eReading Service to Taiwan, and Traditional Chinese Titles to the World
Taiwan’s booklovers have reason to celebrate this week, as Rakuten Kobo officially launches a local eReading service. The launch marks not only the arrival in Taiwan…
An Interview with Aussie Author Tony Wilson
by Malcolm Neil Tony Wilson is having quite a year. Recent highlights include a CBCA shortlisted children’s picture book; the launch of his speech aggregation site Speakola; producing and…
How 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…
Announcing Kobo Aura One
For many, reading is not just a pastime, but an identity. Inspired by that insight, Rakuten Kobo announces Kobo Aura ONE, which was designed with the…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 064 – Robyn Baldwin
In Episode 64 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Robyn Baldwin, author of Love Lost, Life Found: 8 Practical Steps to…
Books I Read & Books I Keep: Kobo’s Head Bookseller, Nathan Maharaj
By Ben Landau Everyone has books they can’t bear to part with. Whether due to sentimental or decorative value, or just the fear of parting with…
Kobo In Conversation: Sylvia Day
We caught up with Sylvia Day on her “One With You” book tour to talk about reading and writing—and then we got a bit more personal……
Second Annual Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Shortlist Announced
Toronto, ON – April 19, 2016 – Rakuten Kobo, in search for the best new books written by debut Canadian authors, today announced the shortlist for…
Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Episode 055 – Behind the Scenes at Kobo
For this episode, we’re doing something a little different: offering you a sneak peek behind the scenes here at Kobo to share some insights from several…