Happy Sunday, WG2E-Land Peeps!
Have y’all seen this announcement?!
Kobo made this announcement at BEA (Book Expo America) this week in NYC!
And it means that they’ll soon be in the Self-Publishing Platform Biz right along with Amazon’s KDP and B&N’s Nook PubIt!
Check out both their blog about it and their site too:
Kobo Announces Writing Life – Best-in-Class Open, Collaborative Self-Publishing Portal
Kobo Writing Life: Publishing Soon
It looks like they’re gonna have some fabulous built-in analytics (which you can get peeks at from their blog linked to above)!
Also, so you’ll be one of the first to know all the details, you can sign-up on their site to be emailed when it’s ready to roll!
It’s Your Turn, WG2E-Land: What do y’all think about Kobo’s next move? Will this make them a huge fourth player in Self-Publishing Platforms? (That would give us KDP, PubIt, Smashwords and now Kobo too. I know Apple has one, but it’s still only available to direct use for Mac Users, right?) How many of y’all will use Kobo directly instead of getting to Kobo via Smashwords?
The Best of Self-Publishing Platforms Wishes — D. D. Scott
I’m very excited to see this new development. Competition is a healthy practice and I hope to see Kobo flourish.
I am somewhat biased, admittedly, being one of the lucky beta test authors for the new Kobo self-publishing platform. Only last night I fed my first manuscript into the new Kobo portal.
I’m very excited to make the Kobo Writing Life part of my own writing life.
How exciting that you were one of the beta test authors for this platform, Steve!!! Very cool!!!
Can you tell us a bit about it…for example, the features you really loved?
Thanks sooo much for sharing your thoughts!!!
Thanks for the links, D. D. I’ve been meaning to learn more about this. I hope only that Canadians will be able to directly publish through them. At the moment, we can’t through Barnes & Nobles. That’s their loss.
By the way, I linked to this post in a post I made today to share the news.
I hope it’s open internationally too, Diane! (But yes, if Steve was able to beta test and now load…perhaps!)
And B&N has said they’ll be opening up to international authors too in the near future! Yayyy!!!
Yay – I hope they do both open up to non US authors. It’s very exciting news!
Exciting indeed, Sibel!!!
I think it’s a good thing. For starters it cuts out the weeks of waiting to get from Smashwords to Kobo especially when you’re doing a book launch.
I’ll certainly be using it because I can get to readers at WHSmiths a whole lot quicker.
I totally agree, Kiru!
I’ve also had a bit of trouble with Smashwords lately saying that my books are available on Kobo and when I go to Kobo to link to ‘em can’t find ‘em all.
So, heads up, WG2E-Land Peeps…follow up with each platform Smashwords says you’re on because you’re not always there!!!
…but if Steve Vernon, a Nova Scotia writer like me, can work with Kobo, then I’ll be able to as well. Unless Steve has connections with the United States that I don’t.
Cheers to hoping y’all sooo can use Kobo, Diane! That would really be a big game changer for all of you superfab international peeps!!!
I think this is a great thing for all of us. I don’t like Smashwords for anything that’s not free. I just don’t trust them to give accurate accountings. Working directly with Kobo will be another great way to find new readers. Apple is also making it easier, but still has a lot of issues. thanks for another great post DeeDee!
It does seem that Smashword’s accounting is very inconsistent, Elizabeth. I don’t get how sometimes we receive numbers weekly or bi-weekly then other times it’s a month before new numbers are posted. ‘Course that could mean that the platforms aren’t reporting to Smashwords consistently either. So, it might not be their fault.
But, that said, I’m selling a ton of books via Smashwords on Apple and the three I have on Nook via Smashwords (the rest I went direct with PubIt once it launched) are HUGE money makers for me!!!
I’m now making several thousand dollars there per quarter and don’t want to lose that momentum for Apple and those three Nook books via Smashwords.
Kobo, on the other hand, I have not done well at all on via Smashwords. In fact, Smashwords says my book are on Kobo, but all of them are not when you search for them on Kobo.
I have just signed up to get the first news about it. It looks v exciting. I think I might use it when it goes live, hopefully in time for my next Angel book to come out. I can’t wait to see what happens with this one. Will still use Smashwords to get my ebooks to all other platforms.
Yayyy for you for trying Kobo, Julie! Going direct with any provider/platform seems to be the best move now-days.
any thoughts yets as to the pros and cons re going direct with kobo vs through smashwords?
thanks
Great question, Adan!
See the scoop I posted above in reply to Elizabeth…also…
In general, Smashwords accounting has a lot to be desired. And it’s also not in real-time. Meaning, you don’t get your sales numbers til a week, couple weeks or month plus after they’ve occurred.
Also, there are no analytics that I’m aware of with Smashwords…unless that’s changed and I haven’t found ‘em yet. That’s another challenge with Smashwords…just finding anything period.
For payment, Smashwords does not do direct deposit across the board (although, I did just do a beta test for them this last quarter for direct deposit for top sellers only). Other than that, they pay quarterly via Paypal vs. monthly via direct deposit via KDP and PubIt. Not sure what Kobo will do for that…
All that said, I’m delighted to have Smashwords because, at this time, that’s the only way to get to platforms like Apple (unless you use a Mac) and Diesel (which has really picked up lately) as well as Sony and Baker & Taylor.
I will stick with Smashwords. If I publish to Smashwords, KDP, Pubit!, and now Kobo directly, it requires me to format and convert for three more sites. I found that KDP does not format reliably when they convert from a Word document to MOBI, so I convert the MS myself and check it before uploading it. I would likely do the same for other sites. With the corresponding changes to the front matter, license notes and other issues to satisfy the terms of multiple sites, it takes excessive time to make even a minor change. With Smashwords it’s one upload and it’s done. I’ve never had cause to complain about Smashwords. I find them a very ethical company.
Doug if you convert word to htlm it will load flawlessly on Amazon and Pubit.
I hear ya, Doug, and that’s one reason I don’t format on my own. I use 52 Novels (whom I adore) and let them make all the versions I need.
I will say though that Smashwords formatting is the toughest to master, according to all the format gurus I’ve talked to. So, if you’ve got that mastered, you could definitely handle KDP, PubIt and now Kobo too!
It’s Smashwords’ non real-time reporting, quarterly payments versus monthly payments and their non-user friendly reports that drive me nuts. But that said, I totally get there’s not much they can do about the first two issues since they can’t report to and pay us until they get the data and the dollars from the channels.
I particularly like the analytics. I wish Amazon gave us such a detailed sales breakdown.
That’s one thing I’d luuuuvvv to see Amazon do more of too, Rosen…analytics. I think they are doing some now for Select Authors only, right?
Excellent news, D.D. I love to see a fresh face in the mix. Anything that offers authors another way to spread the word and get their books out there is a good thing!
I sooo agree, PJ…the more direct channels we have to readers, the better!!!
D.D. Thank you for another excellent, timely, and relevant post. I did not see that notice. But then, I’ve been reading BEA blogs from Big-6 & agents associated with the old school, so it’s little wonder.
Canadian friends: I know several “trans-nationals” who live in Toronto, Vancouver, etc and keep a business address in the US. They highly recommend going that route to open a bigger market. They tell me, “we have to do that until our 51st state status is finalized.”
LOL, Seeley…I don’t spend much time on those TradiPub Blogs anymore…and I’m thrilled you’re finding what you need right here at The WG2E!!!
It does seem like for now, having a US business address could be a definite “in” for international authors! Thanks Bunches for bringing up that point!!!
Thanks for letting us know about this. I popped on over and signed up for info.
Yayyy, Alison! See you on Kobo’s Writing Life!!!
This looks good, Dee Dee.
Competition is a healthy thing and I notice that here in the UK. The retailer, WH Smith, who sells Kobo’s have just slashed the prices of the device by 50% to £49.99. That’ll give Kindle a run for their money! Now, I’d really love to see B&N open their doors to foreign writers and hope the Microsoft link might bring the Nook to a world audience.
I do think Kobo is going to make a huge play for some of Kindle’s market share, CC, and also think they’ll be the big player for Asian and other Pacific Rim readers.
And ohhh yeahhh, with Microsoft now a major voice in Nook, I’d look for them 2g global and very fast at that!!!
Quite interesting info, D.D.!
It is going to be a fascinating development to watch and work in, Jeanne!
My books are already on Kobo–I uploaded them directly. It wasn’t difficult, because they had good instructions, but there were a number of steps. The other drawback is you don’t get real time viewing of your sales. I’m excited about the new portal because it’ll be easier to upload and we’ll be able to see our sales in real time. Yay!
I like how they’re calling this a “portal”, Delaney! It has a very nice and techno-forward sound to it!!!
Do you know if Kobo will now pay monthly too like KDP and PubIt and via direct deposit?
I don’t know, but it’ll be nice.
I saw that Kobo is going with 70% starting at $1.99. That was exciting. And I’m starting to sell well there too.
So glad to hear you’re doing great on Kobo, Jill! Go, Girl, Go! And thanks for the great scoop on Kobo’s royalty rates…I hadn’t heard that yet!
This is obviously a hot topic D.D.! I see author, Tonya Kappes is also blogging about it today. As a Canadian author, I’m thrilled to hear Kobo has finally jumped on the bandwagon in such a big way. As others have said, competition is good for business, and we can use all the advantages we can get. Thanks for keeping us all informed and up to date on who’s doing what in the industry. Now, as writers start using these systems, let’s hear the feedback on how it’s working for them.
Thanks once again.