- We talk a lot about selling books on Amazon
and while Amazon might be the first place you think
about when it comes to publishing and selling your book,
Kobo is not one to ignore.
If you're wondering how to sell your e-book on Kobo,
then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Julie the Book Broad,
founder of the simply amazing author services team,
Book Launchers.
We help you take your idea from concept
to copies in reader's hands.
And those hands might be holding an e-book reader
that is not a Kindle device.
Move over Kindle.
Kobo rolled out a ton of exciting developments
within the last year.
And readers of e-books everywhere are taking notice.
And if you want a cool platform
that really supports authors, take notice, too.
In case Kobo is new to you,
here's a quick rundown to catch you up.
Kobo is originally a Canadian based retailer
of e-books, e-readers, and audio books that launched
in 2009 and is available in over 200 countries.
It's headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.
As a side note, I lived in Toronto for five years
and I did my MBA at York University,
riding the good old TTC all the way out there.
So whenever I talk about Toronto,
I get this warm place in my heart,
except for when I think about that bus ride.
(Julie laughs)
Anyway, Kobo is now a subsidiary
of the Japanese eCommerce conglomerate Rakuten.
But Kobo is the second largest e-book retailer
in the world and the biggest global competitor
to Amazon in the e-book market.
And what's really cool is they seem
to be a genuinely great company.
They're often praised for their stellar customer service
and they even helped provide over 20 million free books
to readers stuck at home during the pandemic.
Their mission isn't just reader focused.
Kobo offers some awesome opportunities for authors
through their free self-publishing platform,
Kobo Writing Life.
I know it might be scary to think about branching away
from Amazon and widening your book distribution.
It's your book distribution.
It says description in my brain.
All right.
(beep)
I know it might be a little scary to think about
but branching out from Amazon
and widening your book distribution with Kobo
could kick your sales up to the next level
before your book even launches.
I'm talking about pre-sales.
I've talked all about that precious pre-sale launch period,
pre-sale rankings, and how pre-orders benefit your book
in the long term.
And I'll hook you up with a video at the end on pre-sale
but before you go and watch that,
do say hello in the comments after you watch this video
because video creation is way more fun and rewarding
when you have an active audience.
Plus when you comment the date a video is released,
you'll be entered to win some fabulous Book Launcher swag
and you can become a YouTube bestie.
It's an elite group of awesome authors.
See all these wonderful people that you'll be joining.
Now, Kobo makes setting up your book
for pre-order very simple.
You simply make a Kobo Writing Life account,
log in, click e-books.
And from there you'll head to create new e-book
where you'll input your metadata,
add your description, and upload your cover.
You'll also wanna hop on over to edit categories
on that same page and select up to three categories
for your book within that Kobo library.
Need some category research and selection tips?
I got you covered on that, too.
I'll link to that video at the end.
Once all of that is squared away,
you can upload your content file
in a doc, docx, odt, ePub, or mobi format.
Make sure to select the right release date
and voila just like that your e-book will be available
to purchase on Kobo.com within 24 to 72 hours.
Even if your book isn't ready in terms of final files,
you can still set it up for pre-order.
Simply upload a placeholder file that you can later replace
once that final version is ready.
Customers can take a sneak peek
and preview you the first 5% of an e-book.
So use this to your advantage
when creating your placeholder file.
Include the title page, copyright,
and if it's ready a chapter or two.
It also helps include a short note introducing yourself
to the reader, letting them know your book
is being finalized but available for pre-order
and share your social media
or other ways they can connect with you in the meantime.
Kobo also gives you full control
over your pricing and availability.
Don't you just love control?
Hear that Audible?
We authors like to control our pricing.
Audible might not be listening to me in this very moment
but I'm going to keep saying it because it drives me crazy
that I can't control the pricing on Audible.
But Kobo's pricing tool helps you set your perfect price
for over 16 currencies in 200 countries.
You can choose where you'd like your book
to be available for sale and optimize the pricing
for each individual territory.
And if you want to reach readers in libraries,
over 30,000 libraries, in fact,
KWL gives you the power to distribute directly
to them with Overdrive, a library marketplace.
Wanna hear the best part about pre-sale on Kobo though?
I'll tell you, but first hit that thumbs up button.
Done?
Okay, cool.
On Kobo, every pre-order sale has twice the effect
on ranking as a post-launch sale.
Yep, you heard me right.
A pre-order on Kobo counts twice
towards your book's rankings compared to a regular sale.
You don't get paid twice, but you do get 2X ranked.
Woo hoo.
Ranking works the same way across most retailers.
More sales means a higher ranking for your book
and a higher ranking means more customers browsing
for their next read will be shown your book's listing.
Every pre-order on Kobo, essentially doubles your increase
in visibility and discoverability.
That's an invaluable extra boost
for your pre-sale strategy that Amazon doesn't offer.
And a perk that keeps on giving
once launch day rolls around.
Give yourself enough time in pre-sale
to really take advantage
of those doubled pre-order benefits.
The longer you have your book available for pre-sale
and pair it with some strong promotion,
the more sales you can accumulate
and the higher your book can climb
within its category come launch day.
This matters even more with Kobo
because Kobo uses humans to curate some of their lists,
not an algorithm.
So plan for enough time to give your book a chance
to be considered for curations by the Kobo team,
'cause they have spotlights, carousels, and feature pages.
Kobo's curators often highlight the top selling pre-orders
on their featured promotional lists
but they craft those anywhere
from 6 to 12 weeks before they publish.
So if you wanna snag a spot,
plan ahead when it comes to your pre-sale.
Now the perks don't stop after pre-launch.
After launch day, you can keep those sales going
with Kobo's promotional opportunities available
through your KWL dashboard.
It's a new feature and still in beta mode.
But the process is just as simple
as the rest of KWL's tools.
Head over to your promotions tab on your dashboard
and check out the current onsite sales
and email promotions offered
such as daily deals, discounts, and price drops,
category features, and free e-book promotions.
When you spot an opportunity you'd like
to apply for just click on which
of your books you'd want featured,
input your price for the sale, and submit.
It's that easy to apply.
Kobo's merchandising team will check out your application
and let you know if they've approved the title
for the promotion that you've selected.
There's more magic to be discovered
within your KWL dashboard by the way.
You can track your sales in real time
with a variety of useful analytics
like top titles, top selling regions, daily activity,
and even free downloads.
You never have to wonder or struggle
to see how your book is performing.
All the info you need is right there,
ready to help you better
optimize your marketing decision making.
Move over Kindle, Kobo is crushing it
as far as making authors lives better.
Now, as I mentioned if you're working
on your pre-sale strategy right now,
this video is the one you need to watch.
And if you're struggling
with category research and selection,
I actually have a few videos for you.
So I'll tuck two in here for you.
There's lots of viewing fun in your future.
So go ahead, make sure you comment on each of them
and I promise to reply.
Now go ahead, test me on it, I'm waiting.