Archives for Kobo

Choose the Best Audiobook Listening Experience

 

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Audiobooks which let you multitask, are a great way to listen to books while driving long distance, walking the dog, or laying on the beach. And certainly, a wonderful way for blind people to easily enjoy books.

Audiobooks can be listened to on an iPod or iPhone/SmartPhone or MP3 player, even on most e-readers such as Kindle and Nook or your laptop.  If you’ve never tried an audiobook, give it a go. You may be pleasantly surprised!  Or maybe get addicted. Here is where you can find audiobooks:

Libraries

Let’s start with free audiobooks at your local library.  Having a library card allows you to borrow an audiobook for free, but also via the Overdrive and Hoopla apps (both are library suppliers).  These digital files are on loan from the library, and you eventually have to return them, so someone else can check them out.

To get started, borrow an audiobook that’s available in the “OverDrive Listen” format from your library.  Then, click or tap the Listen (in your browser) button on your Checkouts page (under your Account) to begin listening to it immediately using OverDrive Listen.

Due to the distribution rights of publishers, libraries have a finite number of digital audiobook files they can lend to their users at any one time.  This is one of the downsides of using a free library service – if one of the titles you want to listen to is currently being used by another patron, you end up on the waiting list. You have to order them again or you may want to invest in a paid subscription.
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Kobo Audiobooks
$9.99 USD/month, £6.99 or CAD12.99 after a 30 day trial period – including a FREE audiobook.  You can cancel anytime.  Get one credit per month after trial, good for an audiobook of your choice regardless of price – choose from well over 100,000 titles.  Keep all your audiobooks forever, even if you cancel
Currently, audiobooks in English and French are available to Kobo customers living in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Audiobooks from Kobo are in MP3 or MP4 format.
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobooks

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Apple Books

They have a large selection, especially of popular audiobooks.  Apple Books has about as many titles and popular books as Audible.  However, you do have to purchase them.  There isn’t a membership program. Everything you need is in the Apple Books app.  You can search for, download, and sync audiobooks.  Be aware that their online pricing might change from day to day.
To browse audiobooks, open the Apple Books app and tap the Audiobooks, tab at the bottom of the screen.  Explore new, featured, and trending audiobooks, or tap the Browse button at the top of the screen to see all genres and book store sections.
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208929

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NOOK Audiobooks
Everyone can listen with the free NOOK Audiobooks app.  One of the most popular apps, it’s free to install and use on most phones and tablets.  Get it for your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or tablet.  And don’t miss the “Daily Find”. https://www.nookaudiobooks.com/
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Hibooks

A library of more than 100.000 Audiobooks.  Listen to over 5,000 titles – unlimited. Use coins to unlock additional titles.  Try free for three days. https://www.hibooks.com/

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Chapters-Indigo Canada
Find bestselling audiobooks from such authors as John Grisham, Michelle Obama, David Baldacci, Stuart Mclean, Bob Woodward or James Patterson at their website or in one of their many stores all over Canada.
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/audiobooks/

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Audiobooks
More than 125,000 incredible audiobooks which will take you anywhere you want to go.  Get your first audiobook for free!  Once you’ve finished your free trial, you’ll enjoy one audiobook every month for $14.95 (USD).  If one book just isn’t enough, you can buy additional credits at any time.  
Download or stream audiobooks on your smartphone or tablet with their free apps for iOS and Android.
https://www.audiobooks.com/

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Audio Books Now
Choose one bestseller premium audiobook for free with activation of the Club Pricing Plan 30 day free trial.  Club Pricing is a great way to save money on all your audiobook purchases.
With their monthly Club Plan, you’ll get the first audiobook you purchase each month at 50% Off, then you will receive the normal Club Price (35-40% off). And, if you do not use your 50% discount, it automatically rolls over to the next month.  You can cancel your monthly Club Plan at any time.
https://www.audiobooksnow.com/

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Scribd
You get more media options for less money (only $8.99) than with Audible – the membership also includes access to eBooks, magazines, sheet music, and documents.  Read free for 30 days.
After you spend your credits for the month, you can’t make additional purchases on the site.  It’s a good option for listeners who don’t get through more than one audiobook a month.
https://www.scribd.com/

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Playster
Playster’s monthly membership includes unlimited streaming and digital downloads, making it the best option if you listen to more than one book each month. Similar to the Netflix model, you get access to a library of eBooks, games, music, movies, and audiobooks, and you can use everything as much as you want, but you also lose access to it all when you cancel your membership.
https://www.playster.com/

Audible
Audible is a good choice if you listen to your favorite audiobooks over and over. This popular audiobook membership (with more than 300,000 titles) costs $14.95 per month.  The first book is free. It’s the best subscription service for its price, as long as you don’t listen to more than one or two audiobooks a month. Audible also has a plan that comes with two credits a month for only $11.48 per credit.  While other audiobook subscription sites only allow you to borrow books, the ones you download on Audible are yours to keep.  Even if you cancel your membership, you can still access your books on the app.  And if you don’t like a book – just swap it for free!
https://www.audible.com

Conclusion:
Audiobook services with memberships, such as Audible, Kobo, and Playster are valuable for avid audiobook readers, but Barnes & Noble’s Nook audiobooks might be the cheapest retail alternative for infrequent listeners.  Last but not least: make sure that whatever platform you choose is compatible with your computer, smartphone or tablet’s operating system.

 

This is a small excerpt from our latest title – aiming at readers, writers, narrators, and audiobook publishers:

Audio Books for Success
How to Create, Publish, and Market Your Audiobooks and Podcasts.

Available as eBook and in print:

https://books2read.com/u/bPRRyJ

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W81MN2Z

https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1475989056

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/audio-books-for-success

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/audio-books-for-success-doris-maria-heilmann/1132883497
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Why it’s Smart to Sell Books via KOBO

Book-Reviews

Many writers I am talking with are still selling their books via Amazon only. It is hard to understand why they “put all their eggs into one basket only”.  During the last years, I wrote more than a dozen of articles, and explaining in detail how authors can diversify – a commandment in any business!  So why not sell your books at Apple’s iBooks, on Barnes&Noble, on Kobo, and many other retailers in and outside of the USA?

I showed on my blogs all the avenues an author can go, up to selling their e-books and print versions from their own website.  For example herehere, and here.

Sure, being on KDP Select has some small benefits, but there is an exclusivity rule, although there are ways to opt out for a while (or forever).  Yes, and the majority of books is still sold by Amazon.  But if you want to have more sales, more readers around the world, and most of all: to get into the libraries it is essential to spread your books in more markets.

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Good News: Kobo and OverDrive
OverDrive, the library ebook vendor was bought by Rakuten, the parent company of Kobo last year.  OverDrive is the major supplier of books and ebooks to libraries.  See the connection and the Benefit for authors who have their books sold through Kobo too?

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Readers Can Borrow Library Titles using Kobo’s Aura One e-Reader.
There is an enormous benefit for readers – and certainly authors: Kobo’s latest and greatest e-reader the Kobo Aura lets you borrow library titles. The Digital Reader reported:
“Aura One features close integration with Overdrive, the library ebook vendor bought by Rakuten/Kobo last spring. However, the feature only works in the USA, UK, Canada, NZ, and Australia so far.”

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How Readers Can Borrow Kobo Library Books
The way it works is that once you have entered your OverDrive info in the settings menu, you can simply search the Kobo store on the Aura One and the e-books you see will list their price as well as whether they are available to be checked out of your library.
You can check out an ebook on the Aura One, and you can also place a hold for an ebook. Any borrowed book will indicate how long until the library loan expires.”
A tip from a reader: It is faster and simpler to first browse OverDrive’s website from your PC and borrow an e-book, and only then pick up the Aura One and tell it to sync.  This borrowed library e-book will show up on the Aura One’s home page as a “New” title which can be downloaded and read.

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About OverDrive
eBooks, audiobooks, and more are delivered to over 34,000 libraries, including your local public library. Information for publishers can be found here where a presentation shows every step of the “OverDrive Connect” platform.

OverDrive partnered with more than 5,000 publishers to build a catalog of more than 2 million premium titles available for retail.

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But There’s More:
If you offer your own books on your website as an author, you can also include two million! other book titles via OverDrive and earn a sales commission.

“Offer our entire retail catalog or select from our vast inventory of popular digital eBooks and audiobooks in more than 50 languages. We deliver titles to your customers directly from your online bookstore, device or app. OverDrive distributes titles in virtually every subject from more than 5,000 publishers.”

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Lots of Possibilities for Authors
Using eBookPartnership, Draft2Digital or any other distributor or submit your books directly to the online retailers will spread your book to new markets, and makes you more independent as a self-publisher.  And now with the added bonus of Kobo and their OverDrive company you are one more step up to have your books included in library catalogs.

 

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How to Distribute Your eBook Worldwide

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Your e-book(s) might be on Amazon.com for quite a while now, and it is certainly convenient for you to have them on the worlds’ largest e-book retailer.  But why would you miss out on sales from Apple’s iBooks (best revenue!), on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, any UK bookshops or whole salers, such as Waterstones, Gardners, or the large Australian ebookstore Angus & Robertson and maybe even sales to subscription services, such as Scribd and BookMate or to thousands of libraries through LibraryThing?
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Living Outside of the USA?
If you are you living outside the USA, as an independent author and you don’t want to go through all the hassle with opening a US branch for your publishing business – and if you don’t want that aggregators (who call themselves often publishers) receive a fat commission every time your book is sold – for years – consider this option: eBookpartnership, a British company with an office in New York, and representation at the BEA in NYC.

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Want to Keep 100% Revenue?
This British book aggregator, eBookpartnership, will upload your e-book to on- and off-line retailers, libraries and distributors and most important: does all the “book-keeping” for you.  Authors describe this global ebook distribution network as a “fast, efficient and friendly service”.  Their website is very detailed and informative.  Authors are charged a standard low annual fee per title no matter of how may retailers you choose to distribute your books to. Per title and per year it will only cost you a flat fee between: £20 and £50, depending on how many titles you give them to distribute.
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Consider these Benefits:

  • Straightforward pricing and no commission
  • An extensive distribution network
  • Online sales and royalty reports
  • Flexible royalty payment options
  • No charges for metadata and pricing changes
  • No minimum tie-in
  • No need for exclusivity
  • Avoid withholding tax on US sales (for non-US residents)
  • You certainly can choose to sell through Amazon yourself
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More About Distribution Through Aggregators:
Aggregators handle distribution, sales, accepting payments, and are managing your account with the online retailers.  Avoid those who take a 10 or even 15% commission for every book sold.  Read also about the experience of an author, detailed with all his sales numbers, costs associated and his comparison of revenue on several online retailer sites from Amazon, Apple (best revenue!) and Kobo to sales on his own website.


Not everyone has a Kindle, many folks are die-hard Apple iBook fans or using a Nook, or order from Kobo.  Why forego these sales?  Good to know:  there are alternatives to aggregators who don’t reduce your revenues – no matter how many books you sell.

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15 More Online Retailers to Sell Your Book

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Authors: you can sell your books, e-books and audio-books not only through Amazon, but as well on Barnes&Noble, Apple and Kobo websites, to have your “eggs in more than one basket”.  And don’t forget the potentially huge potential market for hardcover books, selling them to libraries all over the country!

However, there are way more online retailers for e-books and books than just Apple , Sony, Diesel, Kobo or Barnes & Noble. Oh, yes, and even Google sells e-books, but they pay authors and publishers a lousy royalty. I don’t know anyone, selling books through Google.
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Just to mention a few more online book retailers:

www.Scribd.com
www.booksonboard.com/
www.ebooks.com
www.ebook-store-review.toptenreviews.com
www.ebookmall.com
www.indiebound.org
www.powells.com/ebooks/
www.kobobooks.com/eBooks
www.rbooks.co.uk/ebook.aspx
www.whsmith.co.uk/eBooks.aspx
www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/browse/ebooks/4294964587/

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And here are two more lists of online book stores with even more sales possibilities:
http://www.infoagepub.com/iap-ebook-retailers.html
http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/ebooks.html

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Put Your Eggs Not Only in One Basket
If you don’t want to upload your book yourself, get help from these aggregators for one yearly fee and reap 100% of your books revenue: BookBaby.com or eBookPartnership.com.  Aggregators will handle distribution, sales, accepting payments, and are managing your account with the online retailers.
Avoid aggregators who take a 10 or even 15% commission for every book sold.
Read also about the experience of an author, detailed with all his sales numbers, costs associated and comparison of revenue on several online retailer sites from Amazon, Apple and Kobo to sales on his own website: 
http://andrewhy.de/amazons-markup-of-digital-delivery-to-indie-authors-is-129000/

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/  to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,015 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
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Tagged: aggregators, B&N, BookBaby, Diesel, eBookpartnership, Kobo, Powells, Scribd, Sony, Waterstone's

Million Dollar Question: How to Get Book Reviews?

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Not just a handful, but lots of reviews!

They are crucial, not only for Amazon’s algorithms, but also when selling through other online retailers, such as Kobo, Barnes&Noble or Waterstones.  Polls revealed that 70% of book buyers are paying attention to reviews before they make their purchase. They don’t read the reviews necessarily, but check the numbers of reviews a book has accrued.  Book reviewing, in the past a privilege of literary magazines, became mainstream, encouraged by the likes of Amazon and without any editorial controls. There is an ever-shrinking newspaper space for reviews, while the number of books published is increasing tremendously. However, book bloggers and book lovers all over the world become armchair critics at the click of a mouse.
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So, how can a writer find reviewers?

  • paying for reviews, Kirkus Reviews comes to mind, who charges several hundred dollars
  • asking followers and friends in their Social Media network
  • getting to know book bloggers and hobby reviewers

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The worst method is to write an email and send it out to dozens of reviewers, without a salutation and without checking their websites/blogs carefully or reading their submission guidelines. If you would be a reviewer, would you answer a mass mail?
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Always remember that book reviewers don’t do it for a living.
They often have busy lives, full-time jobs, partners, children, ailing parents and other obligations. They barely can keep up with the growing demand for reviews.  Imagine if you would get an email from a total stranger, asking you to do several hours of work for free. Would you be excited?
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Get to know book reviewers and bloggers.
Careers everywhere depend on networking, same with a writing career.  Start making “friends” with reviewers, long before your book is finished: Search on your social media sites for reviewers, reviews, book bloggers, etc. when using the search function on top of Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook and Google+ pages. At Goodreads, reviewers are listed, so you can conveniently choose them as friends and follow them for a while, see which book genres they  prefer,  before you approach them.
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Check out the bestsellers in your genre (in bookstores or online) and find names of reviewers. If these reviewers have a blog (and most do), comment on their articles.  Offer them well-written guest blogs, geared to their topics and readership.
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These are invaluable and important contacts, as those readers do not only review books, but post their reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and the like.  On top of that, they often write a blog post about the books they read, which stays there for years to come. They are actually promoting those book reviews to readers and indirectly even to industry decision makers: librarians, booksellers, agents, publishers – like a publicist does it (for money). If compensated it would mean at least a couple of hundred dollars worth, what they provide you for free!
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Again: It takes often months until getting a review, start early with your search.
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If you write non-fiction, it’s a bit more difficult, as most book reviewers prefer fiction books.  Look for magazines that write about the same or similar topics and find out if they review books. You could also offer an article and in your intro at the end of the article, you could offer readers a copy in exchange for a review of your book. For sample, if you write about aviation safety, you search for aviation magazines, but also for history magazines, travel magazines, even more local publications where a certain incident happened in the past. Or if you write about nutrition, check out all magazines of health food stores, women’s magazines, medical magazines etc. to find out if they write reviews.

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Paid book reviewers
are not hard to find, just type into Google: Book Review Submission Guidelines and you will find lots of them. The most famous:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/
http://www.bookrooster.com/
https://www.forewordreviews.com/

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Free book reviews
The best source are friends and followers on social media site, starting with Goodreads. Offer a print version of your book as a giveaway (you can do this several times a year). In average, half of the recipients write a book review.
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But again: just don’t email them out of the blue, friend them on social media, read their blogs and get to know them, before you make an approach for a review. If they state in their submission guidelines, they will only read print books, don’t tell them to “just print out my pdf or word file”.  If you have e-books only, get a couple of digital prints (bound) from a copy shop or use one of these espresso book machines, mostly located in big cities, but available online, just add the postage for delivery.

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For US writers: The Midwest Book Review (free!) has contracted with Cengage Learning to provide them with electronic copies of book reviews. Cengage Learning then makes their reviews available to library systems nationwide. Read our former blog post, “How to Find Reviewers for Your Book” where lots of reviewers are listed.
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If you are looking for reviews to use in your books blurb (print or e-book) send out galleys, which can be produced by espresso book machines as well, at least 3 – 4 months before your book’s launch, especially for print books, to be sure to receive it in time.

http://www.rtbookreviews.com/magazine/editorial-submissions (4 months before launch!)
http://bookpage.com/content/submission-guidelines (at least 3 months before launch!)

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Another question is the quality of book reviews, not only on the internet… I think about an extremely unfair review, a good friend of mine has received from a “Librarian” at Goodreads! She wrote about a book that has amassed more than 90 percent 5-star reviews. The “reviewer wrote: “I tried to like the book, really. But I just can’t.” That’s it, this was the whole review! No description what the book is about, no mentioning of the writing style (excellent!), not about the plot, the characters, nothing. And gave it a 1-star. So much for the quality of reviews…  Check out the reviews for world bestsellers and you will find some of them with more than 150 of these 1-star reviews!
And then there are those people who are downloading tons of free books on Amazon – without even checking the content, just because they can get something for free – they are also infamous for writing scalding and unprofessional book reviews. What about the writers’ competition, who could theoretically write an unfair review?  In all these cases, just keep your cool, and work even harder to get more reviews to “bury” those unfair ones.

Take reviews always with a grain of salt. Sure, reviews, and lots of them, are important for writers. But keep in mind, they are always subjective!  And don’t forget to thank a reviewer for their work, no matter if 3 or 3 stars. They will be more inclined to do another review for you when your next book is finished.

Kate McMillian compiled a great number of articles about book reviews, check them out.

BTW: How many books did YOU review recently???

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 700 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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Don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks

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More Options for Authors to Sell Their Books

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Amazon’s global competitor Kobo sells not only in Great Britain and Ireland. More countries will follow as Kobo will be soon the second-largest international online e-book retailer.  In former blog posts we covered the benefits of Kobo’s “Writing Life“.  Uploading is easy and you get 70% royalties, same as on Amazon.

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More and more bookstores will sell books in any form, on any platform, Kobo e-books is one of them. The Huffington Post published an article a while ago, how independent bookstores can survive and mentioned the iconic San Francisco bookstore Kepler’s in Menlo Park, CA, who is listed under the Independent Bookstore participants and the Kobo e-reading program.

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Indiebound.org
Indiebound offers more than 3.5 million titles. Check out these independent Bookstores in your town/State, that are participating at Indibound.org  and upload your book or e-book to Kobo.  And than for sure, you can arrange a book signing with these “brick & mortar stores”.  Indiebound.org’s website offers also a North America map, the “Indie Store Finder” for USA and Canada where you get lists of all indie bookstores in your area.
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Authors can also earn on their website from Indie books. As part of the IndieBound.org Affiliate Program, they can extend the passion and knowledge of independent bookstores into your online community, and earn generous commissions.
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Writer Molly Greene explained on her blog Kobo to her (non-Canadian or UK) writing audience and how they set up and sign in with Kobo and how to upload and sell your e-book with Kobo.
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In a recent article we reported about the great improvements for Kobo Authors.  Kobo lets you sell your e-books to readers worldwide, e.g. Canada, USA, Australia, Japan, Brazil and European countries.  Kobo customers own their books for life! Read your Kobo books on any open standard device and bring your books to a growing number of Kobo eReading Apps.  Free Kobo eReading apps are offered for smartphones, tablets and computers – Kobo automatically saves your place and syncs your bookmarks across devices.
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Why sell books only to one or two companies? Well, actually, it’s not even selling, it is a kind of consignment… as online book retailers don’t pay you upfront, only when your book is sold will you get money. Upload your book not only to Amazon and Barnes&Noble, but to Kobo as well, an online retailer where your books can be sold in independent, local bookstores.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are
almost 700 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email?
Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the
“SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+,
Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/
http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

Don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who
might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks

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11 Reasons Why You Should Offer Print Books Too

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Last October I wrote a blog post why every author should offer print versions of their e-books. 
In the meantime I discovered even more reasons to have at least a small amount of printed books
listed.  Read on:

E-book authors might be happy with their sales on Amazon, Apple, Kobo or Barnes & Noble. You might have even turned it into an audio book. But the questions for a “real” book, paper back or hard-cover copy from conservative friends or elderly family members are nagging… And wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a Chapters or Baker & Taylor or one of these rare independent book shops and see your book in the shelf?

You will not earn a fortune, not even a living, but for a couple of months it is a nice pocket change. Only months… yes, because longer than this, barely any book will stay in the book store, unless it really is a bestseller and gets re-printed.

If you go the indie route and choose for sample the POD services and worldwide distribution through Lightning Source, (provided you have at least 3 books to be considered a small publisher) your book is printed on demand and will never get discarded (good: no-return-policy in POD worldwide distribution). See my blog from last month How to Distribute Your Book Worldwide.
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All you need is the spine / back of your cover designed and professionally formatted (graphic designer, book designer, lay-outer). To work with Lightning Source you need to have at least three books to be considered a publisher and you will not receive technical help. Using CreateSpace as a POD service is the better choice if you are not a computer geek and you have less than three books.
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Due to the high print-on-demand printing costs, you need to sell a 180-page fiction book for more than $10 to make any profit at all. Still you don’t make real money with your paper book, unless you are a marketing pro, very entrepreneurial and able to organize a small publisher business and invest in your written work and in letterpress print.
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Role models are enough out there and they will tell you exactly how to do start as a real publisher with their books and blogs – from Dan Poynter, Aaron Shephard to John Kremer, Joanna Penn and Joel Friedman. Author David Gaughran wrote in one of his blogs: Making Money from Paperbacks  “I was really slow to see the potential in print, and it was probably the biggest mistake I made over the last year.”
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But then again: Why on earth should you go with a paper edition of your e-book?

  1. The majority of book buyers still chooses printed books at the moment (that will change)
  2. You can give out review copies to newspaper/magazine or book blog reviewers
  3. To be hosted at local media / TV interviewers who want to show a copy of your book
  4. To sell your book easier to libraries
  5. To participate in a Goodreads giveaway
  6. To sell your book to those who really don’t want an e-Reader or just love paper books
  7. If you write non-fiction it is almost a must to offer it in paper as well
  8. You have an ISBN number and can get listed with Bowker at worldwide bookstores
  9. Physical books are just nicer to give on Christmas – unless you put an e-book on a new e-Reader and wrap it
  10. To sell more e-books! Yes – because they seem to cost so much less in comparison…
  11. To list your book in more categories / genres on Amazon: per book type you are allowed to choose two categories / genres. Two print and two digital versions – which increases your books’ visibility and also shows you exactly in which genre you have the most success.
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And last but not least: Think hurricanes or other reasons for power outage. I know e-Readers have batteries. But guess what: just yesterday my Kindle went dead and needed to be re-charged! With heavy thunderstorms around the house due to hurricane “Sandy”, I did not want to plug it in – and instead I read a paper book surrounded by lots of solar lamps and candles.

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Publishing News in Blogs – Part 1

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A Self-Publisher’s Guide to Kobo

Writer Molly Greene explains Kobo to her (non-Canadian or UK) writing audience and how they set up and sign in with Kobo and how to upload and sell your e-book with them:

“If you’re wondering, “What’s a Kobo?” Here’s the back story: Kobo  entered the scene in 2010, marketing it’s e-Reader as a less expensive alternative to Kindle and Nook, which are currently the best selling e-Reader devices.  That will change if Hiroshi Mikitani gets his way.  Mikitani is CEO of Japan’s largest e-commerce company, Rakuten, which purchased Canadian-owned Kobo in 2011. Since the acquisition, he’s publicly vowed to destroy Amazon – and the competition might just prove to be good news for self-published authors.”  Read her blog post.
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Just went to Kobo’s website  and found this offer: Right now Kobo has a special offer for authors:
“All authors signed up for Kobo Writing Life will automatically get an additional 10% in royalties (80% rather than 70%) for any IPP Term sales between September 1, 2012 and November 30, 2012 EST).”

Find more about Kobo in earlier blogs at Savvybookwriters:
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http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/kobo-now-in-thousands-of-british-book-stores/
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/kobo-launch-in-japan-and-also-in-italy-this-fall/
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/kobo-takes-on-amazon-with-kobo-writing-life/
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Digital Book World writes:
1’200 publishers surveyed: Children’s e-books surge – while trade paperback books s sagged

“Revenues from children’s and young adult e-books were up to $146.4 million in the first half of 2012, an increase of 252% over the same period last year. Adult trade e-books up 34.4%, trade paperback sales are down about 20%, e-book sales increased by 52%.  From 2007 through 2011, e-book sales doubled or more every year. Digital publishing revenues grew by 27%.
Read the complete Digital Book World article.

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More in # 2 Publishing News:  Sexist Book Reviews, Barnes & Noble pulls the plug for Amazon …
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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are more than 560 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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Kobo now in Thousands of British Book Stores

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Kobo has not only partnered with American Booksellers in August, but now also with the British Booksellers Association. 3,000 book stores, including 1,000 independents, in the UK and Ireland will carry Kobo’s e-readers in the future and sell e-books directly to Kobo users.  Participating stores will receive a commission of every sale.

The total value of digital fiction book sales grew tremendously in Great Britain in the first 6 months of 2012 – up by 188% by value from the same period in 2011. Children’s digital books sales and digital non-fiction sales increased during the same time period as well, by 171% in books and 128% in e-books.

The overall number of digital sales of consumer titles increased from 30 million pounds to 84 million pounds while physical book sales during the same time dropped 0.4% by value, from 985 million pounds to 982 million pounds, and 3.8% by volume, from 260 million to 251 million. For both, books and e-books, the total value of sales increased by 6.1%, resulting in 1.1 billion pounds in sales for the first six months of 2012. Digital sales made up 12.9% of that 1.1 billion total.
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Good news: British publishing performs exceptionally despite difficult economic conditions. The key will be for UK booksellers to be able to reach consumers with e-books prior to the all-important holiday shopping season. 

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are more than 550 of them : )  if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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KOBO Launch in Japan and also in Italy This Fall

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Earlier this week, KOBO announced that it is launching in Japan on July 19.
Now there is another press release to announce that Mondadori Group, Italy’s leading retailer and publisher of books and magazines, will be bringing the awesome KOBO e-Reading platform and e-Readers to Italy this fall!

KOBO and Mondadori will offer popular e-books in Italian – ranging from major international works, romance, to bestsellers and favorite local authors. Italians can select from an extensive catalogue of more than 30,000 e-books in Italian language and from Italian and foreign publishing houses, plus KOBO’s other 2.5 million e-books in 60 languages.

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The KOBO Touch e-Reader will be available for €99 in Mondadori stores and online.

Andiamo Italy!

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out previous posts (there are almost 500 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “Like” next to it.

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