Kobo Writing Life

Kobo Writing Life puts a book in front of Rakuten Kobo's readers, and through OverDrive into public libraries, without asking for exclusivity in return. Publishing costs nothing and the author sets the price. For anybody whose first shelf is Amazon this is the obvious second one, and the library route is the part Amazon has no answer to.

Publishing costs nothing. Kobo pays a royalty of up to 70 percent of the list price, and the band depends on where that price sits, so the rate is a decision rather than a constant. Money goes to a bank account directly. There is no plan, no subscription and no exclusivity requirement, which means the real cost of listing here is the hour it takes to upload.

Self-published authors already on Amazon who want a second shelf without giving anything up for it. It matters most to anybody writing in a genre libraries buy, since OverDrive is the part with no equivalent elsewhere.