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Why I’m Glad About Going Wide – And Going Direct With Kobo

Why I’m Glad About Going Wide – and Going Direct with Kobo

Headshot of Rosalind Minett

British indie author Rosalind Minett

When you self-publish your books, arguably the most important decision you must make is what will work best for you: committing to an exclusive deal with Amazon or going wide via other platforms.

Second question: if going wide, should you use a one-stop-shop aggregator such as Draft2Digital, or should you go direct with some or all of the individual distribution platforms? 

British author Rosalind Minett explains why she thinks she has the best of both worlds: going wide via an aggregator for most platforms while publishing direct with one, Kobo, just as they are poised to expand following an important new deal with US retail giant Walmart

Going Wide vs Staying Exclusive

symbolic of going wide, image of fishing net in water by @joaopedrodesign via Unsplash.com

Going wide with the sales of self-published books – how far will you cast your net? (Image by @joaopedrodesign via unsplash.com)

Many of my successful writer colleagues have made a killing on KDP Select. Going exclusive means that interested readers can sample a book free via Kindle Unlimited, a feature denied to those who are not select, or at least not Kindle Select. Several writers have said that their main income from writing comes from KU.

Our luminary, Orna Ross, has consistently advised to go wide. And because she is not a non-fiction self-help or fantasy author, nor one whose books feature bare-chested men with no beer paunch, I have chosen to listen to her advice.

No, I have not managed to sell thousands per week or even per month, and sales through Draft2Digital have been modest, but I did see that by not including Kobo in the list of possible outlets, you could submit to them separately. So I did, and to good effect.

Why Go Direct with Kobo?

Uploading direct to Kobo, means that Kobo promotions are now open to you. They have them variously and often. It is particularly good for romance, fantasy and sci-fi writers, which I am not, but more general fiction can also be promoted.

These promotions are cheap. For instance, a 10% cut for discounted books aimed at Australia and New Zealand for a week, or £3 for a Free for the US on Labour Day.

Further, Kobo manages your chosen promotion, notifying you when it starts, again when it ends and adjusting the price to discount, and back to your default accordingly. With Amazon it’s so easy to forget and annoying to have to price change.

Wide Geographical Presence

covers of Relative Invasion trilogy

Set in England, Rosalind Minett's trilogy is selling well around the world

Kobo is Canadian, so Canada is Kobo’s most prominent outlet. The few copies I’ve sold on Amazon to Canada are totally dwarfed by what I’ve sold via Kobo.

But Kobo’s range is approximately 190 countries.

As compensation for not selling thousands of books through Amazon, I have the small pleasure (actually I like it a lot) of selling to lots of different countries.

It may not be in the hundreds, but it pleases me to know that someone in Bhutan, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Cambodia, Seychelles and Zimbabwe is now nosing into one of my books.

Excellent Reporting by Country

Another advantage of Kobo is reporting. On Amazon you only get to know whether your sales are US, UK, France, Germany, Spain or Australia. Kobo provides a map showing the number and extent of your sales worldwide. It’s very satisfying.

Kobo reaches countries that Amazon does not.

Exciting New Potential via Kobo's Walmart Deal

Amazon has hugely outsold Kobo in the US. When Walmart became the sole US distributor of the Kobo e-reader, and then announced a joint opening of an ebook store which will include audio and comic, Kobo’s market share in the United States improved.

But it’s the other countries that matter more. US readers are fixated on free copies, and so many free books are available that they may rarely be read.

Kobo readers are willing to pay more. They’re not so bothered about buying at 99c, more about seeing a hefty discount. Your higher price book, say $8.99 discounted to $1.99 for the promotion seems a great deal to them.

The official launch of Kobo's joint ebook store with Walmart is happening VERY SOON. I'm looking forward to seeing what effect it will have on my sales.

OVER TO YOU What's your preference – wide or Select? Have you changed your mind – and your course of action – in either direction? Join our conversation via the comments box!

#Indieauthors - wondering whether to go wide with your #selfpub books? @MinettRosalind explains why she's glad she did - especially when going direct with @Kobo Click To Tweet

OTHER USEFUL POSTS ABOUT THE EXCLUSIVE VS WIDE DEBATE

Author: Rosalind Minett

Rosalind Minett writes novels and short stories, several of which have been performed in Bath by WordinyourEar, Story Friday, and included in anthologies. She is the author of the historical trilogy, "A Relative Invasion", set in WW2, and of the satirical short story collections, "Me-Time Tales: tea breaks for mature women and curious men" and its companion "Curious Men: he-time tales" and the next novel, "Uncommon Relations" is out before winter sets in or, given global warming, earlier.

Her career as a psychologist often took her out of a lush consulting room, solicitors' offices, colleges and schools to many strange homes, from stately to doss, and even stranger situations in the Courts. Everywhere she met and worked with interesting adults and children. She now creates imaginary characters instead. Her understanding of how people think, learn, feel and behave drives her plots whether the genre is humour, historical or crime. She relishes quirkiness, and loves creating complex characters of all ages. It's been said that all her work has a dark edge...but impish too.

She lives in the South West of England and spends her non-family time enjoying scenic walks, theatre, sculpting and painting (quite badly, but happily).

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This Post Has 3 Comments
  1. I have recently left Amazon KDP, I was there for several years, writing, well.. erotica. and one day, a KDP Content Reviewer didn’t like the title, blocked the book and terminated my account. The book itself has been published elsewhere as it was in Amazon KDP Guidelines. The sad part is, KDP doesn’t realize what erotica is nor do they care. They terminate accounts, wrongfully terminate accounts daily. So what do authors do? They go elsewhere such as Kobo. more for kobo and less for Amazon and as more and more write their “my KDP account was wrongfully terminated”, more people will be less using Amazon and more using Kobo and other sites. Kobo doesn’t do random termination like Amazon does. you are not safe with Amazon, doesn’t matter if your account is in good standing.

  2. Interesting post–thanks for sharing your feedback. I’m in the throes of making a decision to pull my last (most popular) title out of KU so this came at a really good time as I’m gathering information. I didn’t realize you had promo opportunities through KOBO, that’s helpful to learn.

    Thanks again!

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