Every book published through Kobo Writing Life undergoes our quality assurance process. When a book does not meet our standards for publication, we will decline the book and inform the author of the reason for rejection or block via email.
- Where to find your rejection reason on Kobo Writing Life
- If your book is blocked
- Common rejection reasons
Where to find your rejection reason on Kobo Writing Life:
When your book been declined, you will see the book(s) as “declined” in your dashboard. To see the reason for rejection, select the book on your dashboard and navigate to the “Publish your eBook” page to see the “Action required”.
If your book is blocked:
Your book will be blocked from Kobo Writing Life if it contains content we do not allow, or content that violates our Content Policy. See Common Rejection Reasons below.
Common Rejection Reasons:
Unsatisfactory, incomplete, or priced too high
“We will not be accepting books that create an unsatisfactory or incomplete experience for readers.”
Books that have been declined for being an "unsatisfactory or incomplete experience" are usually books that don't include a significant amount of content, or the content appears unsatisfactory. This can include books that are all or some of the following:
- Too short/lacking content
- Wholly or partially AI generated
- Poorly translated
- Priced too high
Private Label Rights (PLR)
“We will not be accepting any Private Label Rights content.”
Private Label Rights allow someone to purchase and alter existing content (e.g. articles, ebooks, etc.) and market it as their own, and this content will be blocked.
Duplicate Content
“A duplicate version of this book is already on our website.”
We do not allow duplicates of books on our website as it is confusing to our customers. Please make sure you have not already submitted your book through a Kobo Writing Life account, or from an Aggregator (such as Smashwords, Draft2Digital, or Ingram) as it will be flagged as a duplicate and declined. Most distributors allow authors to choose which retailers to distribute to. In this case, you can deselect Kobo as an option for distribution which will allow you to publish directly through Kobo Writing Life.
Companion Novels
“We've reassessed our companion novel offerings (study guides, summaries, critiques, or analysis) and will no longer be accepting these books.”
We no longer publish companion novel offerings (study guides, summaries, critiques, analyses, etc.) on Kobo Writing Life and these books will be blocked.
Erotic Content
“Do not include explicit content in your cover image/description.”
Please ensure that your erotica books do not include any explicit content in the cover and/or description. Erotica titles should have concise descriptions that show what the reader can expect, and so we can ensure the content is acceptable. Erotica category codes should always be used when publishing erotic content.
Please be aware of our content policy; failure to follow this may result in account closure.