Setting up a New eBook

Details needed for your new eBook

When creating a new eBook using Kobo Writing Life, you’ll be asked to input information that will help us to display and categorize your book. This information is called metadata. 

To create a new eBook:

1. Log in to Kobo Writing Life.
2. Click eBooks.
3. Click Create new eBook.

You can now start inputting your metadata.

Step 1: Describe the eBook

• eBook title: The name of the book you are uploading. Please enter your title exactly as you would like it to appear in our store.
• eBook subtitle: The subtitle for the book you are uploading. Please enter your subtitle exactly as you would like it to appear in our store.
• Series name: If your book is part of a series, please enter the name of the series.
• Volume number: Enter the book number from your series here. This will only populate when a series name has been entered.
• Author(s): The name of the person(s) who wrote the book. Please enter the author’s name exactly as you would like it to appear in our store. If you write under a pseudonym, please use that name here. You can add multiple authors by selecting Add another author (one author per field).
• Publisher name: The name of the book’s publisher. If you are a self-published author, you can enter your name. If you are an individual doing business as a publisher, you can enter your publisher’s name here. Please do not include "Kobo" in the publisher field.
• Imprint: The trade name under which your book is published. Publishers may have different imprints to reflect their content types. If you don't have an imprint, leave this field blank.
• Is this the first time you’re publishing your book? If your book has already been published before select "No" and enter the original publication date here. If you select "Yes," this field defaults to today’s date.
• eISBN: Kobo’s term for the 13-digit ISBN (International Standard Book Number) assigned specifically to the eBook being submitted. Please note that this must be a unique ISBN—you can’t use the same ISBN that you have for the print or audio versions of your book.
  • If you do not have an ISBN, we will automatically assign one.
• Primary Print ISBN: The ISBN associated with the print version of your book. If you don’t have a print version, leave this field blank.
• eBook language: This is the language in which your book is written.
• Synopsis: A brief description of your book as it should appear on your book’s product page in the Kobo Store.

Book covers

Your book cover is the first thing your reader will see when they find your book in the Kobo Store. The cover image represents your work, and should catch the reader’s eye. Other important things to include on your cover are your author name and book title.

To upload a book cover:

1. Click Upload your book cover.
2. Select a .jpg or .png file. 
   Note: For best results, we recommend your image should be 300 DPI and no larger than 5 MB. If you are creating your own images, keep in mind that the standard Kobo eReader has a 1448 by 1072 resolution with 300 pixels per inch screen. This is a good resolution to aim for when designing your art.
3. Click Choose.

Subject categories

In addition to the data about your book, you’ll also be asked to provide subject categories. These categories will determine how your book is labelled and categorized in the Kobo Store. We recommend selecting all three categories for each book to ensure that customers who are browsing through our store have a better chance of finding your titles.

To choose your categories:

1. On the Describe your eBook step, click Edit categories (to the right of the eISBN field).
2. Select up to three categories.
3. Click Confirm.

Step 2: Add eBook content

You can upload your content file in any of the following formats:

• DOC and DOCX
• ODT
• ePub
• MOBI

If your file is not already in an ePub file format, we’ll automatically convert it for you.

If there are any validation errors, we strongly recommend fixing these before publishing your book. For more information, please see our Validating and Testing Your eBooks article.

Step 3: Rights and Distribution

Apply Digital Rights Management

Kobo Writing Life users have the opportunity to turn Digital Rights Management (DRM) on or off for each eBook they create.

Enabling DRM will prevent readers from copying, printing, or sharing your books. For more detailed information about how we use DRM to secure your content, please see our How does Kobo protect my content? article.

Geographic distribution rights

Users also have the opportunity to select geographic rights for each book they upload using Kobo Writing Life. If you own the rights to this title in all territories, you can leave the toggle to the right (pictured above). This means your book will be published in all territories, including our Worldwide store.

If you do not own the rights to this title in all territories, slide the toggle to the left and select the territories in which you own the rights. This means your book will only be published in the specific territories you've selected.

Please note: territories that do not have a specified Kobo storefront (e.g. Hungary and Egypt) access the Worldwide Kobo storefront. If your book is only available in select territories, it will not be available to those countries that do not have a specified Kobo storefront.

Kobo Plus

Kobo Writing Life authors can opt their books into Kobo Plus in all available territories or only specific countries.

Authors should note that there is no exclusivity required in order to take advantage of this opportunity for earning revenue from a new demographic of customer that, prior to Kobo Plus, wasn’t being served.

OverDrive

Kobo Writing Life authors can choose to opt their titles directly into OverDrive’s library marketplace with terms that are comparable to working directly with OverDrive rather than through a third-party company. This means that you get paid 50% of the library price you set, and you don't have to pay an aggregator fee. For more information, please see our OverDrive Distribution article.

To opt in, slide the "Available for Libraries in OverDrive" toggle to the right, and input a USD price.

Once done, click "Save and continue" to proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Set the price

Set the price you'd like to sell your book for as your default list price. We'll automatically convert it into other currencies, and update those prices regularly based on current exchange rates.

For more information, please see our How to Set the Price and What will my earnings be? articles.

Step 5: Publish your eBook

After you have described your eBook, added your content, determined your license and availability, and set the list price, you will be able to click on "Publish your eBook."

You can publish your book to Kobo immediately or schedule a future release date.

If you would like to schedule a future release date, you can choose a future list date and can also select whether you would like your eBook to be available for preorder. For more information, please see our KWL Guide to Pre-Orders article.

To publish your eBook:

1. Click Publish eBook 
   You will be sent to the Publish your eBook page.
2. Click the Calendar icon.
3. Choose a List date. 
   Note: The default date is the current calendar date.
4. Click Publish eBook.

If you choose to publish your book immediately, your eBook will be made available for purchase on the Kobo store within 1-3 business days; however, there may be a short delay before it is made available in our retail partner stores.