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Setting up a New eBook

  • Updated

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.

After you’ve created your eBook, start inputting your information:

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  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Imprint: The trade name under which your book is published. Publishers may have different imprints to reflect their content types.
  • Is this the first time you’re publishing your book? If your book has already been published before you can 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 version of your book.
  • 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 item page in the Kobo Store. For helpful information about best practices for creating synopses, please visit the Sales Matter section of this guide.

 

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. Log in to Kobo Writing Life.
  2. Click eBOOKS.
  3. Select your eBook, or create a new eBook.
    You should be on the Describe your eBook page.
  4. Click Upload your book cover.
  5. 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.
  6. 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. Log in to Kobo Writing Life.
  2. Click eBOOKS.
  3. Select your eBook, or create a new eBook.
    You should be on the Describe your eBook page.
  4. Click Edit categories, at the right of eISBN.
  5. Select up to three categories.
  6. Click Confirm.

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Uploading

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

  • DOC and DOCX
  • ODT
  • ePub
  • MOBI

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

 

Publishing

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.

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

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If you would like to schedule a future release date, you can choose a list date when creating your eBook. If you select a future publication date, you can also select whether you would like your eBook to be available for preorder.

To publish your eBook:

  1. Sign in to your Kobo Writing Life Account.
  2. Click eBooks.
  3. Locate your book under in progress.
  4. Click publish me!
    You will be sent to the Publish your eBook page.
    Note: If you do not see publish me! you may need to provide more information before you can publish your eBook.
  5. Click the Calendar icon.
  6. Choose a List date.
    Note: The default date is the current calendar date.
  7. Click Publish eBook.

Your eBook will be made available for purchase on www.kobo.com within 1 to 3 business days; however there may be a short delay before it is made available in our retail partner stores.

 

Editing your content

After your eBook has been successfully published to the Kobo Store, you can edit its information at any time.

To edit your published eBook’s information:

  1. Sign in to your Kobo Writing Life Account.
  2. Click eBooks.
  3. Click your eBook, under published.
  4. Choose what you’d like to edit:
  • Describe your book: Selecting this link will allow you to edit your eBook’s metadata. You can change your book’s title, sub-title, imprint, author, publisher, language, cover page, synopsis, and subject category. Note: The ISBN for a book loaded onto our website cannot be changed since it acts as the primary identifier for an eBook on our system.
  • Change your book content: Selecting this link will allow you to edit the content inside your eBook.
  • Determine license and availability: Selecting this link will allow you to edit the digital rights management and geographic rights that have been applied to your eBook.
  • Set price: Selecting this link will allow you to edit the list prices for you eBook in all available currencies.

We can apply your changes on Kobo.com within 24 hours. For our partner retailer stores, it takes longer before your changes come into effect.

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