Create an easy-to-navigate Table of Contents
In order to have a fully functional Table of Contents page inside your book, you will need to create one inside your document. However, note that even without creating this page, if you have formatted your chapter headers properly, when users read your book using our app or devices, they will be able to navigate to the various chapters of your book using a built-in navigation function.
Validate your ePub file
When submitting an ePub file, make sure your file is validated without any errors. Books uploaded to KWL as Word doc, mobi, or odt files can also have errors, and should also be validated after they’re converted to ePub. Errors in files can cause display issues on our devices and prevent your book from being distributed to our Partner sites. For example, if your eBook file contains validation errors, it will not be accepted into OverDrive’s catalogue, as OverDrive only accepts error-free files. To learn more about ePub validation and how to troubleshoot these errors, take a look at our Help Desk article, Validating and Testing Your eBooks. If you still have questions, feel free to reach out to the Kobo Writing Life operations team (email us at writinglife@kobo.com) and we will be happy to take a look at your file.
Include Kobo specific links in your files
We encourage all authors to include links to their backlist in their ePub files. However, we recommend that the links used are retailer specific. When a Kobo reader finishes a title and selects another title from the author in their ePub file, it is beneficial to both author and reader that the link directs them to a retail site they have already purchased a title from.
Include correctly labeled series information
Metadata for series are extremely important. Series information should not be included in the title or subtitle field. Having series information in multiple locations on a product page is often distracting to our customer and often they are unable to tell the title order of a series. Include series information only in the “Series Name” and “Volume Number” text fields. This will minimize customer confusion and also allow for all the titles in a series to be linked together on our website. Remember, if a person new to your series is unable to identify the first book, your metadata is too complicated.
No tagging
As mentioned in the BIC Statement on Best Practice for Subtitle Field in Metadata Feeds, metadata fields are not places to include your tag words. Tag words such as Contemporary Romance, Bestseller, Thriller, or Small-town Romance should not be included in your title, subtitle or series fields. Text listed in the Title and Subtitle fields should match the text present on the cover image (Series information should be listed in the respective Series Name and Volume Number fields). The use of these extraneous words in your metadata lead to confusion and corruption of metadata standards. We respectfully request that you ensure your titles do not include such details so that the Kobo catalog can offer the purest experience to our customers.