http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...hing-division/
We already knew that Kobo was going to create an indie publishing division, but Goodereader has added several unexpected (at least to me) details.
In addition to Kobo offering cover creation and editing services, they're also going to print paper copies and sell them through Chapters/Indigo/Coles stores in Canada.
This chain of stores constitutes an overwhelming amount of the Canadian retail bookstore market. Kobo has surpassed Amazon as the #1 seller of e-readers in Canada.
I have no idea of how Kobo's terms are going to compare to other publishing groups, and understanding that would be key to deciding if this is a good idea for authors. However, presuming marketing support from Kobo for e-books and Chapters for paper books, if I'm an indie author with a book aimed at the Canadian market (Canadiana fiction, Canadian finance non-fiction, etc.), this pairing actually might look pretty good. Wonder if we'll see someone like Gail Vas-Oxlade consider this for a future Canadian-specific tax/finance book?
Amazon has a similar offering, but retailers with ties to other e-book stores (Barnes & Noble, Chapters, etc.) won't stock Amazon's paper books. B&N has something similar, but that limits you to just the U.S. market at this time. Could Kobo be the first e-book company to roll out a global strategy that blends the two together? No word yet on similar deals with the other bricks-and-mortars that have signed alliances with Kobo (such as WHSmith in the UK), but nothing to say similar deals aren't in the works. Could be interesting to see where this goes.