Quote:
Originally Posted by Celestial
IMO, Kobo's main problem is that there are quite a few Amazon Kindle exclusive authors, at least in the U.S. Now for people that know how to convert and side-load, that's not an issue. But that's an extremely small group.
To make the Kobo eReader more attractive, they're going to have to give authors incentives to make their work available for sale on Kobo itself in addition to Amazon Kindle.
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Per one quite successful LGBT author I have communicated with, she told me that she uses two outlets for her ebooks, Amazon and Smashwords. Smashwords does distribute to other sellers such as the Kobo bookstore, B&N and others so her ebooks are widely available from multiple sources.
I have not visited Canada where Kobo is quite successful but I believe they distribute through Best Buy and other retailers. They have circa 25% of the ereader market there and in New Zealand. In the USA it is less than 1% and in GB less than 2%. About 6% in Australia. They are almost non-existent in the two largest English Language ebook markets in the world. IMO apparently they have given up in those markets.
They need to aggressively make agreements with sellers like Best Buy, Staples and Walmart in the USA as well as independent booksellers if they want to get a decent market share IMO. I ordered the 32 MB Kobo Aura One from Kobo on 25 Dec and it is due for delivery on 4 January which will be the tenth day from my order, including the order day. In contrast a Kindle that is in stock shows up in 2 days or I can drive to Best Buy and buy it immediately.