Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Almost all retailers close uploads around Christmas. Kobo closed uploads on the 19th. Apple closes them as well (I don't know the date). Google has been closed to any new authors even joining their network/retail stores for almost 2 years. Those are just the ones I know about. Kobo has had a notice up for at least a month so that authors can plan, but it is not new. It has always been the case with several retailers for a few years.

The retailers do this because many support people take time off for the holidays so they ask us authors to plan ahead.

The silly thing is the book was available at Amazon. The author doesn't upload early, she always waits until the book is ready for release so Amazon was still open. It's just I'm trying to steer the authors I buy from to include Kobo but then something like this happens so authors turn around and say only Amazon matters. It seems very shortsighted to me.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The author doesn't upload early, she always waits until the book is ready for release so Amazon was still open. It's just I'm trying to steer the authors I buy from to include Kobo but then something like this happens so authors turn around and say only Amazon matters.

This is one of the reasons why I always advise using the preorder feature. Get the book ready for both Amazon and Smashwords, set a preorder date that you can synchronize on both, and upload. No last-second timing needed - just let it go live on schedule. Plus, you can do some advance marketing and maybe get some more first-day sales!

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The author in question uses Smashwords but she said her book uploaded fine without any issues.

Smashwords is a third party--so those books don't get uploaded immediately/as quickly as a direct upload. I believe they go in batches and sometimes that happens quickly and sometimes it doesn't. She can't get direct support from Kobo by going via Smash. I use Smash for Apple. The prices get updates within 24 hours if I do a sale (usually--but not always) but an upload can take days. I have never used Smash for Kobo so I don't know the turnaround time, but it's always slower than direct uploads.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The silly thing is the book was available at Amazon. The author doesn't upload early, she always waits until the book is ready for release so Amazon was still open. It's just I'm trying to steer the authors I buy from to include Kobo but then something like this happens so authors turn around and say only Amazon matters. It seems very shortsighted to me.

If the author wants faster upload, she has to do the work on each retailer. That's just the way it is. It means learning the interface, the rules, doing the conversion to epub herself, figuring out the pricing menus, and so on. Or...she has to pay someone to do it for her.

When doing a sale, it can mean going to 8 different sites, having the prices get all messed up and then Amazon discounts when you don't want and it can take days to straighten out.

Amazon isn't perfect either. I've paid for ads only to have Amazon take 2 or more days to get the price changed (this happens at all retailers sometimes). Other authors have mentioned that they did pre-order and Amazon used a draft copy as the final instead of the final copy uploaded (in time). Bugs are going to happen!

Many authors find it easier to just put the book on Amazon and ignore other retailers. I think this is a very bad thing for the long term, but that's just me.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Many authors find it easier to just put the book on Amazon and ignore other retailers. I think this is a very bad thing for the long term, but that's just me.

I think part of the problem is that self publish authors think using Smashwords is the easy route to Kobo and the other retailers, then when things go wrong they have to wait it out. As for Kobo shutting uploads when Amazon doesn't its just one example why so many authors just stick with Amazon. Yes it's bad for us but I can to a certain degree understand why Amazon is in the position it is.

[BearMountainBooks]

Amazon strives to be the best at everything and they often succeed. And yes, the upload services appear to be the easiest route, but the authors miss out on profits, promotion opportunities and the ability to direct market to Kobo customers!

[Amaryllis]

I've been annoyed by Kobo prices lately. I've had at least a dozen books in the last 2-3 weeks that I was going to buy, and then didn't. I get that the Canadian dollar is lower than the US dollar, and I operate on the assumption that a 25-30% price difference on the Canadian site/vs the US site is reasonable, to account for the difference in currencies. So if a book is .99 on the US site, and shows up at anything up to 1.36 on the Canadian site, I don't even think twice - I consider it a reasonable markup and will buy the book. But when the book is 5x the price on the Canadian site as the US site, then sorry Kobo, but you are price gouging Canadians. I've had at least a half dozen books in the past two weeks that were 1.99 on Kobo US, but when I add them to my cart, it switches me to Kobo Canada, and puts the price up to 9.99. Today, I put in a book that is on sale for .99 - add it to my cart, and it flips to the Canada site & the price jumps to $5.69. Needless to say, all were removed from my cart, and Kobo has lost those sales.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Amaryllis

I've been annoyed by Kobo prices lately. I've had at least a dozen books in the last 2-3 weeks that I was going to buy, and then didn't. I get that the Canadian dollar is lower than the US dollar, and I operate on the assumption that a 25-30% price difference on the Canadian site/vs the US site is reasonable, to account for the difference in currencies. So if a book is .99 on the US site, and shows up at anything up to 1.36 on the Canadian site, I don't even think twice - I consider it a reasonable markup and will buy the book. But when the book is 5x the price on the Canadian site as the US site, then sorry Kobo, but you are price gouging Canadians. I've had at least a half dozen books in the past two weeks that were 1.99 on Kobo US, but when I add them to my cart, it switches me to Kobo Canada, and puts the price up to 9.99. Today, I put in a book that is on sale for .99 - add it to my cart, and it flips to the Canada site & the price jumps to $5.69. Needless to say, all were removed from my cart, and Kobo has lost those sales.

That *could* be publisher/author pricing, not Kobo. We are now required to specify each price MANUALLY for each country (except some of the smaller ones.) In the past, if I entered a US price, I could see the exchange rate price for Aus, UK, Canada, etc and accept them after just changing the ending to .99. Now I have to mess with each individually and figure out a price that is close AFTER the exchange that ends in .99 (we can't participate in any promos if the price doesn't end in .99).

The change in the way we have to do it may mean some authors don't realize it isn't changing for all countries or they only want the book on sale in some countries. Some of the promos are specific to some countries (in other words we are told that ads and deals will only be done in certain countries.) I think the boxing promo is only Canada and maybe US? I forget. Because I can't keep track. It can be confusing especially for authors running more than one promo each month.

[melmac]

I had hoped that Kobo might give us one of those unlimited high-value coupons for Christmas but it's getting close and still nada I haven't purchased anything from them in ages

[Amaryllis]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

That *could* be publisher/author pricing, not Kobo. We are now required to specify each price MANUALLY for each country (except some of the smaller ones.) In the past, if I entered a US price, I could see the exchange rate price for Aus, UK, Canada, etc and accept them after just changing the ending to .99. Now I have to mess with each individually and figure out a price that is close AFTER the exchange that ends in .99 (we can't participate in any promos if the price doesn't end in .99).

The change in the way we have to do it may mean some authors don't realize it isn't changing for all countries or they only want the book on sale in some countries. Some of the promos are specific to some countries (in other words we are told that ads and deals will only be done in certain countries.) I think the boxing promo is only Canada and maybe US? I forget. Because I can't keep track. It can be confusing especially for authors running more than one promo each month.

Thanks for the explanation.
It certainly doesn't sound as if Kobo is making things easy for the authors. You'd think they'd be doing everything they could to make it easier for authors - after all, without the author they have no product & no business.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Amaryllis

Thanks for the explanation.
It certainly doesn't sound as if Kobo is making things easy for the authors. You'd think they'd be doing everything they could to make it easier for authors - after all, without the author they have no product & no business.

There are enough authors EVERYWHERE that no one really caters to us. Kobo is very professional in dealing with authors in my experience, and I've had nothing but a good experience with their customer service done via their author programs. I am sure there is a reason for the updates to the dashboard (they added several countries) but I liked it when they helped with the exchange rate equivalents. They do some sort of "suggestion" thingie when you hover over a price, but I haven't figured out if this takes the exchange rate into account or if it just guesses the nearest .99 cent amount. (They are very big on ending with .99. It's appears to be a huge concern for them.)

In all honesty, Kobo has one of the best programs out there for authors right now. In the past, Amazon's programs were the best, but over the last two years, I'd give Kobo the edge on things from an author standpoint. B&N has never had any author programs (okay, one. They had a book review program for a very short time). Google Play has had a few, but they were like random bullets with no way to apply or figure out what was going on. I think they are trying harder lately, but it could be another random bullet!

I know Kobo does some strange things, but the one thing I consistently see (even as a reader) is that they keep trying. They try different marketing activities, different pricing, innovation with their readers, etc. That has to be better than standing still (B&N, I'm looking at you...)

Okay, I'm way off topic here...the mods will come and get me soon!

[Blossom]

Question. I've never pre-ordered from Kobo before. Can you use coupons or should I wait for the book to be released?

Sent from my XT1528

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Question. I've never pre-ordered from Kobo before. Can you use coupons or should I wait for the book to be released?

Sent from my XT1528

No coupons work for pre-order.

[BearMountainBooks]

Also, I expect all coupons that are currently working to expire at the end of the year. I can't say for SURE that will happen, but when I request coupons for my own books to use for advertising, if I don't set an expiration, they expire at end of year. The other coupons may have different rules, but if you're thinking of using a coupon, you might want to use it this week to be on the safe side.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

This is one of the reasons why I always advise using the preorder feature. Get the book ready for both Amazon and Smashwords, set a preorder date that you can synchronize on both, and upload. No last-second timing needed - just let it go live on schedule. Plus, you can do some advance marketing and maybe get some more first-day sales!

Smashwords is an issue. Going from Word to ePub does not always work well. It would be best to upload a hand crated well formatted ePub to Smashwords. But the author should put in the description that it's a hand crafted well formatted ePub and not sourced from Word. That would get me to maybe buy if I was interested. I'm not interested in gambling if I have to fix something or not.