It sounds as if the distribution will be coming soon. In another thread, I think September was mentioned.Lilly_Frost said:Got this in our StreetLib newsletter today:
"With our StreetLib Connect forum really coming to life, one of the earliest birds to join the conversation brought up the news that Walmart will start selling eBooks as part of their alliance with Kobo Rakuten.
As you probably know, we have an ongoing partnership with Kobo. So, yes, this also means our entire catalog will be made available on Walmart's stores in the US, and we'll provide more details as soon as possible. For now, we can give you one piece of technical info: book descriptions longer than 4,000 characters (spaces, punctuation and HTML tags included) won't be accepted in the Walmart store. Notwithstanding, it's always a good idea to keep descriptions short and to the point: be sure to double-check yours!
Widening your book distribution will allow you to reach even more readers. With Walmart, you will now be visible to online shoppers who weren't necessarily looking for books, but who might start browsing the eBook section while completing their monthly shopping or redeeming a coupon."
Walmart-Kobo announcement from StreetLib/Walmart launches ebooks today (MERGED)
Got this in our StreetLib newsletter today:
"With our StreetLib Connect forum really coming to life, one of the earliest birds to join the conversation brought up the news that Walmart will start selling eBooks as part of their alliance with Kobo Rakuten.
As you probably know, we have an ongoing partnership with Kobo. So, yes, this also means our entire catalog will be made available on Walmart's stores in the US, and we'll provide more details as soon as possible. For now, we can give you one piece of technical info: book descriptions longer than 4,000 characters (spaces, punctuation and HTML tags included) won't be accepted in the Walmart store. Notwithstanding, it's always a good idea to keep descriptions short and to the point: be sure to double-check yours!
Widening your book distribution will allow you to reach even more readers. With Walmart, you will now be visible to online shoppers who weren't necessarily looking for books, but who might start browsing the eBook section while completing their monthly shopping or redeeming a coupon."
"With our StreetLib Connect forum really coming to life, one of the earliest birds to join the conversation brought up the news that Walmart will start selling eBooks as part of their alliance with Kobo Rakuten.
As you probably know, we have an ongoing partnership with Kobo. So, yes, this also means our entire catalog will be made available on Walmart's stores in the US, and we'll provide more details as soon as possible. For now, we can give you one piece of technical info: book descriptions longer than 4,000 characters (spaces, punctuation and HTML tags included) won't be accepted in the Walmart store. Notwithstanding, it's always a good idea to keep descriptions short and to the point: be sure to double-check yours!
Widening your book distribution will allow you to reach even more readers. With Walmart, you will now be visible to online shoppers who weren't necessarily looking for books, but who might start browsing the eBook section while completing their monthly shopping or redeeming a coupon."
1 - 20 of 129 Posts
It sounds as if the distribution will be coming soon. In another thread, I think September was mentioned.Lilly_Frost said:
These are great news 
Thanks for sharing.
I'm direct with Kobo, and I've always been wide. And spite of all the KU issues, I was considering starting a new pen name and series there. Now, I might wait a little bit more to see how this turn out.
Thanks for sharing.
I'm direct with Kobo, and I've always been wide. And spite of all the KU issues, I was considering starting a new pen name and series there. Now, I might wait a little bit more to see how this turn out.
I'm sincerely hoping the Walmart-Kobo partnership turns out to be a good thing for indies, and not a disaster. We're direct with Kobo (we use StreetLib for GooglePlay) and finally, finally, are starting to get a few sales there. Up until last month, we couldn't so much as give a book away there for free, even with Kobo in-house promotions.
I wouldn't be surprised if shoppers are able to get some sort of reward points for shopping in Walmart, and then are able to apply them towards digital books. Kobo already has some sort of point system, don't they?
It's not so much a partnership as it is a symbiotic relationship. Walmart piggybacks on Kobo's infrastructure and Kobo gets into the US market, something they have struggled to do with any kind of significance.Lilly_Frost said:I'm sincerely hoping the Walmart-Kobo partnership turns out to be a good thing for indies, and not a disaster. We're direct with Kobo (we use StreetLib for GooglePlay) and finally, finally, are starting to get a few sales there. Up until last month, we couldn't so much as give a book away there for free, even with Kobo in-house promotions.
I think one of the first press releases mentioned selling Kobo readers in stores (or maybe this was theorizing - can't be certain). But I do know there will be a Walmart branded app. I don't think Walmart has any intention of blowing this and is making sure they do everything to make it a success for both Rakuten and Kobo and themselves.JRTomlin said:I have done well with Kobo only when I had a promotion, and most sales were in Canada. Hopefully that will be changing.
I found this interesting:
I do think that for online Walmart sales to go well, it needs to be backed up by the huge Walmart B&M customer base. I am wondering what 'not limited to eBook cards' means though. 🤔
I'm surprised that some find Kobo unrewarding. Often in my monthly ebook income, Kobo comes third, after Amazon and Apple and before B&N. Other months it's B&N third, Kobo fourth. I distribute through Draft2Digital apart from Amazon and Google.
It varies a lot from person to person. For me in the last couple months, it's been Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Apple and Google (tied). I've seen reports in which Google Play is the main source of sales outside Amazon. I used to know someone who sold more books in the Smashwords store than on Amazon, so you never know.notjohn said:I'm surprised that some find Kobo unrewarding. Often in my monthly ebook income, Kobo comes third, after Amazon and Apple and before B&N. Other months it's B&N third, Kobo fourth. I distribute through Draft2Digital apart from Amazon and Google.
I only have erotica at Kobo, and I do pretty good on my first wave of books I published there. They changed something about a year ago, and I've never made a single sale of anything published after that date, but the original wave of stuff still does alright (even though those are all from pen names I've abandoned, and I don't publish anything new there).notjohn said:I'm surprised that some find Kobo unrewarding. Often in my monthly ebook income, Kobo comes third, after Amazon and Apple and before B&N. Other months it's B&N third, Kobo fourth. I distribute through Draft2Digital apart from Amazon and Google.
That's true. I hear a lot of people complain about Google, but it's second to Amazon for us. Of course the blurbs use a lot of fantasy-trope keywords, and the blurbs are searchable on Google, so I think that helps. I have no idea how people find things on Kobo, B&N, or iBooks--if I don't know the title and author when I search those sites, I have no hope of finding what I'm looking for.Bill Hiatt said:It varies a lot from person to person. For me in the last couple months, it's been Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Apple and Google (tied). I've seen reports in which Google Play is the main source of sales outside Amazon. I used to know someone who sold more books in the Smashwords store than on Amazon, so you never know.
A few weeks ago Kobo told me they had something in the works in terms of improving the categories and book discoverability. I'm still waiting to see what that will be. As a user my main way of finding things through the Kobo ecosystem is their recommendation tool, which obviously favours bigger sellers.Lilly_Frost said:I have no idea how people find things on Kobo, B&N, or iBooks--if I don't know the title and author when I search those sites, I have no hope of finding what I'm looking for.
That would be great; Kobo has a nice, clean-looking storefront, but their categories leave a lot to be desired, and I can't tell that the keywords I entered into the metadata actually help with discoverability. I think that's why sales there are at the very bottom. Even Smashwords sells more for us.Ros_Jackson said:A few weeks ago Kobo told me they had something in the works in terms of improving the categories and book discoverability. I'm still waiting to see what that will be. As a user my main way of finding things through the Kobo ecosystem is their recommendation tool, which obviously favours bigger sellers.
So far, I've found it unrewarding. When I loaded my best seller up onto Kobo, it told me everything was loaded correctly.notjohn said:I'm surprised that some find Kobo unrewarding. Often in my monthly ebook income, Kobo comes third, after Amazon and Apple and before B&N. Other months it's B&N third, Kobo fourth. I distribute through Draft2Digital apart from Amazon and Google.
Then it told me it was up for sale once I finished. I checked a few days later, it was for sale, and the cover was there.
Then, nearly a month later (just today), I find out that the cover didn't actually load after all -- or was lost, because it disappeared.
So I had a book for sale for several weeks, and during some of them it had no cover. Thanks Kobo. That's awesome.
For me Apple is my number two after Amazon followed by B&N, Google Play and then Kobo. Kobo has always been in that slot though the others have shifted around over the years.notjohn said:I'm surprised that some find Kobo unrewarding. Often in my monthly ebook income, Kobo comes third, after Amazon and Apple and before B&N. Other months it's B&N third, Kobo fourth. I distribute through Draft2Digital apart from Amazon and Google.
For anyone interested in an update, got this in an email from Streetlib today:
The Kobo -Walmart partnership will commence August 21, 2018. To kick off the partnership with a BANG! Kobo US will be running a $2.99 or less eBook sale for the first month of the partnership launch: August 21 - September 17 (inclusive). All titles must be promotionally priced at $2.99 & under (excluding free) for the duration of the promotion."
Sounds like a good date to set a promo
LOLJeff Tanyard said:
Google Play? My goodness, I seldom bother checking their rather unfriendly sales reports, though I'm happy to take the money when it's deposited in my account.
Usually Google Play (play! omg) ranks down there with Tolino, whatever that is.
Thanks for clearing up about the Walmart/Kobo launch date. I rushed out and did a search on the Walmart website for my books, and all I could turn up was the paperbacks, and not all of those, sigh.
Usually Google Play (play! omg) ranks down there with Tolino, whatever that is.
Thanks for clearing up about the Walmart/Kobo launch date. I rushed out and did a search on the Walmart website for my books, and all I could turn up was the paperbacks, and not all of those, sigh.
Are they getting those from Ingram? I don't think any of mine are therenotjohn said:I rushed out and did a search on the Walmart website for my books, and all I could turn up was the paperbacks, and not all of those, sigh.
On an unrelated but partially related note, Microsoft's online store sells books. They had a big sale around the same time Amazon's Prime thing was going on.
I wonder if some day they are planning on joining the fray.
I wonder if some day they are planning on joining the fray.
1 - 20 of 129 Posts
- This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Kindle Forum
A forum community dedicated to Amazon Kindle owners, authors, and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about publishing, audio, troubleshooting, models, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Recommended Communities
