Kobo: What You Need to Know

Mother’s Day Promotion Underway

The Kobo Mother’s Day promotion started on Wednesday, April 23, and runs through May 11, 2014. Booksellers should be sure to add web banners to their sites. A variety of options are available so all Kobo stores can participate in the sale. No Arc? No problem! Use one of the banners highlighting the Aura, or even the free content that’s available to all new users of the Kobo App. 

DIY is now available in the Designs and Downloads section of BookWeb.org.

Sales must be reported by June 1, 2014.

The sale prices are as follows:

• Arc 7HD 16GB - $179.99 ($19 rebate)
• Arc 7HD 32GB - $229.99 ($19 rebate)
• Aura - $129.99 ($9.50 rebate)

 The full list of current device prices is available here.

Creative Marketing with Kobo: The Inside Scoop From Village Books

As the Kobo partnership has grown, many ABA stores have taken different approaches to marketing Kobo eBooks. Bellingham Washington’s Village Books takes a playful, pro-indie promo.

Village Books’ monthly newsletter, The eBook ePistle, promotes everything eReading — device promotions, Daily Deals, and anything new to Kobo, like the eMagazine launch.

Sam Kaas, creator of the newsletter, explained that “When we first started selling e-readers, Chuck Robinson, Paul Hanson, and I sat down and talked about ways to keep customers engaged after they purchased a reader or downloaded an app. Selling the device only gets you so far... it’s content that actually keeps you in the game.”

Sam also noted that his casual introductory letter with a rundown of what he’s reading and news from the store tends to receive a high click rate every month. Further, the popular “Local eBook” section was added “to remind customers that, although they are being directed to an international retailer to buy and read their e-books, they are still entering into a relationship with a local business that has local interests.” 

Another tip: if you’re doing an author event, don’t forget to link to the eBook edition, too! Village Books has great success with Kobo Writing Life events at the store.

Stores interested in learning more about Kobo Writing Life events should contact Christine Munroe at (646) 943-8200, ext. 52533, or via e-mail.

This and all Kobo updates can be found at any time in the Kobo Announcement Archive on BookWeb.org.