Greetings, folks!
I (R.J., as the kitties are busy sleeping because they’re lazy) have some general news for you regarding Kobo! A lot of it is good, especially for those who are on a tight budget.
So, I’ll just plow through this so y’all can get back to your Friday night.
1: Don’t panic if you notice some books go offline from Kobo for a day or two. I’m in process of finishing transferring books from a distributor to directly with Kobo. Once the process is started, it should only take a few days for everything to be merged so your libraries are consistent. This should also remove the RJ vs R.J. problems at this vendor at the same time. (I can hope, I can dream.)
2: All books will be enrolled in Kobo Plus, which is a subscription service currently available for Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I am paid for reads, just like in services like Kindle Unlimited, but I have non-exclusive terms. I’m really pleased to be in Kobo Plus, since I have the freedom to do with my books as I please. So, my entire library will be available for those on a budget through this platform if you don’t want to buy individual copies but still want to read, if you’re in the countries it’s available in.
Kobo Plus, as far as I know, will be expanding to new countries as they can. Timeline? No idea. But, so far, I’m really liking being in their system, and I feel I’ve been treated fairly thus far. That’s important. And I do like making my books accessible.
3: Karma has a Bookbub Featured Deal coming up soon. Kobo is one of my preferred vendors, so don’t be surprised to see me pushing it there.
4: The Kobo Forma is an amazing ereader, and it’s by far my absolute favorite of the lot to use. I get the very rare glitch (same as I do on my kindle paperwhites) and it’s got clicker buttons for me to use instead of having to tap or finger swipe the screen. My tendonitis REALLY appreciates this…
5: Not Kobo related, but Pat was retired today. He was claimed by my husband to be a gaming computer… and I was given this REALLY SHINY monitor so I can use my really beefy Macbook Pro laptop, which was named Quinn after I polled on the facebook page.
Beyond that, things are going decently. I’m getting back in the saddle, and I’m really starting to be productive again at writing. February sucked, but March is progressively getting better.
Catnapped is scheduled to release in early May, and everything is going well with it. I’m having a fun time working on the book, I’m enjoying how it’s coming together, and I really hope everyone enjoys the fun romp! Diana is a little weird, but I like her.
You can preorder Catnapped at Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble.
And because I’m not a total Jerky McJerkyFace, here’s Diana’s first glimpse of Darian…
I should have worn something nice.
It was one thing to face off against the Devil, who’d opted to show up as a tanned white man in a black suit, while I wore wrinkled work clothes. It was another to face off against the Devil, one of his brothers, and one of his top generals, all while wearing wrinkled work clothes. Unfortunately for my peace of mind, the archangel proved to be Raguel, best known for pursuing justice with unrelenting determination. To further complicate matters, the devilish general proved to be Belial. How the devil in charge of ruination of all things tolerated the archangel in charge of justice baffled me, but they accompanied a dark-haired woman in designer clothes, who contained the forces of heaven and hell with a single glare.
Even Lucifer behaved at the first sign her attention would fall on him.
How interesting.
The young man with them did take after his mother, and he gave Lucifer a run for his money in the tall, dark, nicely tanned, and handsome department.
Damn.
So I have a paperwhite and 3 Fires and a new looks like a paperwhite one I got for Christmas. I’m glad that you got a new system but how will I get your books?
I am not leaving the other vendors… this is just kobo specific news.
Nor will I be enrolling in Kindle Unlimited due to their exclusivity terms. This is just for those who use kobo.
You can download the overdrive app and register with them, the read Kobo purchased books via that app. That is how I read Kobo books on my kindle :).
Glad to hear that things are improving in the Blain household, and with the bookselling!
I’m so pleased at your commitment to Kobo. I won’t do Amazon ebooks because of its policies toward authors regarding exclusivity.
This means I have lost out quite a few times when an author suddenly transfers to Amazon and I’m left with a series that I will never know the finish of, or they publish a series that is Amazon only. ?
I sometimes think I’m cutting off my nose to spite my face but what’s the point of having principles if you fall at the first hurdle? ?
P.S. I have a Forma – and I LOVE it!
Yeah. I’ve basically stopped buying/reading books that aren’t published wide, and while I’ll promote some books in KU if the author has tit-for-tat with me, I am just skipping them when I’m book shopping as a general rule. And I’m also being more inclined to check if part of the author’s library is in KU, as that’s a fairly strong indication future books won’t be available on the platform I would rather read on.
So, yeah. I have a huge library on my kindle, but I’m slowly just moving away from it and getting the books I want on my Kobo. Sometimes B&N, but mostly Kobo. I might play around with Apple Books, since I do a decent amount of reading on my phone when I’m on the go.
I have the Kobo app on my phone so can read via that if I need to. (My phone is android so I don’t know if it’s an available app on Apple phones).
Thanks for the heads up. Since I tend to be compulsive, today (Friday March 19) I did a double check of all your books that I have purchased through Kobo. They are all downloaded on my tablet so I do have access to the books. I “checked” by logging into my Kobo account online and searching for RJ Blain. This brought up all you books. My issue is that the message “you already purchased this book” is missing. Instead I get the option to purchase the book. When I reached out to Kobo about this they told me that is was most likely a new version of the same book.
Yes, they haven’t merged the books yet. That’s part of why I made the notice.
So, are any of those different platforms available in other countries other than the US and some places in Europe? I have a whole library of you books on audible and I was about to buy the one I didn’t have and it disappeared. I have KU and often read books then buy the audio. There’s a library that makes borrowing audio possible here but it’s unreliable because it only allows a few people to borrow. Ultimately I’m asking what platform if any will I be able to purchase your work in Australia. I own pretty much your entire list of work under all your pen names and have a few that are coming up that I was particularly interested in. Trillian Anderson stuff was quite different and likeable and I can’t wait for more Lawrence vampire books either (which is funny, because I am more of a werewolf fan and I’m so excited to see how this series goes.). The book I was trying to buy audio for was Claustrophobic by Bernadette Franklin. The entire list of books I already own in that pen name seems to have disappeared!
I’m very appreciative of your work. I’d love to continue reading whatever platform you choose. I just hope it’s one that is available in Australia!! ?
Ratuken Kobo is kobo, yes! Please contact Amazon, as they should NOT have taken any of your audiobooks away; you paid for those. Make them give them back to you.
Never mind. I have Apple and apparently kobo is available in australia. Is ratuken kobo the same thing?