Digital book distributor StreetLib has added KoboPlus to its list of outlets.
From June 1, the StreetLib catalog available on Kobo will also be available on the firm’s new ebook subscription service unless authors opt out.
Kobo Plus was launched in February this year in the Netherlands in association with Bol.com at €9.99 a month for subscribers.
Although the service is currently available only for subscribers in the Netherlands, StreetLib believes, given Kobo’s international reach, more countries are sure to be added soon.
Draft2digital also recently added KoboPlus to its distribution range.
Pieter Swinkels, Executive Vice-President, Rakuten Kobo, says, “Kobo Plus allows readers to effortlessly discover new authors and try out new genres that they might not otherwise try, encouraging people to read more.”
Here are some of the points to bear in mind if you’re wanting to add your books to KoboPlus with StreetLib:
- Only books distributed on Kobo through StreetLib will be added to Kobo Plus.
- Books put on Kobo Plus have to stay there a minimum of 6 months after which you can request them to be removed with 30 days’ notice.
- If you do not want your ebook on Kobo Plus, please send an email to StreetLib to opt out before May 28.
- Revenues will be allocated using a fair-share model.
- Every month you’ll get a report of the number of reads of your books on the Kobo Plus service.
- Your revenues will be calculated as: (60-10)% * Price Factor defined by Kobo * your ebook’s list price * your ebook’s number of reads
- The -10% is StreetLib’s usual share.
- The Price Factor is defined each month by Kobo depending on the total number of subscriptions to Kobo Plus, the total of book read and book list prices.
StreetLib is an Italian-based company which distributes ebooks and print books worldwide. It has a range of services, including a free online tool to write, format and publish ebooks and print books.
There is no up-front cost to publish books but there is a 10% commission of cover price on sales.
One of the very interesting aspects of StreetLib’s set-up is that it has struck a deal with Amazon where it gets 50% commission on all Kindle sales regardless of a book’s price and the size of file.
If you publish direct with KDP then you are paid 35% royalties on ebooks priced from $0.99 to under $2.99, or if a book is priced above $9.99, and 70% on ebooks priced from $2.99-$9.99. There is also a so-called ‘delivery fee’ of $0.15 per Mb on the size of an ebook file which is charged only if the 70% commission option is chosen.
However, although there’s no delivery fee on the 35% commission option, going direct with KDP means that your ebook has to be less than 3Mb to qualify for the $0.99 price point.
If it’s above 3Mb and less than 10Mb the minimum price is $1.99 and if it’s over 10Mb then the minimum price is $2.99.
If you have a book with a substantial file size that you want to sell at, say, $0.99 then you should consider StreetLib
50% royalty can pay off compared with KDP
StreetLib’s 50% all-in deal means it can actually offer a higher royalty than going through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing in cases where your book is priced $2.99 or under (or $9.99 or above).
At $2.99, for example, you’ll be making $0.15 per sale more from StreetLib (after SL’s 10% take) than you would direct with KDP for an ebook with a file size of 2Mb — $1.0465 from KDP compared with $1.1960 on StreetLib.
StreetLib can, in fact, offer better returns than direct with KDP at all price points, depending on your book’s file size. The company has a royalty calculator on its website where you can enter your book’s details to find out the comparison.
If you distribute though StreetLib you can’t, of course, enrol your book in Kindle Unlimited as it wouldn’t be exclusive. KoboPlus does not demand exclusivity.
Kobo Plus goes Dutch to launch ebook subscription service with ‘fair-share’ payouts to authors
Draft2digital adds Kobo Plus ebook subscription service to distribution options