More On Writing Life, Kobo's New Self Publishing Platform

Yesterday I wrote about the announcement that Kobo had created a self publishing portal for writers called Writing Life.

At that time we didn't know much, only that it would enable authors to offer their books, free of charge, for however long they liked. This is in contrast to Amazon's KDP program which allows writers to offer their works free for a maximum of 5 days every 3 months.

Yesterday Kobo released more information:

- Writing Life files use the ePub format which can be played on any eReader.
- Writing life with be available to the English speaking public at the end of June
- You can sign up for Kobo Writing Life here.

Kobo has also released screenshots of their interface. The "Sales at a Glance" page is impressive.

Kobo Writing Life: Sales At A Glance

For more information on Kobo's Writing Life, click here:
Kobo Announces Writing Life—Best-in-Class Open, Collaborative Self-Publishing Portal

Further reading:
- Read more about Kobo's Writing Life portal over at the Passive Voice Blog: Kobo provides more sophisticated reporting for indie authors.

eBooks promote reading

Carolyn Kellogg, writing for the Los Angeles Times, notes that:

... getting an ereader can lead to more reading. Thirty-four percent of Californians surveyed said that with an ereader, they read more books than they did before.

That's good news for authors. :)

On a completely unrelated note, when I read this next article I had to read the first paragraph twice, it seemed incredible. Here it is:

Wildlife is thriving in lakes contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster, with both overall numbers and species diversity holding up well. Any harmful effects from the radiation appear to be dwarfed by the benefits of having no humans in the area.

As Michael Marshall, writing for New Scientist, explains,

The area around Chernobyl was evacuated after the disaster ... this has been a boon to the local wildlife. Endangered European bison and Przewalski's horses have been introduced successfully.

Here is a link to the article.