Kobo Plus: The Subscription Benefit That Only Wide Authors Can Access

Here is one of the most underappreciated advantages of publishing wide: wide authors can participate in Kobo's subscription reading service, Kobo Plus, without sacrificing a single other distribution channel. Kobo Plus is not exclusivity-required. You can enroll your books in Kobo Plus and simultaneously sell those same books on Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play, Barnes and Noble, and every other platform you publish on. The non-exclusive subscription access that Kobo Plus provides is something Kindle Unlimited, with its strict exclusivity requirement, fundamentally cannot offer.

This article is the deep dive on Kobo Plus that the Kobo Writing Life guide touched on briefly. It covers how Kobo Plus works, what markets it operates in, how the royalty calculation functions, which books are strongest candidates for enrollment, and how to manage your Kobo Plus presence as part of a complete wide publishing strategy.

What Kobo Plus Is

Kobo Plus is Kobo's subscription reading and listening service. Subscribers pay a monthly or annual fee and access an essentially unlimited catalog of ebooks and audiobooks from the Kobo Plus library. It is directly comparable to Kindle Unlimited in its basic structure: readers subscribe, read from the catalog, and authors receive royalties based on reading engagement rather than per-sale purchases.

Kobo Plus launched in the Netherlands in 2018, expanded to Belgium, and has grown to include Canada and other markets where Kobo has strong readership. It is available in both ebook and audiobook formats in markets where Kobo has developed its audio catalog. The subscription operates within the Kobo ecosystem—readers access Kobo Plus content through the Kobo app and Kobo e-reader devices, the same ecosystem they use for retail ebook purchases.

The Non-Exclusivity Advantage

The most important thing to understand about Kobo Plus relative to Kindle Unlimited is the exclusivity comparison.

Kindle Unlimited requires 90-day exclusivity. A book enrolled in KDP Select—which is what gives it KU access—cannot be sold or distributed on any other platform during the enrollment period. This exclusivity is why going wide and participating in Kindle Unlimited are mutually exclusive strategies for ebook authors.

Kobo Plus has no exclusivity requirement. A book enrolled in Kobo Plus is simultaneously available for retail sale on Kobo at its full price, available for sale on Amazon, available on Apple Books, available on Google Play, available on Barnes and Noble, and available on every other platform where you distribute. Enrolling in Kobo Plus does not restrict your distribution in any way. It simply adds your book to the Kobo Plus subscription catalog as an additional access pathway for Kobo Plus subscribers, alongside its continued availability for retail purchase.

This means wide authors can participate in a subscription reading ecosystem—receiving subscription engagement royalties—while maintaining their full retail distribution everywhere. This is a combination that Amazon-exclusive authors cannot achieve: they must choose between KU subscription access and wide retail distribution. Wide authors do not have to choose.

How Kobo Plus Royalties Work

Kobo Plus royalties are paid based on reading engagement—specifically, on the number of pages read by Kobo Plus subscribers within your enrolled books. This is conceptually similar to Kindle Unlimited's Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP) system, though the specific calculation and per-page rate differ.

The Per-Page Rate

Kobo Plus calculates royalties from a subscription revenue pool, similar to how KU works. The pool is divided among enrolled authors based on pages read. The per-page rate is not fixed—it varies based on the total subscription revenue Kobo Plus generates in each market and the total reading volume across the catalog in that period.

Kobo does not publicly publish a fixed per-page rate, which means you cannot calculate your expected Kobo Plus income with precision before enrolling. The practical approach is to enroll, monitor the per-read royalties that appear in your Kobo Writing Life dashboard over several months, and compare those rates to your retail Kobo income for the same titles to evaluate whether enrollment is adding meaningful income.

Market-Specific Income

Because Kobo Plus operates in specific markets—Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and others—your Kobo Plus royalties reflect reading activity in those markets specifically. An author with a strong Canadian readership will tend to see stronger Kobo Plus income than an author whose Kobo audience is primarily in the US (where Kobo Plus may not be active or may be in earlier rollout stages). Understanding which markets your Kobo Plus enrollment is generating income from helps you evaluate the program's value relative to your specific reader geography.

Which Books to Enroll in Kobo Plus

Kobo Plus enrollment is a per-title decision, which gives authors meaningful control over their subscription strategy. Not every book in your catalog needs to be in Kobo Plus, and thinking strategically about which books to enroll produces better results than blanket enrollment or blanket abstention.

Series Starters Are the Priority

The strongest case for Kobo Plus enrollment is a series starter—the first book in a series of three or more. The enrollment logic is the same as permafree logic: put book one in the subscription catalog where Kobo Plus subscribers can discover it at no incremental cost to them, and let compelling read-through carry them into purchasing subsequent books in the series at retail price.

A Kobo Plus subscriber who reads your enrolled series starter and loves it has two pathways: they can read books two, three, and four at retail purchase price (their usual ebook purchasing behavior for books they love), or they can hope those books are also in Kobo Plus. Enrolling only the series starter maximizes the discovery benefit of subscription access while preserving retail purchase income on subsequent titles. This is the most commonly recommended Kobo Plus enrollment strategy for series authors.

Standalone Titles

Standalone novels are weaker candidates for Kobo Plus enrollment than series starters because there is no read-through mechanic to drive subsequent purchases. A standalone enrolled in Kobo Plus earns subscription royalties from readers who read it within the subscription—but those same readers might have purchased it at retail if it were not in the subscription catalog. Whether subscription income exceeds lost retail income depends on your specific sales patterns and Kobo Plus per-page rates.

Authors with primarily standalone catalogs should evaluate Kobo Plus enrollment conservatively—enrolling one or two titles, monitoring the income differential versus retail sales, and making ongoing enrollment decisions based on observed data rather than assumption.

Lower-Performing Retail Titles

Titles that are generating very low retail sales on Kobo are good candidates for Kobo Plus enrollment because the opportunity cost of lost retail sales is minimal. A book selling two or three copies per month on Kobo at retail contributes little to your income; the same book in Kobo Plus might generate meaningful subscription reads from subscribers who would never have discovered it at retail. For your lower-performing back catalog, Kobo Plus enrollment can be a way to extract additional value from titles that are underperforming in retail.

How to Enroll in Kobo Plus

Kobo Plus enrollment is managed directly in your Kobo Writing Life dashboard. The process is straightforward:

• Log into your Kobo Writing Life account

• Navigate to the title you want to enroll and open its settings

• Find the Kobo Plus enrollment option—it appears in the distribution or pricing settings section of each title

• Enable Kobo Plus enrollment for that title

• Review any terms or confirmation related to the enrollment—while there is no exclusivity requirement, understand the terms you are agreeing to

• Monitor your Kobo Plus royalties in your Kobo Writing Life dashboard and in ScribeCount as they accumulate over the following months

Enrollment can be toggled on or off at any time without penalty. This flexibility means you can experiment with enrollment, observe the results, and adjust your strategy as you learn how Kobo Plus performs for your specific books and audience.

Kobo Plus for Audiobooks

Kobo Plus includes audiobooks in markets where Kobo has developed its audio catalog. For wide authors who have uploaded audiobooks directly through Kobo Writing Life (or whose audiobooks are accessible to Kobo through aggregator relationships), Kobo Plus audio enrollment may be available. The enrollment process for audiobooks follows the same general pattern as ebook enrollment within Kobo Writing Life.

The audiobook dimension of Kobo Plus is less developed than the ebook dimension in most markets, and Kobo's audio catalog breadth depends heavily on which markets you are targeting. Check current Kobo Plus audiobook availability in your target markets when making enrollment decisions for audio content.

Kobo Plus vs. Kindle Unlimited: A Clear-Eyed Comparison

Authors who are evaluating whether to go wide sometimes frame the question as choosing between Kindle Unlimited income and wide distribution. Kobo Plus changes that framing in an important way.

Kindle Unlimited provides subscription access to your books in exchange for exclusivity. The per-page rates and subscriber volume in KU are substantial, and for authors in KU-heavy genres like romance and thriller, the income can be significant. Wide distribution gives you retail access to every platform but excludes you from KU subscription income.

Kobo Plus gives wide authors a subscription income layer that does not require exclusivity. The subscriber volume in Kobo Plus is smaller than KU—Kobo's subscriber base is not comparable to Kindle's at scale. But it is real subscription income on top of your retail income on top of your income from every other wide platform. The comparison is not KU vs. wide. It is KU vs. wide + Kobo Plus + Storytel + Everand + every other non-exclusive subscription platform. When all subscription layers are accounted for, the wide subscription income picture is more competitive with KU than most authors realize.

Common Kobo Plus Mistakes

• Not enrolling any titles in Kobo Plus because of confusion about whether it requires exclusivity—it does not

• Enrolling your entire catalog rather than thinking strategically about which books benefit most from subscription access

• Not enrolling series starters—the highest-value Kobo Plus candidates—while enrolling mid-series books where subscription access adds less value

• Not tracking Kobo Plus royalties separately in ScribeCount and therefore not knowing whether enrollment is generating meaningful income

• Making enrollment decisions based on other authors' results rather than your own Kobo data—Kobo Plus performance varies significantly by genre, market, and catalog depth

Conclusion

Kobo Plus is one of the cleanest examples of what wide publishing actually enables: subscription income without exclusivity, subscriber discovery without platform lock-in, and a distribution advantage that Amazon-exclusive authors simply cannot replicate. Enrolling your series starters in Kobo Plus is one of the highest-ROI, lowest-effort optimizations available to wide authors using Kobo Writing Life. Check your enrollment settings today, make your first strategic enrollment decision, and let ScribeCount show you what the subscription layer is actually adding to your Kobo income over time. 

- Randall