At a glance
- Manuscript upload
- Required
- Cloud storage
- Yes
- Account required
- Yes
- AI features
- Built into the service
- AI training on your work
- Explicitly excluded
- Content licence
- Sublicensable to third parties
- Deletion
- Available
- Export / portability
- Partial
- Policy transparency
- Clear
“Not determined” means the documents were read and did not settle it. “Not assessed” means it has not been researched. Neither means “no”.
What this means for authors
Editorial interpretation — Generally protective
The terms are scoped to what the service needs to operate, with clear routes to withdraw.
The terms are legible, and the questions that matter are answered inside them rather than around them. One document carries the royalty tables, the thresholds in every currency, the payment schedule and the licence grant, and the help centre repeats the same figures in plain language instead of contradicting them. Exclusivity is not required, copyright stays with the author, and either side can leave on ten days’ notice. Most notably, the AI question is answered: the contract excludes training generative AI on the work, where the other platforms in this index say nothing at all. Two things stop it being stronger. The distribution licence is sublicensable across Kobo’s partner network, and individual partners cannot be opted out of — only whole territories. And the privacy policy covering Writing Life is a Rakuten Group policy built around reader behaviour: detailed tracking, inference and advertising, disclosed honestly, but broad.
Content licence
A non-exclusive licence to make available, copy, distribute, transmit and sell the work through the Kobo reading service, sublicensable to the third-party booksellers, retailers and distributors Kobo sells through. The author keeps copyright, and Kobo says so plainly. Either side can end the arrangement — the publisher on ten days’ written notice — after which Kobo stops selling the work, but copies already bought stay readable and Kobo keeps archival copies for as long as it judges it still owes those buyers access.
AI and model training
The only record in this index where the question is settled in the contract rather than left to silence: Kobo agrees that works will not be used to train generative AI technologies. The same clause is candid about what Kobo may still do with AI — read, analyse and process the work to categorise and tag it, judge whether it is suitable for sale, generate keywords, promotional copy and targeted advertising from it, and produce recaps and accessibility features for readers who have bought it. That is a real set of permissions, and it is a different thing from training a model on the text. Kobo is one of the few platforms to draw that line in writing.
Tracking and telemetry
Extensive, and openly described — though aimed at the reader rather than the author. The privacy policy, which names Kobo Writing Life among the services it covers, records reading activity including how often and for how long content is consumed, genres and authors read, searches, ratings and comments, device identifiers, and inferences drawn from all of it for recommendations and advertising. Data may be shared within the Rakuten Group. Nothing in the policy suggests an unpublished manuscript is read this way; what is tracked is the reading of published books.
Deletion
A Writing Life account is deactivated within 24 hours of a request, outstanding earnings are paid out, and the author keeps all rights. Deactivation alone does not erase personal data — Kobo says so — because it has to keep past buyers’ access working; full erasure takes an explicit deletion request, after which data is deleted or irreversibly anonymised except where a legal obligation or a claim requires keeping it. Whether the uploaded manuscript files are destroyed at that point is not stated.
Export and lock-in
Strong on rights, thinner on data. Nothing is locked in: the licence is non-exclusive, the author keeps copyright, and the same book can be published anywhere else at any time. The privacy policy grants a portability right over personal information in a usable electronic format. What is not offered is a documented way to export the catalogue itself — uploaded files, metadata and full sales history — in bulk.
Sources
Every factual claim above is drawn from these documents.
Official terms
Kobo Writing Life Terms of ServiceRakuten Kobo
Accessed 4 September 2026 · Effective 29 May 2025
Source for every royalty percentage and threshold, the audiobook price ceiling, the Kobo Plus 60% rate, the $50 CAD payment threshold and 45-day schedule, the licence grant, the ten-day termination notice, and the clause excluding generative-AI training.
Official privacy policy
Rakuten Kobo Privacy PolicyRakuten Kobo
Accessed 4 September 2026
Last updated May 2026, with no day given, so no effective date is recorded. Source for the reading-activity tracking, Rakuten Group sharing, the deletion and portability rights, and the statement that the policy covers Kobo Writing Life.
Official help centre
Closing your accountKobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for the 24-hour deactivation, retained author rights, continued access for past purchasers, and payout of outstanding earnings.
Official help centre
Do my books need to be exclusive with Kobo?Kobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for no exclusivity, no retained copyright, the duplicate-listing request, and Kobo’s own statement that there is no price cap.
Official help centre
File Types & SizesKobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for the accepted upload formats and the 100 MB limit.
Official help centre
How does Kobo Plus pay?Kobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for the per-minute pool calculation and the 300-minute reporting block.
Official help centre
ISBNs and Kobo Writing LifeKobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for the Kobo-issued identifier, its rejection by partner sites, the 190-country figure, and the fact that an ISBN cannot be changed after upload.
Official help centre
Promotions Tab: How the Money WorksKobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for the flat-fee and additional-percentage promotion costs, and for 10% being the common rate.
Official help centre
What is the cost to distribute my eBooks?Kobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for free distribution and free EPUB conversion.
Official help centre
What will my earnings be?Kobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Restates the ebook, audiobook and OverDrive rates in Kobo’s own plain language, including the cost-per-checkout model.
Official help centre
Where else can Kobo distribute my eBooks?Kobo Writing Life Help Centre
Accessed 4 September 2026
Source for the partner retailers, and for the fact that individual partners cannot be opted out of — only whole territories.
Caveats
This is an informational reading of published documents, not legal advice, and it describes what Kobo Writing Life’s terms permit and require rather than what the company does in practice. Terms change without announcement. How this is assessed.