Are Apple Books and Kobo worth the effort?

Yes. Especially if you write in genres with strong international readership.

Let me give you the numbers that most Amazon-focused authors do not know. Apple Books users spend more money per transaction than readers on any other platform. The average Apple Books buyer is affluent, reads on premium devices, and is less price-sensitive than Kindle readers. If your book is priced at $9.99, Apple Books buyers will not blink.

Kobo is the dominant ebook platform in Canada, a major player in Australia and New Zealand, and growing rapidly in Europe through its partnership with the Rakuten ecosystem. If you are only on Amazon, you are invisible to millions of readers who prefer Kobo.

The easiest way to reach both platforms is through Draft2Digital, which distributes to Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and several smaller retailers and library systems. You upload your manuscript once, set your prices, and D2D handles the formatting and distribution. Their cut is approximately 10% of your list price, which is reasonable for the convenience.

You can also go direct to Apple through Apple Books for Authors and direct to Kobo through Kobo Writing Life. Going direct gives you slightly higher royalties (you skip the aggregator cut) and access to platform-specific promotional tools. Kobo Writing Life in particular runs regular promotions and featured placements that are easier to access than Amazon's equivalent.

The time investment is minimal. If you are already publishing on Amazon, adding Apple and Kobo (either direct or through D2D) takes less than an hour per book. The incremental revenue adds up, especially over a catalog of multiple titles. And more importantly, it reduces your dependency on a single platform. If Amazon changes its algorithm, adjusts its royalty terms, or does anything else that hurts your visibility, your Apple and Kobo income keeps flowing.

The authors who tell you "it is not worth going wide" are usually the ones whose entire business model depends on Kindle Unlimited page reads. That works until it does not. Diversification is not just a financial term. It is a survival strategy.

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