I am obviously a dedicated reader. Last year I hit an amazing 160 books read for the year (thank you, continual lockdown), and by the end of March, I’ve already read 30 in 2021. I will read in any format. Audiobooks, physical books, ebooks, I will take them all! (No book snobbery here, please.) I love my Kobo ereader, and I’ve now been using a Kobo for over a decade! I love that I can have hundreds of books with me at once, including library books, and I can change font/ size/ margins to whatever I want. And now Kobo has an unlimited monthly option! Today I’m sharing my Kobo Plus review, and whether or not I think it is worth it.
I won’t lie, because of how much influencer-based marketing there is out there, I don’t really believe any sponsored reviews anymore. Everything is better when you receive it for free or are paid to try it. And with Kobo Plus, there aren’t a ton of reviews, and the ones I found were sponsored by Kobo. (Or they are “reviews” from tech sites that just briefly explain the service and price with no actual review.) So, to be clear, this Kobo Plus review is not sponsored by Kobo. I had the first month of Kobo Plus free with the standard free trial, and I am now paying the monthly $9.99 CAD.
What is Kobo Plus? How Does It Work?
Much like Kindle Unlimited, Kobo is a monthly subscription service where you can read an unlimited number of books from the Kobo Plus catalogue. Important to note, the Kobo Plus catalogue is not the full Kobo catalogue. It allows for a good amount of offline reading, if you don’t like leaving your wifi connection on. According to Kobo,
Once you’ve opened 15 Kobo Plus books or reached the end of your 30-day of offline reading period, you’ll need to reconnect to Wi Fi and sync your Kobo eReader to continue reading. You’ll then be able to open up to 15 Kobo Plus books again over a 30-day period once you disconnect.
If you cancel your subscription, you will no longer have access to the books you downloaded through Kobo Plus (unless you purchase them separately).
What Books Are Available Through Kobo Plus?
Like its Kindle cousin, the majority of the Kobo Plus catalogue is a lot of books that normally sell for $0.99-2.99 CAD. You don’t tend to find many bestsellers through the program, but if you are a dedicated reader who reads quickly, it might not matter. There are some more niche books that would be quite expensive to buy (depending on the niche), so it is worth exploring to see if any of your interests are in the catalogue.
There are hundreds of thousands of books available, and the choices do change. I would recommend periodically checking to see if anything you are looking for has been added. I was quite sceptical at first when the service first launched, but in the last few months, I’ve seen a lot of books from bigger authors added. (Talia Hibbert, I’m looking at you!)
Tips for Using Kobo Plus
As I’ve said, if you are a fast/ quick reader who goes through books quickly, Kobo Plus is a fantastic service to use. Books can add up quickly, so you can save a lot. However, I’ve found that there are a few ways to make the most of it.
Check Rakuten/Money-Back Services
Given that Kobo is owned by Rakuten, it seems obvious that Kobo is a retailer on Rakuten. You can often get 5-10% back on Kobo ebook and audiobook purchases through Rakuten. However, they also often have a separate money-back offer specifically for signing up for Kobo Plus. If you are considering Kobo Plus, check to see if there are any offers available. Given that it’s only $9.99 a month, you may not get a lot back, but it’s better than nothing. (I’m not a Rakuten affiliate or anything, it’s just a handy thing to use.)
Keep a List of Your TBR Books on Kobo Plus
If you are on the fence about trying or using Kobo Plus, I would keep a running list of any of your To-Be-Read books available through Kobo Plus. I finally started using it because I realised that I could save over $70 CAD from books I know I want to read. (And I have found several more books since!) Even if you only have 5-10 books to read from Kobo Plus, you can subscribe for a month or two and read all of them at once. Unfortunately, you can only make one master Wishlist on Kobo directly. I would recommend using Goodreads or whatever tracking app you use.
Search By Publisher
As you might imagine, I read a lot of history books, and they get expensive really quickly. While I mentioned above that a lot of the books available on Kobo Plus are cheaper books, there are a lot of history books that are $15 CAD and up available through Kobo Plus. And the most effective way to find them is by publisher. I’ve found that availability through Kobo Plus is largely limited through publishers. So, if you figure out that The History Press makes many of their books available, you can use THP site to find books you want to read and then search them specifically on the Kobo site. (Not every book from a publisher is available, but many seem to be.) You can find the publisher by scrolling to the bottom of the page for the book.
Keep an Open Mind
When looking through the Kobo Plus catalogue, keep an open mind. There are some gems to find, but a lot of people dismiss them! If you know that you only read Clive Cussler or Diana Gabaldon, or another NYT bestseller, you probably won’t find much. However, if you are open to a genre in general rather than specific authors, you will have a lot more luck! You can always search for a specific title or author and then limit the search results to only Kobo Plus books, but you may miss out on a lot of great authors.
If you are looking for more on ereaders, you can check out my Kobo/ Kindle/ Google Play post here!
And if you are interested in audiobooks, my Kobo Audiobook post will be perfect for you.
Have you used Kobo Plus?
Cheers,
The Historian
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Thankyou for the review. I have signed up for a 30 day trial. I am disappointed some of my most read authors are not “subscription” eligible. So I’m not sure whether I’ll stick with the program or not. It would have been nice if they made this disclosure upfront, however the cancel anytime option is always available.
I find that it can be really hit or miss for authors being on Kobo Plus- I occasionally subscribe for a month here or there, but I don’t consistently maintain one! Happy reading!
Thanks for the review! I have a kobo but never looked at kobo plus because Overdrive has most of the books I want, but I’ll have to give this a second look!
I use both Overdrive and Kobo Plus, so between the two, I could very happily keep myself occupied 😊 (My library has very long wait times for Overdrive- some books are 70+ weeks, so this is nice in the meantime!)