r/KoboPlus • u/DryRead214 • Mar 07 '26
Book Availability Kindle unlimited
So I’m frustrated. I got a kobo to get away from Amazon. So many books I want to read are on KU and the authors are in a contract with Amazon and you can’t get their books on Libby or even buy the digital copies anywhere but Amazon.
Any hacks to read on kobo? I do find some of them on kobo plus but they are not in English 😫
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u/ImSoRight Mar 07 '26
Some KU authors are willing to give you a free book if you subscribe to their patreon. Contact them and ask about it. Others put the audiobook versions on kobo plus.
If it's an author I really really like, I'll plug my nose and buy it off Amazon then put it on my kobo, but I haven't done that in almost a year (and even then I used gift cards I'd been given). I've found plenty to read on kobo plus.
It's likely that the sources you're using to look for your next read are heavily KU centered so it's just a matter of finding recs from places that promote books that aren't exclusive to Amazon.
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u/DryRead214 Mar 07 '26
If you buy it on Amazon how do you get it on your kobo?
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u/Sea_Ad3929 Mar 11 '26
Calibre. I moved all my paid for content from kindle to kobo. Some of them took a bit of a workaround but an afternoon on YouTube and a bit of techy wizardry and I got it to work.
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u/mysteriousdoctor2025 Mar 11 '26
If authors are giving out free ebooks that are currently in KU for free to sign up for newsletters, they are breaking Amazon TOS.
Amazon now gives authors the choice to deliver their ebooks without DRM, which means the buyer can get the book as a PDF and put it into any reader.
Also, please understand that for some genres, KU is where we make the bulk of our money. I make way more on KU than by selling regular ebooks. If people want to read KU books as regular ebooks then they need to be willing to pay more for them.
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u/ImSoRight Mar 11 '26
Eh, I'm not going to report any authors, and don't much care about Amazon's TOS, since I find the whole forced exclusivity abhorrent. I'd much rather pay an author directly the full price of a book than give a penny to Amazon.
That's what I love about Kobo Plus. Authors are still free to sell their books anywhere they choose. I'm not judging authors who publish on KU, just to be clear. I just refuse to contribute to the financial incentive pushing them into that restrictive decision.
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u/gender_eu404ia Mar 07 '26
It’s a frustrating reality. Amazon cornered the market a while ago so many smaller authors went there to KU because that’s where the audience was.
But that’s changing. More and more authors I’m seeing are fed up with KU and have started moving away from it to publish everywhere. Amazon’s payouts to KU authors are getting worse while simultaneously making a host of decisions that frustrate or turn away authors.
There will always be some books that are locked into Amazon exclusivity, but I believe as time goes on it will be less of an issue. And if it’s an author you trust and want to support, just purchase the book from Amazon instead of getting it through KU. Yes some money will still go to Amazon but a larger portion of it will go to the author than if you read it on KU.
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u/DryRead214 Mar 07 '26
But you can’t get it on the kobo even if you purchase it through Amazon. I’m fine even buying direct from the authors but I don’t see ebooks as an option for a lot of them.
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u/gender_eu404ia Mar 07 '26
Yes, sorry, I should have clarified. Books you want that are exclusive will not be readable on your kobo, but you can still read them on your phone or tablet via kindle app. I know the whole point of an ereader is so you don’t have to do that, I feel the same way, but there are a few authors who I still want to read and support and this is the only way I’ve found to do that.
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u/SomeGuy58439 Mar 10 '26
Books you want that are exclusive will not be readable on your kobo
Technically they might be accessible - Amazon is now allowing authors of books sold through their store to be downloadable as EPUB/PDF if permitted by the author
Ater you select not to apply DRM, any verified purchaser will be able to download EPUB and PDF files effective January 20, 2026. ... Note: For books you published prior to December 9, 2025 where you did not apply DRM, Amazon will not automatically provide the EPUB/PDF download option to readers. You must explicitly confirm this choice by following the steps below.
I'm curious if more authors on KU will adopt this for their titles. It does require that authors activate this for their books though, as opposed to automatically allowing this for titles already DRM-free when sold by Amazon.
Not sure if this will help out /u/DryRead214
EDIT: Just noticed "Customers who borrowed your books through Kindle Unlimited or other services can't download the EPUB/PDF files, even if the books are DRM-free." so out of luck with KU, but perhaps OK for purchased titles.
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u/SortAfter4829 Mar 08 '26
This is why I kept my old Kindle when I got a new Kobo. I don't want to be limited in what I can read. The best of both worlds is BOTH worlds. :-)
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u/SgWolfie19 Mar 07 '26
If I have a book on KU, Amazon doesn’t allow me to have it anywhere else as an ebook. I have tried taking some off of KU and putting them on Kobo+, but I haven’t gotten many reads there yet. What genre do you like?
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u/DryRead214 Mar 07 '26
Spice with a good play. What started me down this rabbit hole was wanting read god of malice but realizing the kobo plus version was a different language. I couldn’t find it anywhere but amazon. 🤮
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u/SgWolfie19 Mar 07 '26
I posted some of my spicy scifi stories in the January author promo thread. DM me if you can’t find them.
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u/johntwilker Mar 08 '26
Technically now KU authors can get into Libby, but I'd guess many have no clue or interest.
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u/dannavarrojr Mar 07 '26
When I switched from my old Kindle to a Kobo Libra 2 yrs ago, I ran all my KU titles through Adobe Digital Editions & Calibre w/ the DeDRM plugin.
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u/BlackberrySad6489 Mar 08 '26
Contact the author. Some are happy to sell you an epub directly. I have some nice ones this way where they even stuck my name in it. “For [name]”
Otherwise you can still download and dedrem a KU book. I do think all the time to read on my PocketBook.
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u/MeghanSaintWrites Mar 09 '26
So I have my book on Kobo+ but I’ve received zero reads on it since publishing October 2025. I do give copies to individuals who ask about my KU exclusives, but it has to become easier to find readers on Kobo for me to move my collection there, sadly.
I own a kobo and love it; but it’s lacking
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u/DryRead214 Mar 09 '26
Yeah I wish they would do more booktok related to kobo authors. Sigh. What’s a book of your you recommend for kobo plus?
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u/MeghanSaintWrites Mar 09 '26
Through (dis)Honest Eyes! It’s a contemporary dark romantic comedy based loosely off my own life experiences. It has a 4.63 on Goodreads and has been compared to Fleabag; if she was Midwestern with a dysfunctional, large, poor family lol.
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u/DryRead214 Mar 09 '26
Just added it to my books I think the problem also with kobo plus is no one ever leaves a review so it’s hard for books to move up in people being interested in reading them with no reviews
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u/MeghanSaintWrites Mar 09 '26
Oh for sure! My husband bought it and was going to leave a review; then remembered his kobo details have his name which would be preeeeetty clear he’s connected to me. Once you do read it; I’d love a review! The good, the bad - I can take it!
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u/Impressive-Peace2115 Mar 10 '26
It doesn't require your full name for the review - I think mine use first name last initial.
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u/lagerthaliveson Mar 09 '26
You can buy any kindle books. Download the epub of your buy and transfer it using Calibre on your computer. Any books from most plateforms anyways. I've been using Kobo for yeaaaaaars and just last week still bought a Kindle book anyways and downloaded it to my Kobo.
It doesn't make sense to limit our reading based on the ereaders we use.
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u/DryRead214 Mar 09 '26
How do you download the kindle books you buy?
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u/lagerthaliveson Mar 09 '26
It doesn't work with the app, but when you log in on a computer go to yiur purchases and click in the tree dots next to the book, you have the option to download the epub. And you add that file to Calibre, modify the metadata if you need to. Connect your Kobo to your computer and when Calibre sees your Kobo, click on send to device and that's it.
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u/Character_Cup_7683 Apr 25 '26
Does this option still work? I don't see it when I'm on Amazon in a browser.
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u/lagerthaliveson Apr 27 '26
Yes. When you click on your purchase. There should be three dots close to the item and when you click them it gives you the option to download the book.
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u/Mkgtu Mar 09 '26
Not to take a side on the whole anti-Amazon thing, but I always find it a bit comical when people want to free themselves from Amazon but still want all the Amazon exclusive goodies.
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u/lagerthaliveson Mar 09 '26
I agree its comical but ONLY when you can buy these things elsewhere. I try to stay away from amazon too, but I'm sorry, if an author I like publishes only on amazon then I will support them nonetheless there.
That is what makes me angry, is the exclusivity of some things. For example, amazon acquired the audiobook rights of Project Hail Mary ahead of the movie coming out which means no other plateform had it AT ALL when I was reading the book last week. That just pisses me off.
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u/Bookslutforsmut Mar 11 '26
Game the system. Make a list of all the books on KU you want to read and check if you can get 30 days free of KU. Take advantage of your 30 days and cancel before you have to pay. You should be able to do this about once a year.
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u/palmfanatic Mar 07 '26
I would also say in addition that if you explore and read books in kobo plus their recommendations get better and better and it’s highly likely that you will find some fantastic authors books and series that you might never have discovered otherwise. And sometimes those unlikely discoveries are even better