Coronavirus Worklife: Rakuten Kobo's Michael Tamblyn: Lessons from the Contagian - Publishing Perspectives

Today, Panzer stopped in at the Publishing Perspectives site. With a little digging and reading in the posts, our inquisitive kitty boy found one about Kobo and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Will this virus thingy ever go away?

Porter Anderson's post contains extensive quotes from Kobo's Michael Tamblyn's presentation at the Digital Publishing Summit. Turns out since Kobo was purchased by Rakuten a number of Kobo's employees were already working remotely before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Because of this, the pandemic didn't impact a lot of Kobo's employees. What was impacted, however, was Kobo's ereader production. Their ereaders are produced in China and Taiwan. Both were hit hard by the pandemic. This caused a slowdown in ereader production. The post contains a lot of information about Kobo employees' work-from-home efforts and ereader and ebook sales during the pandemic.

Panzer says, "This little kitty likes Kobo."

Note: This is a humongous post. Bring a gallon of tea and six muffins for your reading selection today.

To read the post tootle over to Rakuten Kobo

Why Kobo didn't focus only on the U.S., home turf of Amazon - The Globe And Mail

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to The Globe And Mail site. It didn't take any digging at all for our kitty boy to find a post about ebook and ereader company Rakuten Kobo Inc.'s marketing strategies.

Really smart thinking for humans.

David Israelson says in his post that Michael Tamblyn, President and CEO, attributes Kobo's success to the decision to go global. Early in Kobo's existence the company didn't concentrate on the United States ebook and ereader market for the simple reason Amazon, Apple, Google, and Barnes and Noble were staking their territory there. So while the others were fighting over U.S. digital supremacy, Kobo decided to do global distribution instead. In doing so, the company has grown to number three in the ebook ereader market behind Amazon and Apple. The post includes several interesting facts about Kobo's history.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Smart move to go where nobody else was so they were the first ones there."

Note: This is a h-u-g-e post. Bring a thermos of tea and a dozen muffins and six chocolate chip cookies (biscuits) for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to Kobo

Book publishing is a resilient business: Kobo CEO

Panzer made a trip today to the CNBC site. With some digging around and rearranging of posts, he found one about Kobo.

50 to 80 years old?

The post by Luke Graham includes a video of an interview with Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn. Mr. Tamblyn states in the interview that Kobo found in a study that 50 to 80 year olds are the ones driving the ereading business, not the 20 to 30 year olds as previously thought. It was also found that these same readers buy both ebooks and print books. Included beneath the video is a recap of the interview as well as extra information about audio books and their sales.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Who's buying all those adult coloring books then? Is it the 20 to 30 year olds or the 50 to 80 year olds? Inquiring cats want to know."

Note: The video and the included post are long. The combination makes this a cup of tea and a large muffin read for you.

To watch the video and read the post, tootle over to Kobo CEO

Kobo's Michael Tamblyn on the Age of E-Reading - Publishing Perspectives

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere and decided to make a stop at the Publishing Perspectives site. Our intelligent traveling kitty found a post about Kobo there.

It's worth looking at.

The post is an interview by Mark Piesing with Kobo's Michael Tamblyn. According to Mr. Tamblyn, Kobo is making a profit on their ereaders with 2015 being their best year. Kobo's ebook reader users are in the 50 - 70 year old range. Why? Younger people don't have the time, interest or money to read ebooks at the level people in the higher age group do. Mr. Tamblyn also says the company started a new program at Christmas called Kobo Welcome for people unfamiliar with ereaders and ebooks which was well-received by their target market.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Interesting ... I wonder ... Is Amazon looking at the 50 to 70 year old market?"

Note: This is a l-o-n-g-ish post. You'll need a cup of cocoa and muffin for your reading today.

To read the post, tootle over to Michael Tamblyn

Kobo CEO faces uphill e-book battle against Apple, Amazon

They're number two in e-readers.

Panzer made a trip into the Catosphere today looking for publishing news for you. His travels took him to The Globe and Mail site. After some digging around in the files, he found a post about ebook publisher and e-tailer Kobo.

According to a post by Shane Dingman, Michael Tamblyn Kobo CEO is making plans for the company to develop a bigger footprint in the ebook market in the coming year. Kobo's competitors Amazon (number one in ebooks) and Apple (number two) are both huge with divisions in more than ebooks. Mr. Tamblyn says he wants Kobo "to be the best bookseller." The company is already the second largest manufacturer of e-readers (outpaced by Amazon Kindle).

Panzer says, "You know, Kobo only does ebooks ... no housewares ... no TV shows ... nothing but ereaders and ebooks."

Note: This is an e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s post. You'll need a thermos of tea and at least a dozen muffins for your reading.

To read the post, tootle over to Kobo