Mark Leslie Lefebvre is the Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations for Rakuten Kobo and heads up the Kobo Writing Life team in Kobo's Toronto-based home office. Kobo Writing Life, Kobo's DIY publishing platform accounts for approximately 15% of Kobo's weekly global sales, the highest % of any single publishing source, including the world's largest publishers.

Mark has worked as a bookseller for nearly a quarter of a century in independent, chain, big box, campus and online bookstores; he has also served as President of the Canadian Booksellers Association and as a Board Member for BookNet Canada (Canada's version of Neilsen BookScan). Having operated one of the first Espresso Book Machines in North America, and having been a published speculative fiction author (under the name Mark Leslie) since 1992, Mark was hired by Kobo in 2011 to lead the company's self-publishing business.

Mark's background as a hybrid author (traditionally published and self-published), his extensive bookseller bricks and mortar and online retail background, his knowledge of the publishing industry and of the digital book world provide him with both the experience and the empathy that it takes to help mentor and coach authors to well-rounded success.