Kobo and the power of indie bookstore partnerships

In the eBook world, there are a few players that everyone knows about, like Kindle from Amazon and Nook from Barnes & Noble. But there's another reader that you may have heard of called Kobo.

Kobo is a Canadian company that defines itself like this:

Inspired by a "Read Freely" philosophy and a passion for innovation, Kobo is one of the world's fastest-growing eReading services. Read Freely stems from Kobo's belief that consumers should have the freedom to read any book, anytime, anyplace – and on any device... We're committed to making reading a more engaging social experience with such apps as Pulse and Reading Life, which let you share and celebrate every aspect of your reading life – from reviews and recommendations to trends and reading challenges.

And I'm bringing them up because their strategy for getting readers is working. And in the words of Jeremy Greenfield at Digital Book World, Kobo "has shown that it can crush the competition – even when it’s one of the world’s largest and most admired companies [Google]."

Essentially Kobo has set up deals with indie bookstores where those stores can sell the Kobo readers. The idea is that this will lead to eBook sales down the line through the bookstore as well. Greenfield's article continues on to discuss the slim margins around eBooks and eReaders, concluding with some tempered optimism in the industry.

I think the fact that Kobo is partnering with indie bookstores is great. But the idea that a consumer would go to an indie bookstore to buy an eBook is a little ridiculous.

But it doesn't have to be.

Indie bookstores could bundle print and eBooks together and sell them as a package deal. Indie bookstores could host online reading tours through Google Hangouts or Skype. Indie bookstores could be the curators of online titles through newsletters or online forums and help readers wade through the self-published and eBook jungle to find the gems.

I want to see more of what Kobo is up to, but we need to get more creative. What do you think?

Image source: Kobo.com homepage screenshot