Kobo in Deal to Sell E-Books

Kobo has struck a deal to sell e-books and its line of e-readers through independent U.S. booksellers, giving the Toronto firm a new chance to establish a foothold in the American digital books market. Kobo's agreement with the American Booksellers Association, the independents' trade group, is effective in October. The deal replaces one between the ABA and Google Inc., which has said it would end an effort to sell e-books through independent booksellers in January 2013, declaring the program had failed to gain traction. Many of the estimated 400 members of the ABA that signed up to sell Google e-books on their websites are expected to migrate to Kobo. The ABA has about 1,600 members operating about 2,000 stores.