Bookshop.org has worked out a deal with Kobo to let you read ebooks on Kobo e-readers later in 2026. The company's CEO, Andy Hunter, told TechCrunch this via email on July 6. This is a promise the company has made and delayed before.

Why the delays? Hunter said two things slowed it down: business negotiations with Kobo took longer than expected, and the technical side is more complicated than originally thought. Publishers require special protections on ebook files — called DRM — before they'll let sellers deliver books to devices that aren't Kindles. Getting that working properly means ongoing back-and-forth with both Kobo and individual publishers.

One thing worth noting: the company's website messaging has been inconsistent. Bookshop.org's support pages say "we are working with Kobo," while the main ebook page said "later this year" — but before reporters called, it had been changed to "sometime in the future." It changed back to "later this year" after TechCrunch made contact. This was not a formal announcement from the company; it was an email response to a reporter.

DRM is the main technical hurdle. When you buy an ebook from a place that isn't Amazon, it needs special content protection before it can work on a Kobo device. Each publisher has to sign off separately. That's not a small thing to set up.

Bookshop.org is different from other ebook sellers. It was designed so that every sale sends money back to independent bookstores. When books are digital, there is no physical store in the deal anymore. The company had to invent a way to still share money with indie bookstores even for ebook sales. That complexity probably made Kobo negotiations harder than they would be for a regular ebook seller.

Amazon's Kindle is the biggest name in e-reading. Kobo, which is owned by a company called Rakuten, is the strongest alternative — it has real customers outside the United States, especially in Canada and Europe. For people who don't want to buy from Amazon but still want to read on a real e-reader (not a phone), Bookshop.org offers a new option.

There is real demand for this. In April 2026, Good e-Reader reported that Bookshop.org's sales grew by 55% in 2025. That shows people actually want to buy from somewhere other than Amazon, not just talk about it.

One thing is still not decided: how will the books actually get to your Kobo device? Will they download directly over the internet, or will you have to move them yourself using a computer, or will they go through Kobo's own system? That choice matters for how easy it is to use. Until the company is ready to pick an answer and commit to a date, this remains unsettled. Readers and bookstore owners who have seen this deadline slip twice before will want a real ship date before they get excited.