Are you a subscriber?
2014 may go down as the year of the subscription. It’s been something we talked about on this blog for many years. We discussed price point, the types of books we wanted to see
Back in 2009 we took a poll about subscriptions when a new company called Paper Egg[FN1] came out with an idea to supply two PRINT books a year for $20. Ebooks were just taking off and I wondered if subscription ebook clubs interested readers given the long and profitable history of direct to consumer book clubs like Doubleday. According to the 2009 poll, over 60% of respondents were not interested in a subscription service. Nearly a quarter would be interested if the service involved other publishers.
Two years later I proposed a new type of subscription service. With the ebooks gaining steam and more devices in the marketplace, I wondered about a subscription + ebook reader service. This time the poll resulted in over 300 responses. This time nearly half were ready to sign up immediately for an ebook reader + subscription service and only 28% were not interested. Amazon was offering the Kindle Paperwhite with a 6 month subscription for $30 (which is about a $29 savings) which is pretty darn close to the ereader + subscription service we discussed on the blog in 2011.
This time 65% of respondents would be interested in a multi publisher subscription service. Readers didn’t love the idea of buying and not owning but others were intrigued. Still others said that the library is already the subscription service we wanted. Many readers, me included, admitted that we would pay at least $20 for a Harlequin subscription. Now we’re paying $8.99 (if you belong to Scribd).
I have two subscriptions: Kindle Unlimited and Scribd. I rarely use my KU account even though I really only need to borrow four books to make it worthwhile. I use my Scribd one more often but subscriptions have led to purchases. I started reading Christina Lauren on Scribd and then bought their most recent release. I did the same with DB Reynolds Vampires in America. However, it’s true that most of the time I don’t buy new and I’ve bypassed buying books in favor of reading something already available to me at no cost via my subscription. (Although no cost is a misnomer since I pay $8.99 a month for it).
But if I wasn’t a reviewer and I wasn’t trying new books and new authors for the blog, I think I would be reading primarily within my subscription.
This is causing some authors a lot of dismay. H.M. Ward claimed on the Kindle Boards that participation in KU resulted in a 75% drop in her revenue. She pulled her books and now she’s at 50% of her pre KU sales. It’s important to note for unfamiliar readers that no author is forced into the KU program. Participation in the program is by choice. And it’s not that the authors aren’t getting paid for participation in KU, Scribd, Oyster. KU authors are paid out of a pool of money designated by Amazon. The individual payout has dropped dramatically since the launch of KU and I’m guessing, based on the downward trajectory, it will level off around $1 per borrow eventually. For authors who price their books at $2.99 or above, that’s at least a 50% dropoff but the question for those authors is whether the person would have bought it if borrowing wasn’t an option.
Privately some authors have shared that they aren’t thrilled with any subscription services because it helps to erode value of the books. Taylor Swift removed all of her songs from Spotify, a music streaming site. She felt that Spotify perpetuated the perception that music has no value.
And I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. And I just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free.
I admit that I’m not a Spotify or Pandora user but rather listen to the radio or buy the songs that we like. (We is usually my daughter and we’ve had Blank Space on repeat for a month). These are some of the same arguments that have been shared with me as it relates to books. But the flip side is that newer authors or authors with smaller platforms could really benefit from the exposure of being in a subscription service.
I love having thousands of books available to be read at any given time. I understand that this is a subscription service and that I’m renting a book rather than owning but for the price, it’s worth it to me. I’m curious about subscription participants three years later.
How many of you are subscribers of an ebook service? What services do you subscribe to? If you don’t currently subscribe, what’s keeping you from subscribing?
Loading ... Loading ... Loading ...fn1 I googled Paper Egg and it seems to be out of business.
I still want to own my books. I keep using E-Readers that don’t track my reading and buying from all kinds of areas and I use Calibre to get rid of the DRM – so I really feel like I own my book. I’m not able to sell them or give them away, true enough, but then I rarely did that anyway, and it’s not as if I know readers of English content in real life. So… I’m just not the target group for this.
I’m in KU for the free month, but I doubt I’ll keep it. For one thing, I don’t read via Kindle as a rule, so it’s weird to have to specifically reach for the Kindle. (I do have one, but it was a gift of a used, old device. I read via iPad and prefer to read via iBooks.)
I’m already what might be called a power library user, and I don’t feel the need to pay for a service that doesn’t seem to be offering more than my free library card. Then again, my system has a lot of digital content.
As an author, I’m not opposed to subscription services anymore than I’m opposed to being part of a library collection. I think that’s only part of why profits are down; supply and demand is probably more of it.
I’m trying out Scribd mostly for audiobooks. Audiobooks are expensive and with audible I just don’t get enough for the monthly price. I’m looking at Ebooks too but a lot of my fave authors aren’t there.
Otherwise I hate subscription Ebooks programs… I feel like they’re full of stuff I would never read.
If I had a Kindle, I would probably use Kindle Unlimited, however, living in Portugal it is not only especially hard to buy a Kindle now it’s not possible to have Kindle Unlimited. I was thinking about Scribd, but I never spend more than $10 on ebooks, I usually spend like $20 per month with printed books and then I get Kobo coupons which is good enough for me. I only bought one ebook this month for $2, the others were ARCS, freebies and ebooks that I had previously bought. But yes if there was a Kindle Unlimited service in portugal and I could buy a Kindle here I would probably had one (the cheapest one as I already have a Kobo Aura, which is very good).
@Estara Swanberg: Totally agree with wanting to own my books. I reread a lot and I want to read the book when I want it. I also have a reader which does not track what I read and put all my books in Calibre. I have a job which does not keep me very busy and I convert all my books to PDF so I can read them on my desktop at work.
I’m able to get the majority of my books through the library and I don’t have to pay for that.
I tried KU for the free month but I didn’t keep it because most of the titles I liked there were already available through the Kindle Owners Lending Library which I get with my Amazon Prime subscription. I had and liked Oyster until Scribd got Harlequin, which I immediately switched to and have been happy with ever since. And now that Scribd has added so many great audiobook titles, I’ll be sticking with them as long as I’m able to pay the subscription rate. My monthly book buying totals have dropped significantly since I signed up because I always check it first before I buy a new ebook/audiobook. I only wish this had been available to me sooner.
My TBR pile is huge. So I cannot justify the cost of a subscription service when I have so many books I already paid for to read. Some of them were free, but freebies aren’t a very big percentage of my TBR since I went through and purged my library of books I would probably never read a few years ago. That project cured me of the need to one-click on books just because they are free.
If I were to use a subscription service I would probably go with Scibd.
I have been an Audible member since 1999 and still have the original plan – can’t beat that price! I have a Amazon Prime account and live in a weird area where I can belong to 3 different library systems so I have audiobooks and ebooks pretty well covered. I still get sucked in on box sets and .99 ebooks but don’t feel the need for KU or Scribd though I have looked at the plans & offerings to see if I’m missing anything … don’t think that I am though.
@Lisa J: Yeah I want the actual file, not permission to access the file through your proprietary program, a privilege which may be revoked at any time. While I read most often through kindle (being able to email books to my kindle account makes it a winner for me), when I can, I strip DRM and convert to multiple formats so I can read that book wherever I want, when I want to read it.
Also, I’m not all that adventurous with new authors. I’m picky and I have a low tolerance for awful writing. I’m not interested in an imitation of John Grisham or Jodi Picoult or Ray Bradbury. I want to read what I want to read and if my tastes are more mainstream then so be it. Not to say I don’t look for new authors all the time, but that’s pretty much what my ARC reading is about.
I didn’t like Oyster nor did I like Kindle Unlimited. Not enough material that I want to read. Scribd’s only appeal to me is audiobooks. I’m trying it out for my mom, really. She is a machinist and listens to audiobooks all day. Audible is just not enough for her so maybe Scribd will be a good option for her.
The Scribd is tempting for when I am on a Harlequin binge. However the titles on KU rarely tempt and when one does its usually a part of the prime lending library.
I don’t care about owning my books but I want to read what I want to read, not choose from a subset of all available books.
As an author going through Smashwords, I’ve not been upset by what Scribd pays when someone reads one of my books. And they don’t require exclusivity! I would probably toss at least a few of my books into the Kindle library pool if they didn’t require exclusivity. (So please, sample my books on Scribd anytime! ;D )
As a reader… I have a hard time reading much anymore; I either feel like I should be writing (guilt, guilt), or else I can’t focus on other people’s characters. I manage to sneak in a book every now and then, but it has to hit a narrow window of opportunity and catch my attention hard enough that my own stuff can be shoved back in the mental boxes. I also tend to be in the “I want to buy it!” camp. However…
I wonder if “subscription,” in some ways, is a misnomer for this concept, and it would be better thought of as buying a membership in an ebook library. Like paying one’s private-library dues, showing one’s card, and getting to lounge around somewhere while staff brought tea… Only one trades the staff for the convenience of not having to go anywhere. (And while the selection can be pretty big, one can’t tell the curators, “Please acquire Book X and a few of Author Y” if those aren’t already available. Though with some ebooks, it can be hard to do that with a regular library, too, I gather.)
I subscribe to Scribd since they have m/m romances and Harlequin. I still buy a lot of books, but I,like being able to try new authors for a lower investment. If I find one good enough that I think I’ll be rereading it, I’ll eventually buy a copy anyhow.
Like a few said, I like owning my books and I also use Calibre. I’m not the least bit interested in subscription services.
I don’t subscribe to any service-
1. I have a huge TBR already. If I’m paying for a service I would feel like I have to use it rather than hit my TBR. You know, just so that I’m getting what I’m paying for.
2. I hate reading on backlit screens so I think that leaves me with KU as the only service available. I’m sure Open Road has enough books in there to make it worth my while but then there is the TBR staring at me.
3. I live in an unincorporated area of a county in the US that has never had a library district until this past November. All they have are digital offerings for now but that works for me personally. I think all I’ve read since I got my card have been library borrows and it’s working great. It still leaves me conflicted about the TBR file but after years of trying to get our local library systems coordinated, I want to support what I now have available even if I don’t like how they went about doing it.
Joining the ranks of I like to own and reread books so a subscription service is not for me.
I like Scribd and think it’s worth the money. The trad backlist is fantastic, with titles I’ve been wanting to read but hesitating to buy because of the cost; and most pricey self-pubs I’m interested in are available. Mt. TBR is high, but I’m a fickle reader so the service suits my wants just fine.
It may be important to note I don’t live in a country where libraries are accessible and have good and updated selections. Most “public” libraries here are actually specialised, focused on [local] history, philosophy, the arts, culture, and education. Basically, excellent for research (even if you have to travel two hours or more) but not so for recreation. You’re lucky if the book is available for checking out or isn’t about to fall apart.
Don’t even get me started on wildly fluctuating currency exchange rates…
I did the month free trial with KU, because 1) I don’t own a Kindle… I use the app on my tablet, but you can’t use the Kindle Lending Library, even as a Prime member, with the tablet and no Kindle device(which sucks, but whatever), 2) SO CURIOUS. In the end though, I only used it a couple times that month, and those borrows were books already priced very low(as in, with regular KU membership, I would have overpaid to read those two books). So I dropped out.
Then came Scribd, and I admit I went there for the Harlequins… but I’ve also been enjoying audiobooks there(Because Multitasking!). The model Harlequin uses doesn’t put the front list onto Scribd. It uses books from like… 3+ years ago so it doesn’t cripple sales. I’m assuming other publishers are using this model too, though I haven’t checked extensively.
Another thing I like about Scribd is the cultivation of lists. The previous RITA winners lists, for instance. Listened to The Haunting of Molly Clare the other day(and discovered too that I don’t mind 1st person if it’s audiobook, even though I tend to avoid it in reading…)
Have really been enjoying Scribd, if it’s not obvious :)
I decided to sign up for Scribd when they were having the three-month trial. I think I got in under the wire, but I’m not sure. However, I’ve so far found it to be totally worth paying the subscription rate. This is mainly because I’m a huge rereader, and they’ve got a fair amount of the books that I own in physical format but have in storage available for me. Living in a studio apartment means I have very limited storage space for books, so I’ve been turning to ebooks as a rule, and while my Kobo definitely gets a workout, I appreciate not having to rebuy every single book I want to reread.
I subscribe to and love Oyster. I love the breadth of its selection across genres. I love how handy it is to highlight and make notes, if I so want to, while reading. Also, I have bought books from authors that I first read on Oyster. In that, it makes for a good discovery platform.
For me, Oyster, the public library (I live in New York), plus buying books from Amazon, if I feel like, more than satiates my need to have thousands of books at my fingertips!
I received a free year of Scribd as a Smashwords author as part of a promotion. To date I have only read two books. Many of the books I wanted to read there were not available as part of the program. I will probably not re-up when it expires.
No matter how a book comes to me, the problem is that I may not read it for a very long time, years in fact. New things come in, I get distracted or forget I have a title, and chaos reigns. There is no LIFO or FIFO in my TBR.
I tried KU for the free month, which made it worse. That’s why I chose “usability” as my reason for not subscribing; for me, that means “I may never get around to reading that borrowed book anyway, so why keep piling on more than usual?”
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how e-book subscriptions work. My old Sony e-reader is not wifi-capable, so I read off-line, and I STRONGLY prefer it that way. The one time I tried to borrow an e-book from my library ended up being too much work to figure out. I have a smart TV, but totally don’t take advantage of that, and only watch what comes on cable. I’m just not a high-tech kind of girl, I guess. And I, too, am a re-reader and like to own and have access to books whenever I want.
Scribd, for the same reasons several here mentioned.
I see no value paying for a subscription, as I would be paying every month for what I can do free through my library (that I support through my taxes). And I would prefer to own a book rather the have the right to access that book rescinded at any point by the subscription owner. So I’ll keep purchasing books and also taking advantage of free books, which is a great way for me to discover new-to-me authors.
I haven’t subscribed to any service mostly because my TBR pile can be seen from space. Why spend the money on a subscription when I already have so many books at my disposal? Assuming the day ever comes that I burn through my Harlequin TBR pile (ha ha ha ha ha!) – Scribd would probably tempt me the most. I took a look through KU when it first launched and frankly, wasn’t impressed with the offerings – and like someone mentioned already, I pony up for Prime, so could probably find what few titles I’m interested in over at the lending library if I were so inclined to go that route.
As for audiobooks? Work keeps me pretty well stocked in those. I don’t check out a ton of print from work, but oh man – my library card gets a workout checking out audio. I’m pretty fast and loose with DNF’ing audios, so buying them on my own dime is silly and reckless.
I don’t use ebook subscription services because I have way too many books in my TBR pile. Hundreds upon hundreds of books. But if I didn’t, I’d probably look into one of these services.
I’m still enjoying KU, especially for quick borrows of books when I’m babysitting my nephew — the books he loves aren’t generally in my age range, heh, and he’s not really big on re-reading the same book over and over unless it’s a physical one. He loves to have me read stuff on my tablet, though. My TBR list stretches forever, but KU tends to help me knock several books off it a month that were already there and helped me find some new authors I really like (and some I really don’t!).
I use Spotify 99% as a white noise app while sleeping and relaxing, and my quality of sleep is so good these days that’s more than enough for me to have a paid subscription. I listen to music on it now and then as well as it’s still a novelty to me — Pandora was barely a thing in Canada before it got jumped on by our media laws but Spotify seems pretty strong still — but to buy the CDs for the things I listen to on it would cost me over $100. Or MP3s. Do they make CDs still?
I mean I also subscribe to Netflix, but that’s hardly a shocking thing these days — there are worse subscription services to emulate. Now if the web version would just give me back my “to-watch” list that is on the mobile version, we’d be bestest friends.
Was prowling around Scribd tonight again and noticed: Lots of excellent writing craft books there too. I hadn’t gotten off the Fiction shelves before, but they’ve got loads. Including the fab Emotion Thesaurus and Deb Dixon’s GMC… Stephen King’s On Writing…
I subscribe to Scribd primarily for nonfiction reads. Between my library and Scribd I’m pretty much covered.
I’ve been on Scribd for about a year now. This has been money well spent for me. I have been able to read new-to-me mm authors as well as re-read books that I own that are boxed up and inaccessible. I even re-read books that are perfectly accessible on my shelves because these days I prefer to e-read (and I’m lazy). The best part for me is access to books that I wouldn’t spend money on, because I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy or finish them, like sci-fi or YA. Just like with library books, I do occasionally go and buy books that I’ve read or get the rest of the series.
I tried KU, but didn’t really like the selection. I found that if a Kindle Daily Deal that I sort of fancied was on KU I wouldn’t buy it, thinking I could get it for free, but then I would forget about it and not get it that way either. So it wasn’t worth it for me.
It took me 3 times at trying out Kindle Unlimited before I finally decided I do like it a lot. What finally got me is that I started finding that books that I looked up – not even thinking that they’d be part of KU – were available in KU. I think their selection is actually really good and I do like being able to read on my Paperwhite, which I can’t do on the other services.
I have a great public library and plenty of books already in my TBR stack, so I don’t feel the need to spend money on a book subscription service. If I lived in the middle of nowhere, a subscription service might be very useful, but right now, it doesn’t make sense.
Other kinds of subscriptions:
I also don’t have Netflix or other video subscription service — I received a bunch of DVDs from a friend moving overseas, so if I want to watch something unfamiliar, I’ve got plenty to choose from, and if I’m interested in something specific, see above re: great public library.
I’ve used Pandora and Spotify, but neither has really become part of my life; I can see the usefulness of Spotify to listen to an artist and see what I think of them, but samples on Amazon MP3 are pretty good for that as well, and ultimately if I really love the music I’d rather buy it and know I have long-term access.
“And it’s not that the authors aren’t getting paid for participation in KU, Scribd, Oyster.”
But they’re paid very differently. KU authors are only paid a pittance for each borrow: less than two dollars. Fine if your ebook is priced at 99c, but not so great if you’d otherwise be earning $3+ on your ebook. Everything I’ve been hearing suggests that, for most writers, the number of borrows doesn’t make up for the big cut in profits per ebook.
I don’t know what arrangements Scribd and Oyster has with publishers they work directly with, but Scribd and Oyster pay Smashwords authors and D2D authors exactly the same as if the author had sold a book. From my perspective as a writer, the Scribd/Oyster model provides sustainable earnings for authors. KU is likely to cause them to go broke.
I have a free subscription with Scribd and plan to pay for a subscription when my free subscription gives out. Scribd gives me access to thousands of indie authors and small-press authors whose titles I can’t obtain through the public library, including the m/m titles I couldn’t afford to buy before. (Subscription services are a big boost to low-income readers of m/m fiction, a subgenre that is almost entrely absent from the public library system.) That I can also access big-press books is just a bonus.
I use Scribd the same way I use the public library: I check out lots of books. If I read one I especially like, I go and buy a copy to keep. I feel a special pleasure about the Scribd model (and, by extension, the Oyster model) because the author gets paid twice: when I borrow the book and when I buy the book.
But I continue to borrow library books and buy used books in my town’s stores. That won’t stop.
I had KU for many months and it was handy when it came to serials. I refuse to pay for those.. sorry.
Once I discovered Scribd I dropped KU. I use Scribd WAY more than I ever used KU. If I am totally honest, I’d love to have both, but it doesn’t work financially for me, between buying books and paying for 2x subscription services.
I not only don’t use a subscription service, I pulled my books from any and all subscription services. KU has reduced my income by more than 75% and I’m now forced with going back to work full-time and either giving up writing all together or trying to juggle both. Since I get no help at home, I suspect it will mean giving up the writing. It also means giving up everything we’ve enjoyed from my writing income over the past three years–travel, movies, eating out, fixing up our house. I hate what KU has done to authors. HATE it.
My library has a great service called Hoopla which allows library cardholders to borrow for downloading or streaminga wide selection of audiobooks, movies and television shows (these shows are mostly PBS, BBC and CBC productions or co-productions. I haven’t really investigated the movies yet. I’m not sure if there is a US Hoopla service or if it is only in Canada at this point. I was poking around in it tonight and was quite impressed with the offerings. Best of all, it’s offered for free through the library.
The Kindle Unlimited subscription is fantastic. I also buy one extra credit cost book per month via audible and sometimes cheap kindle books not included on KU. I intend to continue my subscription