Wednesday News: Scribd reduces Romance, Apple loses appeal, Tess Gerritsen abandons lawsuit, & Misty Copeland is ABT’s new principal
Publishing Newsanti-trust / Apple / ballet / breach of contract / diversity / lawsuit / Romance / Scribd / subscription services / Tess Gerritsen41 Comments
Scribd Reduces Romance Catalog – From Jane: Late yesterday afternoon, news came out that Scribd was drastically reducing the number of romance books that would be available through the subscription service. I reached out to Scribd and received this message:
“Over the past two years, the Scribd catalog has grown from 100,000 titles to more than one million. We’re proud of the service we’ve built and we’re constantly working to expand the selection across genres to give our readers the broadest possible list of books for $8.99 per month. We’ve grown to a point where we are beginning to adjust the proportion of titles across genres to ensure that we can continue to expand the overall size and variety of our service. We will be making some adjustments, particularly to romance, and as a result some previously available titles may no longer be available.
There are still thousands of romance titles and a lifetime of books to read in the romance genre and beyond. We look forward to continuing to grow subscribers, increase overall reading, and increase total publisher payouts in a way that works for everyone over the long term.”
A subsequent blog post at Scribd indicates that they intend to rotate content (maybe a bit like Netflix?)
The emails sent by distributors Draft to Digital and Smashwords to the indie authors give some insight behind the decision.
As we all know, the concept of a subscription service for books is
extremely new. There are several models on the market now for
effectively monetizing subscriptions, and none of them exactly matches
what we’re used to from traditional sales royalties. As the market
experiments with different approaches, there are bound to be some
missteps and false starts along the way. In fact, we should expect
this business model to evolve even more in the near future.Scribd took a significant risk putting in place a model that paid
authors the same amount as a retail model for each book read by a
subscriber. As we all know, romance readers tend to be incredibly avid
readers. In trying to cater to this voracious readership while under
this progressive payment model, Scribd has put itself in a difficult
place. In a bid to better balance these operating expenses, Scribd is
immediately slashing the volume of romance novels in its subscription
service.If you are receiving this email, then you are a Draft2Digital author
who has published books in the romance genre to Scribd. This means
that some or all of your romance novels are likely going to be
delisted from their service today. (Books that are priced at free will
not be removed.)While a large number of romance novels will be removed from Scribd, it
isn’t all of them. We aren’t privy to the exact guidelines Scribd is
using to decide which romance novels will remain, and it’s our
understanding that they remain in flux at Scribd.–Via an email from Draft to Digital.
Essentially it appears that romance readers cost too much money for the subscription service. The best customers are the ones that sign up for a service but then never use it not unlike a gym membership. The worst ones are those that use it every day, multiple times a day. Businesses lose money on subscribers like that.
Authors liked the subscription model. They were paid 60% of list price if a book was read past 30%. I’m unsure what the deal was for traditionally published authors but most presumed that they got their standard 25% off of net for a book that was downloaded and at least partially read. Some people point to this model when arguing Amazon should be paying them more for participation in Kindle Unlimited.
It’s clear, though, that the model of paying 60% per book read is unsustainable if you have a bunch of romance readers ravaging their way through the content. Whether Scribd remains a good option for romance readers remains to be seen.
I do feel like Amazon has won something this round without even having to lift a finger. –Scribd
Apple loses e-book antitrust appeal – And Apple is one step closer to having to pay out the $400 million settlement funds, along with $50 million in legal fees. Apple is running out of legal options, despite their ongoing insistence that their actions were perfectly legitimate.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit voted 2 to 1 against Apple. Writing for the majority, Judge Debra Ann Livingston said that Apple illegally orchestrated a conspiracy between book publishers, upholding a district court ruling from 2013. The lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Additionally, she said that the injunction imposed by District Court Judge Denise Cote was appropriate and left it in place. It’s the latest strike against Apple in this long-running case, which stems from agreements the company set up with publishers around the launch of its online ebook marketplace. –PC World
GRAVITY LAWSUIT: WHY I AM GIVING UP – You may be familiar with Tess Gerritsen’s breach of contract suit against Warner Bros., which acquired New Line Productions in 2008, where Gerritsen had a project in development based on her book, Gravity. Warner Bros. ended up making a film called Gravity, written by the same person who had been tapped to direct New Line’s version of Gerritsen’s project, giving no credit to Gerritsen. The background is here. Long story short, Gerritsen does not believe that the continued emotional and financial investment in the suit will result in a favorable result, especially given the court’s rulings regarding her contract with New Line and Warner Bros. obligations to her vis a vis that contract. Gerritsen’s case is a grim warning for all writers who sell their IP rights to third parties:
Even those robust provisions in my contract did not protect me when New Line was absorbed into Warner Bros. In this era of endless studio mergers and acquisitions, how can we writers protect ourselves from those who purchase our intellectual property rights and make promises but later voice no objection when their parent companies or affiliates take control and circumvent those promises? I’m afraid the answer from this court is clear: we cannot.–Tess Gerritsen
Misty Copeland Is Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater – And now for some good news: Misty Copeland has been promoted to principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater, the first (aka only) African American woman to receive that honor in the Ballet’s 75-year history. If you are unfamiliar with Copeland, check her out in this amazing Under Armour ad. Another poignant example that stereotypes are made to be challenged and subverted.
Even as her promotion was celebrated by her many fans, it raised all-too-familiar questions about why African-American dancers, particularly women, remain so underrepresented at top ballet companies in the 21st century, despite the work of pioneering black dancers who broke racial barriers in the past. And it showed how media and communications have changed in dance, with Ms. Copeland deftly using modern tools — an online ad she made for Under Armour has been viewed more than 8 million times — to spread her fame far beyond traditional dance circles, drawing new audiences to ballet. –New York Times
Well that might be the end of my scribd subscription
Why was Scribd unprepared by the amount of romance readers? Hello! Romance is a huge market. How is it that they are unable to tap this market and make a buck? I am a subscriber but have a hard time reading on my tablet. I really need to cancel my subscription until there is an ereader involved. But…all those books!
Drat! I subscribed in Scribd primarily because there were a lot of romance novels there. *sigh* I’d probably check it out for a few months then decide if I should continue with it or not.
Oh crap. Shakes head.
That was about Scribd lol.
Sigh. I thought I had started to notice that certain titles that were definitely there earlier had suddenly disappeared (like loads of Lisa Kleypas’ backlist). I only signed up for Scribd because of the access to romance reads. If they go, I’ll go.
The Scribd news is very disappointing. They certainly have a right to change their business model, but I’m more than a little irked that they haven’t bothered to give subscribers any official heads up to the changes. Maybe they were hoping we wouldn’t notice? Seems a little bait-and-switch to actively court romance readers and then remove much of the content you used to court them. I have truly enjoyed Scribd and it has allowed me to explore new authors, read old favorites again, and get caught up on backlist titles. Like others have said, I will probably give it another month or two and then cancel if it seems too limited.
The Scribd thing has been going on for a couple of weeks. Very disappointed that they lied about why all tHe Harlequin books were removed. I tweeted and emailed repeatedly and was given the run around. I am seriously considering ending my subscription, it is sad because I was so enjoying the availability of the books.
Joining the choir. That and the ongoing frustration over their inability to get the audio book downloads working in an efficient and practical way may be the end of me. I am willing to give it a bit longer, but we will see.
I am sure the cozy mystery books will be on the chopping block soon.
But I am sure it is much better for them if one only reads a book a week at the most. Oh, well.
I need to check out KU.
They held out longer than I expected, but if they’d been more aware of the market, they’d have known this up front. So color me unshocked.
Which is a very tiny world.
I DO like ballet but I DON’T pay attention to names. I first saw her when she was a judge on So You Think You Can Dance last season, especially because she was the only helpful judge they had (well, her and Christina Applegate). So now I pay attention to her because I know who she is and she was a good critiquer. (Is that a word? It is now.)
I’m unwilling to chalk it all up to her being African-American, though (see: Center Stage; the concept of an AA principal/soloist isn’t new), and I think it’s a disservice to her to do so. The dance world IS that small and it’s largely a matter of odds (like bestselling authors). IMO, it was SYTYCD that’s expanded ballet (Alex Wong) and given names to the feet. They gave her that boost. She was excited to be there and didn’t act like she was slumming with the unwashed masses.
I’ve been a Scribd subscriber over a year but I find their romance selection very frustrating. Frankly, too many independent titles and it’s so hard to figure out what’s worthwhile to read. I actually had hoped they would start doing SOMETHING with the romance section so readers could find books easier. Still saves me a ton of money since my husband also is a voracious reader.
So glad I saw this, my free trial expired and I was considering signing on.
@Moriah Jovan: SYTYCD was my first introduction to Misty Copeland, too. I agree, she was great as a judge. I’m hoping we see her again this season.
@Moriah Jovan:
“I’m unwilling to chalk it all up to her being African-American, though (see: Center Stage; the concept of an AA principal/soloist isn’t new), and I think it’s a disservice to her to do so. The dance world IS that small and it’s largely a matter of odds (like bestselling authors).”
First, I need to state that I’ve got a book coming out on an African American ballerina who is in an interracial romance with a Korean dancer, Because of my novel, I ended up doing a lot of research on past and present greats (of all races and nationalities) and also looking at the discrimination faced by black male and female ballet dancers both during and after segregation.
So respectfully,
It’s not a matter of odds, imo. Ballet has for some time demanded uniformity in not just their corps lines, but white principal ballerinas have been the norm since the art form’s inception. In order to see just how hard it is for a dancer of color (especially those considered light or dark brown) then one must look at the history of race not only in America, but in other countries.
The wall Misty Copeland ran into is nothing new. During segregation, it was flat out stated that patrons would not contribute and that hotels would not house dancers of color who toured with their company (Raven Wilkinson is an example). Just because we’re past that time period does not mean perceptions of ballet being only for the rich and white do not linger.
There’s a lack of diversity not only in the makeup of ballet artists, but also those at the top or admin of the major companies, which just may be where part of the problem lies.
I’ll list some recent examples and links with present voices for this response :
Link: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/us-ballerina-faces-discrimination-at-bolshoi-academy/489887.html
I hope this additional link on doesn’t land my comment in the spam filter:
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/sep/04/black-ballet-dancers
I hope my response to Movan Jovan didn’t end up in the spam filter (I posted two links, so that may have been the cause).
If it did, can someone please fish it out? Thanks.
@wikkidsexycool:
Sorry, that should read “My response to Moriah Jovan” didn’t end up in the spam filter.
And just when I was recommending Scribd to people. Though I have to say that for right now, the audiobooks section seem okay. The kidlets and I have been going through it like a hot knife thru butter.
Misty Copeland is astonishing. I’ve only seen her work on-line, but she is … I don’t even have the right words. Brava.
@wikkidsexycool: I think my response to Sara Ridler got eaten too. Did your screen go blank after the captcha?
Yikes. I guess I’ll be looking into Oyster and Kindle Unlimited next, as the only reason I stuck around Scribd was for the Harlequins and robust romance section.
@wikkidsexycool: You had two versions of the same comment in moderation. I approved the first and trashed the duplicate.
@Moriah Jovan: I think yours got eaten, since it wasn’t in either moderation or spam. Sorry.
@Robin: I posted my first one on my iPad, and the second on my computer. I got no captcha on the iPad.
@wikkidsexycool: Thanks for that. I appreciate it.
Yes, I know. I saw the ad for it on DA a while back and I spent a long time trying to find it. The trail led nowhere except that I ended up concluding it wasn’t out yet and I forgot about it. Release date?
My 2 month free trial of Scribd ends July 6th and I was planning to sign up for the 1 year plan. I’m glad this happened now rather than the middle of the month. I’ll see what things look like over the next few days before I make a decision.
@Moriah Jovan:
Hi Moriah,
Thanks for asking.
I had to change to release date, but I will release it this month. I had to double back and do research on my initial research regarding North and South Korea, and the concepts of “han” and “jeong.” But most of all I’m trying hard not to exoticize the Korean male lead.
I’ve been using Scribd for ebooks and audiobooks, but I’ve been finding enough selections outside of romance to satisfy me. Their selection is still lightyears beyond anything my local library has. There are a few quirks with the audiobooks not quite syncing in the proper place, but that’s a minor problem to me. Annoying, yes, but not a big deal since I can usually figure it out quickly enough. I have noticed longer download times for saving to my devices for the audiobooks, but that may be an issue on my end rather than on Scribd’s. I’ll take a wait-and-see attitude about cutbacks on romance offerings since my reading is pretty varied. I was never a big reader of Harlequins.
I recently ended my subscription to Scribd primarily because I don’t like to read on my tablet. I was initially lured because I mistakenly believed that all Harlequins were or would be made available. I am longing to read some of the older titles that haven’t appeared on Kindle (e.g., by Anne Weale), but these were not on Scribd. (In retrospect, I don’t know why I expected to them to be!) Scribd is also not the most user-friendly app, so perhaps the company should address that problem.
After I commented earlier, and got off the reference desk, I checked. The book I’m currently reading from Scribd is no longer listed and the author went from about 22 books yesterday to 2 today. I’ve not looked further, and won’t until I finish this book, but that’s a bad sign.
You can say that again.
I did the free trial for scribd and was hooked when they added the harlequin list. Although I didn’t read many of them. I’m obsessive about adding new books to my list and was checking the new releases on scribd pretty much daily. Got to put those books I’m totes going to read on myself!
Anyway, Monday night there were over 33k books in the contemporary romance library. Today there are just over 8k. So that’s 25,000 books.
Don’t get me wrong, 8k is a lot of books. But a lot appear to be books I have little to no interest in.
I’ve still not received an email from scribd about it. And I’m unclear on what books in my library collection are going to disappear.
I loved how it’s budget friendly. And I may keep it for awhile. I would have even considered a tiered pricing model, read more, pay more.
The primary reason I decided to sign up with Scribd was their audiobook selection, and that was before they added tons of audiobooks from…was it Macmillan? I forget where. It happened sometime in the spring because I remember adding a ton of audios when they came on board. Looking over my saved selections, it doesn’t look like I took a major hit, so I’ll stick with it until the audiobooks run out.
I’m sad to hear that the Gravity lawsuit was taking such a toll — I’ve corresponded with Tess, she’s a lovely person and geeked out with me over NASA stuff. I also gave the book to my parents, who loved it and are now insisting on every book she’s written ever — they then saw the movie and came away disappointed.
On the one hand I wish she’d been able to hold out, get more traction, have people LISTEN as it’s such a dangerous precedent… on the other I would never wish anyone that kind of heartache, stress and financial drain, so I don’t blame her at all. I’ll just keep happily reading her books.
@wikkidsexycool: Awesome. Give me a shout on Twitter when it’s out, will you? @MoriahJovan
Cancelled my Scribd subscription. Looking at all the people who say they’re going to quit the whole thing may collapse soon.
I really hope scribd don’t move to a ‘read x number of books’ a month format. One of the reasons I love scribd is that I often DNF books. A lot of books look good to me from the outside, then don’t turn out to be my thing (alphaholes are a particular problem to me, and very common). Scribd is amazing for me.
I’m a UK subscriber of scribd, and despite some searching I can’t see what the impact in the UK is going to be. Does anyone know?
I did a free trial on scribd and got hooked because of the large romance selection and decided to continue my subscription. This post made me check to see if I could see any changes. I browsed around just now, and it’s obvious that a lot of books are gone. The recommendations that are given on the home screen are changed and a lot more limited. Books that are in my library that I haven’t read yet are not available when I search for them.
Which makes me wonder: are books I have selected to read and put in my library “safe”? Or could they just disappear?
It’s odd to make such big changes without informing the subscribers. I will probably not be a subscriber of scribd much longer. (How much longer depends on whether I will get to read the books that are unread and in my library or not.)
Another Scribd fan hoping they don’t take away too much of the romance. It sounds like romance readers are reading too much? Even if Scribd didn’t expect that, would’t romance publishers have expected it? They know how voracious romance readers are. No one has this digital reading thing figured out yet, I guess.
I did the same kind of checking around in the books I read as @A. did and I found that while several of the Harlequin (and Carina) authors I read still have books available, their backlists have been sharply cut. And there’s no obvious rhyme or reason to it that I can see, i.e., not according to release date, series, etc.
It’s not a surprise that such a generous loan *and* payment system appears to be unsustainable, but it would be nice if Scribd would at least tell its subscribers more precisely the terms of the new system and what the rationale for inclusion/exclusion is. Then we could make informed decisions about whether to continue. As it is, I have no way to predict whether a book is going to be there now or not, and I don’t feel like spending $8.99/month to search Scribd’s database every time I think of a book I might want to read.
@A.: From what I’ve seen (i.e. readers posting emails from Scribd customer service), you have 30 days to read books that are in your library but will no longer be available now. They seem to be doing a really bad job of communicating with readers. (Which makes me wonder if this is yet another supposed reader service that doesn’t regard readers as their important customers).
I wonder if Scribd is killing the goose to save the golden egg. Romance readers are a hefty part of the e-book scene, and is it really worth punishing what could quite possibly be a large portion of their subscribers?
Why not renegotiate with the romance writers to a smaller percentage per book without sacrificing the number of titles?
A volume business for both, that in the end could work out for writers, readers, and Scribd.
@Liz Mc2: Yes, in several other instances I’ve received e-mails from Scribd when a book I’m reading will become unavailable. But now the number of books that have disappeared is so much larger. I have quite a few unread books in my library that seems to be unavailable now when I search for them. They are still available to access from my library, but I do wonder if this will change any time soon, and whether there will be any communication or warning in advance from Scribd if this is going to happen.
I get so much value out of my Scribd subscription. Been a member for eleven months now. Though I’m not a romance reader, I devour audiobooks while working in my studio.
That said, I cannot be angry as a customer if a business is providing me so much value that they cannot afford me as a customer. A business needs to make profit, or they will cease to exist. As customers, we can only hope they rework their business model and pricing in a way that we still get great value out of their offerings. Amazon is terribly expensive for audiobooks. So I delighted in my Scribd sub. Since I am still listening to at least 2 audiobooks per week, the price point still keeps me experiencing a high value.
With all the changes at Kindle Unlimited, I went ahead and got another month. Not sure how many authors will pull out. So making sure I get over there as well this Summer.
Have never done Oyster, and welcome others’ thoughts on their service (if they are still around.)
Things are changing very fast with so many new emerging technologies, and ways to experience things. I try to keep ahead, or at least aligned with them. Businesses that are used to pillaging (like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Walmart, Amazon, and even Apple) may end up getting limited (like with FCC declaring broadband/data a utility) but they always find a way to restructure and come out on top. I want to make sure as things on the net change, I don’t regret falling behind. Once I realized Scribd was an amazing value, I went out of my way to experience it in large amounts, just in case! Plan to do the same as it applies to cellular and broadband data, and the rights to make copies of things I purchase or own. The world moves fast now. Gotta keep up.