Big Five Are Lining Up Behind 'Netflix for Books'

[ctg]

On Tuesday, startups Scribd and Oyster both announced partnerships with publishing heavyweight Macmillan to bring over a thousand new titles to their respective e-book subscription services. That means the two startups are now working with majority of the so-called Big Five publishers; both had previously offered books from HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. The Macmillan partnership grows Scribd’s $8.99-a-month a la carte collection to more than 500,000 book titles, in addition to the 30,000 audiobooks available on the service after Scribd added them late last year. Meanwhile, Oyster says it now offers more than 1 million books to its subscribers for $9.95 a month.

“Having more than half of the ‘big five’ on the service in less than 18 months of running it is, I think, really a testament to subscription being a viable model for e-books,” Andrew Weinstein, vice president of content acquisition at Scribd, tells WIRED.

But while the addition of another publisher is an obvious win for the startups, what’s less clear is why publishers want in. Movie and TV studios can count on ticket sales and advertising dollars even as they offer their content on Netflix. Musicians can still sell concert tickets even if streaming services like Spotify cannibalize CD sales. But for book publishers and authors, the main source of revenue is still selling books. So why would they agree to participate in what amounts to an always-accessible lending library with an infinite number of copies?

http://www.wired.com/2015/01/publishers-lining-behind-netflix-books-services/

 

[thaddeus6th]

Got to say I agree with the strangeness of this.

Publishers, and writers, need to make a living. Is this going to be better than selling per copy? I remain to be convinced this is a good thing. As a reader, I'm also not interested.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Madness.
I don't want subscription books, not from Amazon or Scribd.
I'd rather spend $8.99 a month building my Library.
We can discuss why physical public libraries were started. Free or subscription.
Books are not much like films/TV , which broadly have two audiences, people that watch everything newly released that's hyped, and only once, so are replacing Cinema/Video Library with Netflix, and everyone else, some of whom only buy certain films & TV series, to watch time & again and pass on to their kids etc.

 

[kythe]

In the entirety of the article, I did not see mention of the fact that their actual competition is the *free* public library. My local library is starting to offer e-books. I know they don't have that million-book selection, but most people can find books they want even with the current availability.

I read from the library as well as picking up cheap used books, but there is no way I spend $108/yr on reading material.

 

[ratsy]

I suppose these types of things are just another avenue to get people reading more. It's tough to tell what this will do in the future. Have book sales seen a slide since things like Amazon Prime have allowed subscribers to read unlimited ebooks? I have no idea. I for one, do spend a lot more than 108/year on books but I'm not sure something like this could replace most of my buys. I have a feeling that brand new releases would be held for some time, much like a Netflix. They don't play the newest movies because the studios want to make money on selling the blu-rays at top dollar.

So I wouldn't think this will be a huge hurt to author's sales at this time but who knows how it will eventually go. I do have a slight sadness to think that all signs point to the printed book taking a back seat to ebooks in the near future.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I did not see mention of the fact that their actual competition is the *free* public library

I wasn't suggesting it. But I was thinking of traditional alternatives to buying books. I prefer real books. But I'm prepared on occasion to buy an eBook. The eInk type reader makes eBooks more practical. But DRM is EVIL, yes, piracy is wrong. "Streaming" type services and subscription models have two aims, one to add DRM or make DRM irrelevant due to subscription idea, the other is frankly to tie customers in and ultimately fleece them.
Current DRM ultimately breaks copyright law as it NEVER expires. Also even bought eBooks have the problem that mostly it's a long term rental, you didn't buy it in sense of CD or Book or DVD.
So I back up downloads and ensure that there is a method to eventually remove DRM.
Adobe's DRM for books is particularly evil and invasive of Privacy.
Privacy is another issue of electronic subscription like Amazon's sales or Subscription, Oyster, Netfllx, Scribd, Google, Apple etc. I'd prefer to buy from Publishers or a small local retailer than a Dragonish International Megacorp, most of whom cheat on EU privacy law and exploit their customers in a way never seen before.

The big publishers (all publishers) are idiots for not having POD for every title out of Print, eBooks for every title, sales and subscriptions themselves on their own sites. Otherwise the risk is there will be one or two evil mega-corps.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I signed up for Kindle Unlimited, and I've just about gone through anything I particularly want to read, so I unless they add a lot of things that look good in the next month or two I will probably cancel my subscription. But the first couple of months (one of which was a free trial) were fabulous. I think I read about twenty books a month during the first two months, and at $10 a month that was pretty amazing.

I wonder if some of those would be equally good for the first few months, since they will probably have a different selection.

 

[Michael Colton]

If it is a service people enjoy, I suppose more power to them. I am not knowledgeable enough about the publishing side of things to have an opinion on its effect in that realm. But for me as a reader it will mean nothing. I have an awful time reading electronic books. It takes me a very long time because I dislike it so - to the point that it can actually taint my impression of the book I am reading.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Many here know that I was very, very resistant to the idea of ever getting any kind of device that would allow me to read ebooks. I was certainly vocal enough about it. But my husband said he liked having a Kindle because he could adjust the print size, and the size of the font in paper books was becoming increasingly difficult for him to read.

I'm eight years younger, so I hadn't quite reached that point, but a lot of my paper books did leave me with eye strain. I was discovering that there were a lot of books that were essentially out of print in paper, and any copies hanging around were going for 40 or 50 or even hundreds of dollars (which meant that I would never, never be able to buy them and read them), but those particular books were available for six or seven dollars on Kindle. So I decided to at least try it.

And, like you, I did not like the experience of reading electronic books at first. It was distracting. I wasn't surprised, because I hated reading books on my computer. (And I still do, but that's partly because it's uncomfortable and inconvenient.) But I did adjust, and it really is easier on my old eyes, so once I adjusted I was just as happy reading the ebooks as print books. But when I can afford it and the paper book is available, I would rather have the paper book because it seems so much more permanent.

 

[Michael Colton]

Ah, that is understandable. In my case, staring at a screen like that can be troublesome and aggravate my chronic headaches. And of course I have the usual reservations and perturbations about electronic books, some of which you mentioned, but I spend enough time staring at a screen as it is. Taking breaks and looking at paper can help me quite a bit.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

unless they add a lot of things that look good in the next month or two I will probably cancel my subscription. But the first couple of months (one of which was a free trial) were fabulous.

This was my experience in early 1980s with video library and in late 1990s to early 2000s with Satellite PayTV, but then after a while there wasn't enough new material I was interested in and about 99% of the TV watching was free to air so we cancelled. Originally Video cost £150 each on poor VHS, now DVDs can be €6 so it's years since we rented any video.
Amazon (and half price Satellite TV with free to keep box & Dish) of course rely on people not cancelling.

I spend enough time staring at a screen as it is

Which is why I have a matte finish 1600 x 1200 LCD for laptop, Widescreen is for video. Also prevalent as it costs half of the earlier dedicated screens, being TV panels. Also why I have screen dimmed to brightness of paper under the bright room light and curtains pulled where I write in my library (was boys' bedroom). Also I only do photo-editing fullscreen, everything else is run in windows screen height and about 1/2 width. Wider documents are tiring and unnatural. I think there is a good reason picture books are landscape and text containing books are portrait.

I find the Kindle type eInk screen on the DXG only just good enough. The Kindle Paperwhite usually needs light turned to minimum and is better and the new Touch, gen7 I got in Dec 2014 (no light) is the best eInk I've seen. I had to turn light off with curtains pulled to be 100% convinced it wasn't lit. It's the closest to real paper yet.
I have to wear reading glasses since about 1999 (discovered that's why I was getting headaches) and now about 2.5 as I prepare to enter the six zero.