E-book Subscription models: What works for the readers drags down the business (Proved by Oyster and Scribd)

With each of these e-book subscriptions, you get unlimited access to their entire book libraries for a monthly fee. You can read as many books as you want, for as long as you want, and with each service, you can download books for offline reading. Unlike a traditional library, there are no due dates, so you can hang on to a book for as long as like, just like you would with a Netflix DVD. But like a library, you do not own the books you read, and if you cancel your subscription, you can no longer access any of the titles you’ve saved.

This is the US experience: Firstly, Scribd launched in 2012 (and remained the cheapest one with its $8.99 per month). Then the Oyster subscription service came with much fanfare in 2013 ($9.95 per month). Last but not least, in 2014 Amazon unveiled its Kindle Unlimited service ($9.99 per month). This autumn, Oyster has posted a note stating it will be exiting the business in 2016 and is offering refunds to subscribers who request them. The service provides access to more than 1 million e-books. So what happened? The service drew praise from readers and gained attraction with many publishers by offering a model that paid publishers their full retail cut for e-books read by subscribers. Now, that doesn’t sound sustainable, does it? Especially if the biggest rival, Scribd, has the same headache. Their CEO said this summer, that Scribd was “facing some growing pains” and some romance titles (most popular with readers!) would no longer be available as part of its basic monthly service. Obviously, the cost of paying for their subscribers’ reading consumption is exceeding the revenue brought in from monthly subscription fees.

However, readers simply demand a high-end service from subscription based platforms and there is no end to their appetite. They want a great variety of choice and they want the newest releases. In fact, for models based on access over ownership you need high-quality content. So subscription services need to make publishers happy, in order to get the content, which makes the readers happy. In addition, access cannot be valued higher than 10 units (the prices set in the USA were also adapted in Europe). Who can sustain this kind of subscription business? Moreover, how can one make it even grow? The CEO of 24Symbol has a good point in this quote: “If publishers want e-book subscription to be a viable channel, we need to have win-win terms, rather than win-lose terms.” It has to be said though, that publishers feared all the way that the model of paying full retail prices for books read in subscription was too good to last forever, and the decision will be theirs now to approach half way in the other direction. They did earn some respectable income from subscriptions so far, and it’s hard to imagine they would rather give up on this income completely then to compromise …

Renata Zamida

Renata Zamida ist Mittarbeiterin der Slowenischen Buchagentur, die vom Kulturministäriums zur Förderung des Buchwesen in Slowenien gegrundet wurde und auch für die Presentation der Slowenischen Literatur im Ausland sorgt. Sie ist bei der Buchagentur für den internationalen Bereich zuständig und leitet das Projekt Slowenien- Ehrengast der Frankfurter Buchmesse. Bis 2016 arbeitete sie zehn Jahre als Mangerin für Internationales Recht bei dem Verlag Beletrina in Ljubljana. Sie hat die E-Book Verkaufs- und Leihplattform Biblos mitentwickelt, die als europäisches Vorbild für die Verleihung von E-Books in öffentlichen Bibliotheken ist und zudem die Hauptplattform für E-Books in Slowenien. Sie ist auch im Vorstand der Slowenischen Buchmesse aktiv und betreut dort das Gastland Programm. Renata Zamida works for the Slovenian Book Agency, established by the Ministry of Culture to develop and enhance the publishing and bookseller perspectives in Slovenia, also in charge for the promotion of Slovenian literature abroad. She has been working for Beletrina Academic Press in Ljubljana for ten years, until 2016, as Foreign Rights Manager. She has also co-developed the e-book lending and selling platform Biblos - an European role model lending system for e-books in public libraries and the main platform for e-books in Slovenian. She is also active in the advisory and management board of the Slovenian book fair, responsible for the Guest of honour countries

Renata Zamida ist Mittarbeiterin der Slowenischen Buchagentur, die vom Kulturministäriums zur Förderung des Buchwesen in Slowenien gegrundet wurde und auch für die Presentation der Slowenischen Literatur im Ausland sorgt. Sie ist bei der Buchagentur für den internationalen Bereich zuständig und leitet das Projekt Slowenien- Ehrengast der Frankfurter Buchmesse. Bis 2016 arbeitete sie zehn Jahre als Mangerin für Internationales Recht bei dem Verlag Beletrina in Ljubljana. Sie hat die E-Book Verkaufs- und Leihplattform Biblos mitentwickelt, die als europäisches Vorbild für die Verleihung von E-Books in öffentlichen Bibliotheken ist und zudem die Hauptplattform für E-Books in Slowenien. Sie ist auch im Vorstand der Slowenischen Buchmesse aktiv und betreut dort das Gastland Programm.

Renata Zamida works for the Slovenian Book Agency, established by the Ministry of Culture to develop and enhance the publishing and bookseller perspectives in Slovenia, also in charge for the promotion of Slovenian literature abroad. She has been working for Beletrina Academic Press in Ljubljana for ten years, until 2016, as Foreign Rights Manager. She has also co-developed the e-book lending and selling platform Biblos - an European role model lending system for e-books in public libraries and the main platform for e-books in Slovenian. She is also active in the advisory and management board of the Slovenian book fair, responsible for the Guest of honour countries

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