Netflix For Books?

robjvargas · Oct 2, 2013

Not necessarily a new topic, but I wonder if it doesn't deserve a revisit.

While discussing Scribd over at BR&BC, a statement came up describing a "Netflix for books."

Maybe that's a bad site for it. Maybe not. But it occurred to me that, maybe, this is an inevitability.

I don't know. With Netflix, movies are kind of like an event. You download, you watch, you're done. There's a fairly rapid turnaround.

Books require a certain amount of... not really commitment. But they are rarely a single-session "event" like a movie is, unless we condense them or split them into serial downloads.

I tend to think this Netflix checkout/sharing model is going to happen. Maybe not Scribd. Maybe not even Amazon Premiere. Maybe something we haven't seen yet. But I'm curious what others think.

girlyswot · Oct 2, 2013

It's already happening: Oyster.

I'm pretty unimpressed with Scribd. They have a bad reputation earned by hosting a lot of things for which they don't own the copyright. I wouldn't be recommending their services to anyone.

veinglory · Oct 2, 2013

Yes, Oyster. And as usual it seems the author will get screwed. But the same thing from Scribd would probably be even worse.

roundtable · Oct 3, 2013

Realistically, as long as your public library participates, most have programs that allow library patrons to "borrow" ebooks for a period of two weeks without any monthly fee. I do it all the time at my library. Find the book I want, get into the waitlist, if there is one, and then when the digital copy is available, I get the notification and just have to log in and download it to my computer or Nook.

robjvargas · Oct 3, 2013

Oyster seems light on information. Still, it *is* doing the loaning thing. My own library also loans ebooks.

Thanks for the responses, all.

Deleted member 42 · Oct 3, 2013

I suspect we'll see Apple roll out an iBooks lending option, requiring publishers to opt-in.

PortableHal · Oct 3, 2013

Scribd hasn't been a winner but now they have a major publisher (HarperCollins) partnering with them. I suspect that people who subscribe to these kinds of services will be much less likely to purchase individual ebooks.

I also suspect that the authors who are part of a subscription service won't see much money on their end.

Deleted member 42 · Oct 3, 2013

Baen's Webscription seems to have been well-received by authors and readers both. It's about ten years old, maybe more.

AnneGlynn · Oct 3, 2013

Medievalist said:
Baen's Webscription seems to have been well-received by authors and readers both. It's about ten years old, maybe more.

I've never heard of the Webscription. Were ebooks popular a decade ago? I guess they must have been. Were people reading off of their computers?

If the authors are happy with the service, how are they being paid? Per download, similar to Smashwords/Amazon, or as a general payment -- all writers get 0.02% kind of thing?

benbradley · Oct 4, 2013

I heard this NPR story on it:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcon...-lending-service-aims-to-be-netflix-for-books
Here's a pertinent quote:

"We thought this through on both the reader side and on the publisher's side,"...

And no, the word author does not occur in the article text.

Arpeggio · Oct 26, 2013

There's a blog post by the CEO of IPG (I'm not with IPG) on this kind of thing, comparing it to Spotify for music...

http://gonepublishing.wordpress.com...n-learn-from-the-state-of-the-music-industry/

shadowwalker · Oct 26, 2013

PortableHal said:
I suspect that people who subscribe to these kinds of services will be much less likely to purchase individual ebooks.

I'm not so sure about that. Libraries provide me with free books and the ones I know I'll want to read again, I buy. Since subscribing to Netflix, I've found several movies that I intend to purchase.

Sure, there are some folks who won't buy if they can rent, but if it generates any additional income for the author, and if there are any actual sales generated by it, why not? Or am I missing something major?

Netflix For Books?

robjvargas

girlyswot

veinglory

volitare nequeo

roundtable

robjvargas

Deleted member 42

PortableHal

Not-so-new

Deleted member 42

AnneGlynn

If you don't try, you can't fail

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

Arpeggio

shadowwalker

empty-nester!