Reader Friday: Subscription Service for Readers?

The reader subscription service Oyster has launched. Offering a library of 100,000 titles (with more to come), Oyster gives a reader unlimited access to their library for $9.95 a month. Think Netflix for e-books.

Market research: As a reader, is this something you might be interested in?  What might it mean for writers? 

20 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Subscription Service for Readers?

  1. sounds like a good idea, but it’s only available in the US, so it might be years before it reaches me. However, I might consider offering my book through them. I assume the author is paid a small commission each time a reader requests it. But ten bucks a month for books sounds on the high side. I’d have to be a serious reader each month to make that price practical. Right now, I’m getting mostly Gutenberg offerings and some other freebies, so I’d have to see quite a few top name writers offer their books through them before I’d pay.

    Questions I didn’t see answered in the FAQ:
    Can I download the books or are they only available online?
    How many of the books are out of copyright?

  2. I would not use it. I didn’t visit the site to read the particulars but 1) I don’t read enough books to make that monthly price worthwhile, 2) I ALREADY have difficulty finding books I like to read with access to any books I can google or look up on Amazon. So nope, I would not tie myself down to a monthly Netflix for books.

    BK Jackson

  3. Not really something I think I’d use. I don’t get enough time off from grading and writing to read more than 1 to 2 books a month except in the summer, and then I just descend upon the library. I get the netflix for books idea, just don’t know that I’d use it enough to justify the monthly fee.

  4. It would depend on what was available, and what platforms I could read it on. I know I spend more than $120/year on books, but if I still have to buy similar quantities of books to get what i want, this might not be worth it.

    As I type this, I realize I’d also have to research how the authors get paid, and how much. I no longer have the luxury of thinking of things as solely a reader, and I don’t want possibly to help to take money out of my friends’ pockets.

  5. Judging from my Netflix experience, I’d have to see what they offer online. Netflix never has the movies I want to see online, only on Disc, which I don’t like. It might give authors a nice alternative for e-book distribution, however.

  6. No. I do most of my “reading” through audiobooks these days (especially thrillers, which make me run faster!). I wouldn’t read enough to make it worthwhile.

  7. I just browsed around their site, and it looks interesting. It seems to be aimed at combining reader recommendations (a la Goodreads) with the idea of having a community library where everyone can read and exchange books. I couldn’t see the details, but I signed up for an invitation. It sounds intriguing.

  8. They seem to be trying awfully hard and I wish them well.

    The sub price is too high for all but the most voracious reader. With Netflix, I might stream 2-3 movies a day or up to 7 hours of old TV when I am working in the warehouse, but my reading time is only about an hour a day.

    Now, a subscription service that streams audio books (not a purchase, a stream) for the right price and I might be interested.

    Terri

  9. As a reader? Not interested. First, the service is currently only available for iphones and ipods, with nothing specific about when it will be available for other platforms. Reading entire books on such a small device is not enjoyable to me. Next up is availability. I would like to see what they really have to offer. The few covers pictured on their blog didn’t entice me. They brag about “hundreds” of their offerings as having been bestsellers. They don’t say when. How much of their stuff is just pd? They state they might not get new releases for several months, and indicate that not all publishers are willing to work with them. Then there’s the bit about pretty much anybody being able to see what you’re reading now, and what you’ve already read. What?! How is this anybody’s business?? I do spend more than $ 9.95/mo on e-books, but when I do at least they’re mine (sort of). Agree with those who say if they wanted to rent a book they’d just go to the library, and my local library has e-books.

    As a writer I have questions about payment. I suspect this is not such a good deal for the content creator. I would like to see specifics.

  10. I’m already an Amazon Prime customer, paying $75 per year for the ability to checkout books, watch unlimited online videos, and get free shipping on most items. I am also a regular customer of ListenAlaska, the Alaskan portal for Overdrive’s library app where I get ebooks and audiobooks totally free.

    Therefore a company like this would have to offer a lot more than just checking out books for that price. Perhaps grocery delivery, or having pretty young ladies hold the ebook reader for the customer (or hunky guys for the female customers). Otherwise, a hundred bucks a year to provide something I get for free already seems like a not so good deal.

  11. Can someone tell me:
    How is this different from Amazon Prime’s lending library? For the reader it seems expensive. For the author, maybe I missed it but what is the royalty rate? I make some nice royalties from Amazon lending.

  12. Okay, this is $1200 a year. You gotta read a lotta books to make that worthwhile. And it works ONLY on Mac products. And you can’t use it anywhere but the USA. So much for travel versatility. As consumer, I’d pass. As author, there is nothing on their site telling me what’s in for me. Apparently, it might be yet another venue for traditional publishers to post their ebook titles but what about self-pubbed folks?

  13. As a reader, I already have too many books to read. Ebooks at my library are free and so are many of my friends’ titles when they do the Kindle lending program. As a writer, I’d be concerned about copyright issues and if authors get paid for these loans.

  14. This is $120/year and Amazon prime is $80/year and includes a lot more content and options. Again, trying awfully hard to be hip.

    And their FB friends are just a tad too enthusiastic for credibility.

  15. I looked but couldn’t find out how authors were effected. Are all the books in the public domain or are authors being screwed again?

  16. Plus, I don’t like the way the guys look who are putting this together. Like a bad Men’s Wearhouse ad.

    Just kidding. But barely. And why can’t they hire some women? ๐Ÿ™‚

  17. Oyster is being incredibly silent about the deals they are making with some publishers, the publishers are saying nothing, and Smashwords authors have been told they are automatically opted in and must opt out to avoid being part of this. Smashwords won’t share the terms with the authors either.

    That alone makes me leery of the whole thing.

    Add to that the pittance authors will probably see if their books are part of this, and I can only see this to be a good deal for an author who can put his first book in a series in as the equivalent of a free book in hopes he will sell the other books. Everyone else should run screaming in the opposite direction.

  18. Been researching this via Google. Not much on it really other than everyone calling it “the Netflix or Spotify” of the book world. It is literally only a week old and only Harper Collins, a few other small presses and Smashwords have signed up. Sometime to definitely watch.

  19. As a reader I’m not interested in streaming ebooks. I prefer to buy a license to access a title(which is what DRM essentially allows, as I understand it). I’d rather have a digital to-read pile, as I do for print books, which I can get to when I want to get to. I’m also very concerned about what sort of deal Oyster offers the authors whose books are being streamed.

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