In late December Macmillan John Sargent announced that there were getting into
the e-Book subscription business, in an attempt to broaden their distribution channels.
Since Oyster announced its first round of funding in late 2012, along with plans to launch
an e-book subscription business, the space has become significantly more crowded.
Not exact matches
Oyster is the second company in the last few months to find that the entire
e-book subscription concept is flawed and is an unsound
business model.
Entitle went out of
business in July and like Oyster they were solely reliant on venture capital funding in order to keep the lights on, because the
e-book subscription market does not have enough paid readers to make the
business model viable on its own.
I don't think
e-book subscription websites are a viable
business model.
The Penguin and Hachette bosses sentiments are oddly prophetic, it seems as though the
e-book subscription service is flawed and all of the major companies in this space are going out of
business.
Macmillan has announced that they intend on entering the
e-Book subscription model
business, in an attempt to broaden its distribution channels.
Scribd, which recently changed its
business model, is adding more than 6,000 titles from Macmillan to its
subscription e-book service.
Although there are still some issues to be ironed out relating to
e-book subscription services, publishers are generally confident that the
business model will be an important one soon.
As discussed in a new research note at GigaOM Pro (
subscription required), the space can be broken into two
business models: the consumer model, which serves casual
e-book users, and the library model, more geared toward schools, universities and governments.
While each generated some interest from publishers and consumers, it wasn't until the July 18 launch of Kindle Unlimited, Amazon's
e-book subscription service, that pundits and media outlets began parsing what these new
business models mean for the future of books.
Oyster also isn't the only company in the
subscription e-book business.
In the end, I think its tremendously important that
e-book subscription sites pivot from their core
business model and try new things out.
Penguin Random House UK CEO Tom Weldon proclaimed that
e-book subscription websites such as Amazon Unlimited, Scribd and Oyster are not viable
business models.
The Blloon
business model was quite different than the type of unlimited
e-book subscription services offered by Amazon and Scribd.
I am not alone in thinking that
e-book subscription services are not a viable
business model.
The Oyster
e-book subscription service, which launched in 2013, will exit the
business over the next few months and will be offering refunds to subscribers who request them, according to an announcement this week on the company's blog.
The initiative is being spearheaded by Nathan Hull formerly of Scandinavian
e-book subscription service Mofibo, he departed Mofibo, where he was chief
business development officer, in June after the company was acquired by Storytel in May for # 13 million.
Entitle was solely reliant on venture capital funding in order to keep the lights on, because the
e-book subscription market does not have enough paid readers to make the
business model viable on its own.
This year's census found that while publishers were bullish about new
business models such as
subscriptions from companies like Scribd, Oyster, and Kindle Unlimited, only a quarter were using this sales route and also publishing in formats like apps,
e-books, audio and video.
The census discovered that publishers are bullish about new
business models including
subscriptions (such as Scribd, Oyster, and now also Kindle Unlimited) with 1/4 of publishers following this route, and publishing flexibly in formats like apps,
e-books, audio and video.
This move, according to Fortune, is «part of Google's latest push into content... It's unclear if this new Google Books iteration will channel Amazon's
e-book business, which includes a
subscription component similar to Oyster's.»
And
e-book subscription company Oyster announced it intended to «sunset» its
business, with its executives decamping to Google.
E-book subscription service Scribd is introducing a new credit - based
business model for its audiobooks, which means that from 20th September only a certain number of audiobooks will... Read more