EBook Subscriptions or "Netflixing" the Publishing Industry

Remember the "Library Checkout Card"? That little piece of paper tucked in the back of your library book, that the librarian stamped with the date and your name? They went out way ahead of the card catalog, but in the day, it was the way you checked books out. Until now...

Ever hear of Netflix? It's that movie subscription service that made renting movies in your PJ's easy. Well, eBook subscriptions are making a soft entry into the world of readers who use eReaders. eBook subscriptions have been around for a while, mostly for technical books, where the technology is changing faster than the days on the calendar, and books just don't stay current. But for literary reads there hasn't been much interest. Publisher's Weekly writer Calvin Reid, wrote this past week about how "the subscription e-book model is finally gaining traction in the publishing industry" and how Oyster, eReatah, and Scribd are all coming out with rental plans for eBooks, just like Netflix has for movies.

We subscribe to Netflix for our movies, we subscribe to Audible for our audiobooks, why not a monthly subscription to download eBooks? Here's how they work...

Oyster... for $9.95 a month, Oyster will give you unlimited downloads to their 100,000 books. I couldn't browse to see what kind of titles were available, but that would be important to me. Right now Oyster subscriptions are only for your iPhone or iPod Touch. They say they have plans to release an iPad friendly app later this year. You can learn more about them at Oyster.com.

eReatah... for $14.99 a month, eReatah will let you download 2 titles a month. You'll need to install the eReatah app, which works on your iPhone, iPad and Android devices with a work around that should work for Kindle Fire. They have an interesting take on all this though, you get to keep the books you download on eReatah. BUT, you can only read them with the app, so you have to keep the app on your device. Their website is beautiful, they have a person that comes on chat immediately to answer any question you may have, and it appears that there are current popular titles available. You can learn more about them at eReatah.com

Scribd... for $8.99 a month (and the first month is free), Scribd offers unlimited downloads. You can read on your iPhone, iPad, Android or browser. This means Kindle Fire or Nook HD, not the regular Kindle or Nook Simple Touch. Scribd has been around a long time with access to all sorts of reading material. Their selection of available books is amazing, and you can browse their FULL CATALOG to  see for yourself. You can learn more about them at Scribd.com.

What do you think?! Are eBook subscriptions practical? Do we really need to purchase and keep all those eBooks forever? And what about pricing? I think that at $8.99 a month with unlimited downloads may be great if you are a voracious reader, but would your reading habits support the expense? Remember, there's always the library. Even though they got rid of the checkout card, libraries have both books and in most cases now, free ebooks to download!

 I have to say though... I still miss that good ole card catalog!

Celebrate Read an E-Book Week!

It's Read an E-Book Week!

March 6 - 12, 2011

Who knew Ebooks would get their own week of celebration! Not only is there a celebration of ebooks going on, but FREE ebooks from various ebook publishers! It seems that the free ebooks offered by some of these publishers and authors change daily, so check these sites every day to see if there is something that interests you. Today, Dorrance publishing is offering Sylvia Klope Eller's The Squirrel Who Hitchhiked to Atlanta, and Smashwords has Evermore by Laura Chambers-Wright for free, which is described as "He thought he'd gotten away with the perfect crime, but the forces beyond have other intentions". There are also discounts on ebooks, such as Kobo offering 15% off of select titles. You can check out the whole list of publishers, authors and book sellers that are participating at the Read an E-Book Week website. Everyone should find a little something in the huge variety of ebooks being offered.

Watch out Kindle & Sony... Apple wants to take a Bite out of you!

Enjoy reading your ebooks on your iPhone, iPad and other app devices? Well, Apple thinks they should get a cut of the profits of those ebooks. In a surprising move this week, Apple told Sony that they could not sell their ebooks within their App, the sale had to go thru Apple's system. Meaning that you wouldn't be buying your Kindle book from Amazon, or your Sony ebook from Sony when you decide you want to purchase a particular book while reading it on your iPad or iPhone, it would go through Apple's payment system, and thus Apple getting the 30% standard ebook profit.

Apple said it would still allow access to any ebooks purchased prior to this new demand and any ebooks purchased outside the App, but what of the future? One of the nice things about having a reading App for your iPhone and iPad from one of the other eReader companies, is the ability to read your ebooks on various platforms and to simply press a button to purchase an ebook you want. I decide I want to read my Kindle copy of Pride & Prejudice on my iPhone, it's a simple tap away. But say, I finish that book and want to purchase another book, my tendency would be to purchase it right from the App, but why would Sony, Amazon or B&N want to have you buy new ebooks on your iPhone or iPad, if Apple is the one profiting?! I'm sure they wouldn't. And that means the possibility of dedicated devices again. No more convenience of reading different ebooks platforms on one device, at the risk of losing the next sale. And that seems to be a step backwards to me.

Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division, said on Monday that Apple had told his company that from now on, all in-app purchases would have to go through Apple.

“It’s the opposite of what we wanted to bring to the market,” Mr. Haber said. “We always wanted to bring the content to as many devices as possible, not one device to one store.”

What do you think? It seems to me that there are a lot of Apps that sell things besides ebooks, and that Apple could profit from as well. Is it just that Apple is seeing less profits from iBook sales because the other ebook platforms are more versatile? I can read my Kindle books on my iPhone, iPad, and computer; I can read an iBook on my iPad. Which format would you purchase? And even though you don't own a Sony eReader, with an App, you can purchase a Sony ebook (or any ebook) anyway and read it using an App. Follow the link to read the full article, Apple Moves to Tighten Controlof App Store by Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft, from the february 1st New York Times online edition.

Tales to Read Under the Covers... This Weeks Theme for Barnes and Noble Freebie Nook eBooks!

After Dark... Tales to Read Under the Covers is this weeks theme for the Barnes & Noble free eBooks for your Nook promotion! So where does "After Dark" take us? From Hell in Dante's Inferno to the future found in H.G. Wells Time Machine... We meet a certain headless horseman in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and travel with Captain Nemo to wondrous places in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. What better way to experience these reading adventures than with these great classic editions from Barnes & Noble and free to download for your Nook! You can find the current available downloads at Barnes & Noble, and in the meantime Here's What's Available This Week...

• Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction by Joseph Conrad
• Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
• Time Machine and The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Writings by Washington Irving
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

These Barnes & Noble Classics are not just a rehashing of what you could also possibly find at Project Gutenberg. Barnes & Noble has gone the extra mile to make an affordable and well rounded book. Here are some of the features of the B & N Classics from their website:

• New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors
• Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations
• Bibliographies for further reading
• Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate
• All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

And BTW, Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is thought to be the first real detective story, and one of the greatest mysteries ever written... Happy Reading!