Ebook subscription: a forced choice?

We have already talked about our experience as an eBook publisher with digital distributors in a previous article. Today, we continue the topic dealing with a service that in recent years has practically wiped out the sales market in favour of ‘long-term rental’. The subscription formula.

There are dozens of subscription services around the world, despite some major closures (such as Oyster and Playster). A few survive that cover specific areas of the world (such as uBook or BookBeat,) or that focus on the distribution of study material (such as Perlego). Inevitably, the rest of the market is at the mercy of large giants that dominate it and absorb users from all over the world.

AMAZON KINDLE UNLIMITED

Certainly leading the way in terms of notoriety is Amazon’s subscription service, Kindle Unlimited, so called because it prides itself on offering unlimited access to over a million eBooks on any device. All this – excluding promotions and offers – for ‘only’ EUR 9.99 per month.

In reality, not all that glitters is gold, as Amazon all too often teaches us. In fact, in the general terms and conditions of use, it is specified that “we may add or remove titles from the programme from time to time and do not guarantee the availability of specific titles, nor the minimum number of titles available”. In addition, Amazon reserves ‘the right to accept or reject your subscription at our sole discretion’ and, ‘in order to prevent fraud’, to ‘limit the number of titles accessible at any one time under the programme’.

But the real problem with subscribing to Kindle Unlimited does not lie in the terms of the contract. As many users point out, the million titles promised by Amazon do not live up to expectations. None of the big publishers have agreed to join the programme. This actually results in little choice in the eBook titles available, which are almost all distributed by self-publishers.

KOBO PLUS

Since November 2021, Rakuten Kobo’s subscription service has finally landed in Italy, which could put both bitter rivals (Amazon) and lesser rivals (Scribd and Bookmate) in serious trouble. Yes, because Kobo has made a double leap. Not only does it offer Kindle Unlimited and Audible-style subscriptions (€9.99 per month for Kobo Plus eBook and Kobo Plus Audio respectively), but also a third option.

The ‘Kobo Plus eBook & Audio’ in fact offers for €12.99/month a vast catalogue of both eBooks and audiobooks, to be read and listened to comfortably on the eBook Reader or dedicated app. It is no coincidence that the service has been defined as an ‘all you can enjoy’, to emphasise the difference with those distributors who only offer reading or listening on subscription.

SCRIBD

Although some eBooks are not available in some countries, Scribd‘s subscription services cover practically the whole world. For EUR 10.99 per month, one has access to a very well-stocked list of eBooks, audio books and even magazines and newspapers. It enjoys a certain notoriety, but at the moment it is definitely threatened by Kobo Plus, especially with regard to users who prefer to read from their eBook Reader.

24SYMBOLS

This is certainly the most attractive offer in economic terms, although the catalogue is not as extensive as Scribd’s. For EUR 8.99, you can access a good number of titles in more than ten languages. However, the subscription only includes one audiobook per month. Otherwise, it is also possible not to subscribe to the service and read the free titles of 24Symbols, but in this case the rest of the catalogue is only available for reading the first few pages of books.

BOOKMATE

The biggest difference between this service and those listed above lies in the fact that you can use it as a virtual ‘bookshelf’, following friends and sharing feedback on books read. Another advantage of Bookmate is that you can upload your EPub and FB2 to the platform and synchronise them across all your devices. Bookmate also has its own section of comics, podcasts and audio books for €9.99 per month.

COMIXOLOGY UNLIMITED

Although it is at the bottom of the list, it is actually back at the top. ComiXology is in fact owned by Amazon and the Unlimited version includes, for $5.99 per month, an expanding catalogue of over 40,000 titles including comics, graphic novels and manga from the DC and Marvel worlds (among others). Unfortunately, for now the service is only available for the United States. Also, it seems to be giving users quite a few problems with the latest update, which involves a migration of libraries in Amazon’s purchase history.

CONCLUSIONS

All major digital distribution platforms offer more or less equivalent subscription plans, both in price and service. Almost all of them now include offline reading with product downloads on dedicated iOS and Google Play apps and a substantial number of titles in the catalogue. Of course, the United States leads the way as far as the offer is concerned, but even here in Italy the phenomenon of subscriptions for eBooks, audio books and magazines is beginning to take hold. It is therefore likely that in the years to come we will see an increase in the services on offer for domestic readers as well.

However, a big difference can be made here by eReaders. Not everyone likes to read on smartphones and tablets, let alone in front of a computer screen (especially younger people). It is no coincidence that eReaders base their technology on a reading experience as close as possible to that on paper, with electronic ink and backlighting designed not to tire the eyes. In this case, it is natural that a subscription to Kindle Unlimited or Kobo Plus would be the choice.

THE THIRD WAY

However, in addition to purchase and subscription, there is a third way to choose.

For those who still think that libraries are empty museums, there has actually been the possibility of borrowing books on the Web for some years now.

For Kobo eReader owners, unfortunately (but no surprises) Overdrive is not yet available in Italy. It is a free service that allows you to borrow desired eBooks from the digital collection of your public reference library. Once you have chosen the title, you can conveniently download it to your eBook Reader. And if the desired book is not available… you can reserve it, just like in a physical library.

MLOL ALTERNATIVE

However, here too there is an alternative. There is a portal called MLOL, acronym for Media Library Online, dedicated to digital lending and the use of eBooks from the catalogues of participating Italian libraries. All you need is a connection and to choose a reading device – even an eReader, though it gets a bit more complicated – and you’re done. The number of loans per month is limited by one’s reference library, but the service is completely free of charge. It includes open access resources of eBooks, audiobooks, sheet music, videos, audio, courses and maps.

In addition, for the more demanding, there is also MLOL Plus. This is essentially the subscription version of the basic service, with numerous formulas diversified by price and quantity of books read in a year. As the site itself points out, all packages can be purchased as a welcome gift for reading lovers. And with an added bonus. Plus users have access to a shop to buy eBooks directly and thus obtain credits for more lending. With the added bonus that you also do a good deed. 65-80% of the subscription price is then donated to an Italian library to finance the free digital lending of eBooks.