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I am a long-term KU subscriber. I have kept subscribing for longer terms at a substantial discount when it is on sale. There are many excellent books in KU, and I believe it has been great value for money. If I like the first book of a series in KU I have no hesitation in purchasing the later books provided I consider them to be reasonably priced, which they usually are. I'm very happy with KU.
However, having said this, I am very pleased to see that Kobo is starting to get its act together, firstly with its own self-publishing platform and now with its subscription program. Unfortunately Kobo started both very late in the piece and is playing catch-up. Unfortunately it seems to me that that there are few reasons for authors to self-publish with Kobo rather than Amazon. Nor to join Kobo's subscrition program rather than KU. Of course Kobo does not impose exclusivity which will attract some. But will it be enough? On the other side of the equation it seems to me that Kobo's subscriptuin service offers little value comparted to KU. Perhaps if they were able to attract support from the larger tradpubs, even on backlist titles, this may help. But I won't be holding my breath. The last time I checked Kobo were yet to launch the service in the US.
Full marks to Kobo for trying. Some competition for Amazon would in my view be a very good thing. However, unless I am missing something I doubt this is going to do it.
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