Scribd shrinking its romance catalog

[49Kat]

Oh, I just went to my account settings through the Scribd website, and it says my subscription was cancelled today and my access ends on the 17th. Well, that was easy. No nag screens to go through anyway.

I would like to have provided a bit of feedback. The shrinking catalog was kind of the last straw for me, but I had been considering canceling for quite some time now. The app on my iOs devices just persistently misbehaves and it's just not enjoyable to use. Even browsing the book selection was an exercise in annoyance for the same reason. I just found I wasn't using the service because I didn't enjoy it, and when I realized my access to some books was cut off because I am from Canada (and I lost access to a book I was in the middle of reading quite abruptly), that increased my annoyance.

I did like the subscription model, I had no idea of how things worked from Scribd's end of things. And, quite frankly, as the paying customer, it's not really my job to have to concern myself with that. I wouldn't have minded some type of tier system for heavier readers if that would help Scribd keep a good quality library and keep their business afloat.

When I am finding, though, that I am not using Scribd often and it ends up being cheaper for me to purchase the one book I may have read from their library in the past month, it makes no sense for me economically to stick with them.

I will be watching their company for further improvements, however. I hope they make it, and if so, I wouldn't be averse to signing up with them again.

[applewine]

E-books make sense to have as a purely service model like music. The problem is that Scribd and Oyster have horrible selection. They didn't wait until the publishers fully buy in like Spotify did.

The e-book manufacturers should either remove the DRM like the music companies did, or allow a purely service based unlimited model like Spotify, Apple Music, Rdio. Trying to mix the two is very frustrating. If it is a service model you can take your $10 a month at any time and move to another provider. Your book collection is totally portable, because your book collection is your currency. That is how it works with music services. Of course you may need to write down a list of all the books.

The most portable and universal thing is your currency, so if you can make it a pure service you are set.

If you buy e-books right now you are essentially saying it is a one time read for it to totally not matter. Otherwise you have to mix all your store shelves and can't blend them together well and are chained to the store.

It is true that ultimately the final destination of the book is in your brain so no matter what store you get it from it will end up there. That is another way of looking at it, especially if you only intend to read it once, then it doesn't matter who you bought it from. Putting aside the cost of owning multiple store's reading devices.

[birdbrainbb]

Originally Posted by tempest@de

something weird happened, the books that had disappeared from my library in the app because they said were expired turned up again, and most of them don’t have any message about any expiration date, they even had stored my reading place in the book that I was reading. They even have a new book that I was looking and was published yesterday.

Did someone noticed something similar? Is there any news about this, did they went back about dropping publishers?

I've noticed the same thing happening in my library this week. Books marked as "no longer available" one day show back up again the next, either with or without an "expiring" notice added on. I also have some books in my library that aren't available in the catalog but don't have any unavailable/expiring notices. No idea what's going on, tbh.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by applewine

E-books make sense to have as a purely service model like music.

.

Uh, no.
Of all digital media, music is the one that is least comparable to ebooks.

Music streaming builds off the economics and payment system established last century for radio. Books in the US do not have a precursor lending model within living memory. (You have to go back to the 19th century, pre-Carnegie, to find commercial subscription libraries.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscription_library

So there are no mutually agreeable terms that subscription services can refer to in ramping up, the way music and video did.

Which isn't to say a model acceptable to both authors and readers can't possibly be crafted, but so far there is no evidence that near-sale payouts will be viable.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by birdbrainbb

I've noticed the same thing happening in my library this week. Books marked as "no longer available" one day show back up again the next, either with or without an "expiring" notice added on. I also have some books in my library that aren't available in the catalog but don't have any unavailable/expiring notices. No idea what's going on, tbh.

Same here most of my books say expiring but no date when. It's all mixed up. I just cancelled till they get their act together.

[NickyWithNook]

All the books in my library are still there, but this makes me nervous.

[booklover6]

Great....over a dozen ebooks that were available in my library yesterday (i.e. not expiring either) are now marked Not Available. No warning period whatsoever.

My audio books have not been affected...

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Great....over a dozen ebooks that were available in my library yesterday (i.e. not expiring either) are now marked Not Available. No warning period whatsoever.

My audio books have not been affected...

Which is why I cancelled my membership they need to get their act together. Removing books without warning is not acceptable for this type of membership.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Which is why I cancelled my membership they need to get their act together. Removing books without warning is not acceptable for this type of membership.

I agree, it's terrible. I'll be mad as hell if they starting pulling that stunt with audio books. Although I am getting from the library if they have them, instead of Scribd, though I prefer the Scribd app to messing with the parts on my Sandisk (part 10 is always before part 1. It's weird.)

[Autonomous]

I'm using them primarily for audiobooks and realistically can only get through one audiobook per week, but given the economics they're probably losing money on the audio side as well. I hope they don't cut back on the audios. If they do, I'd probably have to sign up for audible. The selections at my local library suck for both audio and ebooks, so I was thrilled when I discovered Scribd.

I do also read 2 or 3 ebooks per month on Scribd. Most recently, I was reading a NF WW2 book that expired with less than 24 hrs notice, so I'm assuming all categories will eventually take a hit.

Like others have mentioned, I wish instead of reducing selection they'd come up with a better fee structure (maybe based on usage -- e.g., 5 books or less for X amount, 6-10 books for another price and so on). Consumers would then be able to adjust their reading to what they could afford without the selection being compromised. I don't like the rotating model because it would take too much work on my part to keep up with what selections are available any given month.

[Blossom]

I agree rotating without giving an expiration date when title is released is just too confusing. Suddenly pulling titles without warning is just not a good way to do business.

Checked again now 95% of my library is either expiring or unavailable. WOW I can't believe they are going to just remove nearly all romance books.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Autonomous

I do also read 2 or 3 ebooks per month on Scribd. Most recently, I was reading a NF WW2 book that expired with less than 24 hrs notice, so I'm assuming all categories will eventually take a hit.

That is very bad news. Scribd has some non fiction that my libraries (FLP and BPL) don't have, that I really want to read. hope they don't get pulled!

[Blossom]

I just sent them a email letting them know how unprofessional they are being. I originally thought they were removing titles no one was reading for better quality but they are removing all titles but most popular ones that just came out.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by booklover6

But I don't read 20-30 SCRIBD books a month. I have a huge number of purchased books, and read library books, also.

I've read about 15+ books a month from Scribd on average, although I still read from the library and my owned books. I lost several hundred books in my Scribd library with the recent purge, but there are still hundreds more--SF, fantasy, YA, general fiction, nonfiction, etc. to keep me busy. Scribd is an extraordinary value to me. I am disappointed that they pulled much of a subgenre I love and that is harder to find in libraries (m/m romance). Yes, in terms of business model they are probably losing money on me. I would pay more than $8.99/month, though not extravagantly so, to keep them in business. That option has not been offered to me, though.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Great....over a dozen ebooks that were available in my library yesterday (i.e. not expiring either) are now marked Not Available. No warning period whatsoever.

I found a number marked Not Available were actually openable with an expiration date in mid-August and should have said expiring. Yet another bug on the Scribd app probably.