Barnes & Noble closing all ebook stores except US and UK

[Elswyth]

On the subject of pondering Kobo's short-term future, I do wonder what kind of effect book subscription services will have on them if they don't come up with any kind of unlimited offering like Kindle Unlimited, Oyster or Scribd. I have already been diverting some of my book-buying dollars each month to a Scribd subscription at the expense of purchasing books from Kobo. It will be interesting to see if Kobo develop an unlimited offering or not and whether it turns out to be a good decision either way.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Elswyth

On the subject of pondering Kobo's short-term future, I do wonder what kind of effect book subscription services will have on them if they don't come up with any kind of unlimited offering like Kindle Unlimited, Oyster or Scribd. I have already been diverting some of my book-buying dollars each month to a Scribd subscription at the expense of purchasing books from Kobo. It will be interesting to see if Kobo develop an unlimited offering or not and whether it turns out to be a good decision either way.

Well, the first effect is already here: 900k less titles in the catalog.
So far, no biggie because it was mostly shorts.
But with the new payout regime at KU they'll be losing long form content.
Add in the legacy of the Indiepocalypse and Kobo will be lagging in total catalog size. Also, because of the way KU works, titles will be appearing and disappearing, making the catalog appear inconsistent.

These are not Kobo specific issues but Kobo and Nook will be impacted more than Apple and Google because they have been (slightly) more Indie-friendly. This will be reflected most strongly in the romance and SF&F genres.

So far, KU isn't a big part of the landscape in overall terms but in the Indie side it is: it delivers more revenue to indies than Nook, probably more than all non-Kindle channels combined. And since Indie titles involve a third of all ebook unit sales, that is going to smart.

The competitive environment is not getting any friendlier for epub vendors.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

So far, KU isn't a big part of the landscape in overall terms but in the Indie side it is: it delivers more revenue to indies than Nook, probably more than all non-Kindle channels combined. And since Indie titles involve a third of all ebook unit sales, that is going to smart.

Amazon is also starting to advertise KU more strongly now. Prime Day today, and the first time ever there is a discount on the KU membership when prepaying 6, 12, or 24 months. I grabbed me the 6 month deal. It is too bad that it is only today that you can buy it. I am hoping that they continue to offer it cheaper maybe for Black Friday again.