Kobo Plus Subscription service hits Canada

[fjtorres]

Well, Canada, anyway...
It was previously only available in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Maybe the US will be next?

From The Digital Reader:

https://the-digital-reader.com/2020/...nada/#comments

More at the source.

Kobo Plus currently offers 270,000 ebooks and audiobooks for which can be read for $9.99 CAD per month. If you would like to sign up, you can find the relevant page on Kobo’s website.

If you are an author who wants to put their books in Kobo Plus, you can do so via Kobo Writing Life or via D2D.

Payment is based on reading time rather than pages read.

https://kobowritinglife.zendesk.com/...ay-publishers-

Each month, we take the total revenue (we'll call that Monthly Revenue) earned from Kobo Plus subscriptions. We also take the total minutes that all subscribers spent reading that month. (Minutes Read). We divide the Monthly Revenue by the Minutes Read, which allows us to assign a monetary value to each minute of reading (let's call it Value per Minute Consumed). This value will fluctuate month to month based on subscriber number and total reading time.

Payout is per 300 minutes. After they take their standard 40% cut.
I suppose they went by time so speed readers can't clean then out?

Not sure how much creators might net but something is better than nothing so it might serve as a replacement for permafree.

So, anybody interested in seeing it in the US?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Well, Canada, anyway...
It was previously only available in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Maybe the US will be next?

From The Digital Reader:

https://the-digital-reader.com/2020/...nada/#comments

More at the source.

Payment is based on reading time rather than pages read.

https://kobowritinglife.zendesk.com/...ay-publishers-

Payout is per 300 minutes. After they take their standard 40% cut.
I suppose they went by time so speed readers can't clean then out?

Not sure how much creators might net but something is better than nothing so it might serve as a replacement for permafree.

So, anybody interested in seeing it in the US?

I just buy my books rather than renting them, even though rental would save me money. So Kobo Plus would be meh for me. But I would like to see Amazon get some competition.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Payment is based on reading time rather than pages read.

Payout is per 300 minutes. After they take their standard 40% cut.
I suppose they went by time so speed readers can't clean then out?

Not sure how much creators might net but something is better than nothing so it might serve as a replacement for permafree.

So, anybody interested in seeing it in the US?

That, and with Kobo's format the page count is a variable. Though I suppose they could have gone by percentage read. Time spent is probably also a better measure of average engagement, speed readers are not the standard after all. Of course 5 hour segments will probably encourage authors to pad out their books to hit average times that are whole multiples of 5hrs.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

That, and with Kobo's format the page count is a variable. Though I suppose they could have gone by percentage read. Time spent is probably also a better measure of average engagement, speed readers are not the standard after all. Of course 5 hour segments will probably encourage authors to pad out their books to hit average times that are whole multiples of 5hrs.

KU uses a standard virtual "page" for payouts. It mostly strips out formatting variability.

The minute count is a rolling tally across multiple books and multiple readers.
If a publisher tallies up, say, 35,787, they'll get paid for 35,500. With the rest to be rolled over to the next month tally. Maybe.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I just buy my books rather than renting them, even though rental would save me money. So Kobo Plus would be meh for me. But I would like to see Amazon get some competition.

Different tastes.

One understimated side effect of these subscriptions is that people can be more adventurous at zero cost, try unknown authors or genres, risk free. And this often results in added sales atop the rental income. And it substitutes for permafree titles that often get downloaded to be read...some day...

Some authors refer to KU as marketing that pays instead of costing.

Obviously it's meanless for the Pattersons and Kings of the world but for unknown newcomers it's a way to build a fanbase. And for readers it's protection against the "three chapter wonders".

On the gaming side, many game publishers are reporting big increases in sales during and shortly after a stint on MS GAME PASS. Games, of course have variable replay value so subscribers not only get to try a game to see what it's like (which could be achieved with a limited demo) but can play it fully and decide if it's sorth buying to replay multiple times (different protagonists, different tactics, etc). Plus subscription members get a discount on purchases. It's working well for everybody: developers, subscribers, and Microsoft.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I just buy my books rather than renting them, even though rental would save me money. So Kobo Plus would be meh for me. But I would like to see Amazon get some competition.

Same here. I suspect even if I could subscribe to the mythical global library that had electric copies of every book every written, I would still buy copies of my favorite authors and books. It would simply mean that I could sample an author first before buying.

[JSWolf]

The topic while not exactly wrong, is very misleading. It makes one thing Kobo Plus is coming to the USA. Please ask a moderator to fix this to say Canada instead of North America.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The topic while not exactly wrong, is very misleading. It makes one thing Kobo Plus is coming to the USA. Please ask a moderator to fix this to say Canada instead of North America.

I think maybe you should fix your thinking to understand that North America factually includes both Canada and the United States. We don't own the whole continent. We just act like we do.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Different tastes.

One understimated side effect of these subscriptions is that people can be more adventurous at zero cost, try unknown authors or genres, risk free. And this often results in added sales atop the rental income. And it substitutes for permafree titles that often get downloaded to be read...some day...

Some authors refer to KU as marketing that pays instead of costing.

Obviously it's meanless for the Pattersons and Kings of the world but for unknown newcomers it's a way to build a fanbase. And for readers it's protection against the "three chapter wonders".

On the gaming side, many game publishers are reporting big increases in sales during and shortly after a stint on MS GAME PASS. Games, of course have variable replay value so subscribers not only get to try a game to see what it's like (which could be achieved with a limited demo) but can play it fully and decide if it's sorth buying to replay multiple times (different protagonists, different tactics, etc). Plus subscription members get a discount on purchases. It's working well for everybody: developers, subscribers, and Microsoft.

I don't disagree with anything you say. I don't think it's a bad business. I think I just enjoy shopping for cheap books.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I think maybe you should fix your thinking to understand that North America factually includes both Canada and the United States. We don't own the whole continent. We just act like we do.

Mexico also counts.

Plus the service is being released in phases.
Are we to start another thread when/if it moves south?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Mexico also counts.

Yeah, depends on how you define North America. It either includes USA and Canada and then there's Central America, or there's USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and so on and so on...

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, depends on how you define North America. It either includes USA and Canada and then there's Central America, or there's USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and so on and so on...

Any northern boundary to Central America seems arbitrary to me, but Cuba is an island.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Any northern boundary to Central America seems arbitrary to me, but Cuba is an island.

So Kobo Plus is in North America now...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I think maybe you should fix your thinking to understand that North America factually includes both Canada and the United States. We don't own the whole continent. We just act like we do.

I know what North America includes. But we already knew Kobo Plus was gong to be in Canada. That's why the title makes one think of America.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Mexico also counts.

Plus the service is being released in phases.
Are we to start another thread when/if it moves south?

No need if the topic is fixed. I am sorely tempted to start a new thread with the correct title.