Kobo Plus ebook subscription service

[John F]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I thought Kindle Unlimited exclusivity means you cannot sell your book anywhere else. Kindle Unlimited books can't be sold for any price in any manner on Kobo or any other store. If books in Kobo plus are not exclusive, I take that to mean that you can still sell your book on Amazon for regular price. That's a big difference.

The Handmaid's Tale is available in both KU and at Kobo.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by John F

The Handmaid's Tale is available in both KU and at Kobo.

The exclusivity thing only applies to self pubbed books (and some of the big time self-pubs might have a separate deal). Books like Handmaid's Tale are from publishers that have a different deal for KU.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by booklover6

What I wonder is, can the books be downloaded to one's computer and side-loaded to a Kobo device, as can be done with Kindle Unlimited books? I, for one, never turn on the wifi on my Kobo devices, especially won't do so now that they have implemented a new home screen for which I do not care.

In the terms linked to in the first post there was this:

Kobo will encrypt all Subscription eBooks using Kobo’s proprietary digital rights management technology and no other method.

so you won't be able to download the books with ADE like you can from a public library or with a book purchased from Kobo, but you should be able to download it to the Kobo desktop application on a PC. I don't know whether you will be able to transfer from the desktop app to an ereader like you can with a purchased book, but I don't see why they would disallow that. You might need up-to-date firmware on your ereader though, they might have only added functions to deal with subscription books recently.

[PeterT]

I think you'll find Kobo Plus needs the 4.3.x firmware

[geek1011]

I found some interesting strings in the firmware about Kobo Plus. See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=283979 at the bottom of the first post.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by geek1011

I found some interesting strings in the firmware about Kobo Plus. See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=283979 at the bottom of the first post.

Very interesting indeed.
It seems Kobo is using Overdrive's library infrastructure which makes sense since both are owned by Rakuten. But since Overdrive is a B2B operator it would also make sense for them to provide the same services for other players, both on the ebookstore and hardware side. (They already provide turnkey services for generic ADEPT stores.)

So the current limited Kobo Plus operation could be not just a Pilot for broader Kobo deployments but also as a demonstrator to potential Overdrive customers.

Suddenly, the stakes are a lot higher. If the business model proves profitable we might see a horde of regional or genre-specific subscription services. If it doesn't...

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Suddenly, the stakes are a lot higher. If the business model proves profitable we might see a horde of regional or genre-specific subscription services. If it doesn't...

Such as Harlequin, who already uses OD for their eBook store.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Such as Harlequin, who already uses OD for their eBook store.

Yup.
I had them in mind.
Don't know if they still do the monthly paperback subscriptions but they could rake it in if they were willing to do an ebook subscription service off their remaining backlist.

Anothor likely suspect would be Gateway.