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Old 02-22-2017, 08:04 AM   #1
fjtorres
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Kobo Plus ebook subscription service

Kobo is launching an ebook subscription service modeled on Kindle Unlimited version 1.0; payout comes from a pool funded by subscription fees and is triggered when the reader hits 20%.

The digital reader blog has the news:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2017/0...ice-kobo-plus/

...And the Terms of Service on the publisher side:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2017/0...-funding-pool/

Lots of blanks (subscriber TOS for one) to be filled in but at last some news worth chewing on.
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Old 02-22-2017, 08:11 AM   #2
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First thought; Nate makes a big deal about Kobo not requiring exclusivity but I see it as a moot point. Kindle Unlimited does so any book on Kobo plus will by default be Kobo "exclusive" since none of the other major ebookstores have subscription services and the few startup subscription services have minimal presence and are likely to be steam-rolled by Kobo.

(It's similar to how most Nintendo Wii games were de-facto exclusives simply because the control system had to be tailored for the waggle wands. So being on Wii precluded being on XBOX or PlayStation.)

Unless their TOS are too restrictive, Kobo plus should do pretty well in the near term.

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Old 02-22-2017, 08:22 AM   #3
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It seems that payout will be proportional to the list price of each book. This gives author/publishers an incentive to price their books high. Of course doing so means that they are unlikely to make any sales outside of the subscription service.
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Old 02-22-2017, 08:31 AM   #4
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Unfortunately they will likely suffer all the problems of KU. Their terms actually talk about payment on the basis of reported pages read. They appear to have a 20% threshold triggering payment. KU tried a similar system which was rorted badly. I'm looking forward to seeing h0w they measure reads and keep the rorting under control.
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Old 02-22-2017, 08:46 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by jhowell View Post
It seems that payout will be proportional to the list price of each book. This gives author/publishers an incentive to price their books high. Of course doing so means that they are unlikely to make any sales outside of the subscription service.
I interpreted that as more along the lines of "tradpubbers are welcome" and "some animals are more equal" since, unless you are a scammer (rorter?), sales are going to be your primary revenue stream. Especially early on.
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Old 02-22-2017, 09:24 AM   #6
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Triggers payment at 20% read? Pays list price? They will be flooded with overpriced porn shorts. Just like KU did in its first variation. This is even worse as they would pay by list price so not only can they pump in the porn shorts, they get to set what they get paid then by pricing high.

I remember all the 10-20 page garbage porns that were all over KU which is why I had to cancel my subscription. Until they changed it to actual pages read then I re-subscribed.
I am sure all those shorts are still laying around in the drawers. On Amazon they just packed them into sets and flooded the store again with them.
There they can just take them apart again and rake in the dough. They don't care about actual sales. They can price their stuff 4.99 and one only has to read like 2 pages and kaching.

I say good luck. Trade publishers aren't going to want to be in there with that in mind. Now if they did manage that, I might even look into buying a low end Kobo just for a subscription. If they could get trade publishers like Scribd has.

It will be fun to watch authors obsess yet about another service like they already do about KU payouts each month.
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Old 02-22-2017, 09:43 AM   #7
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Triggers payment at 20% read?
Pays list price?

They will be flooded with overpriced porn shorts. Just like KU did in its first variation.
1- yes.
2- no.
3- maybe yes, maybe no.

Payouts will be tied to the list price but it is doubtful they will equal the list price. Not even Oyster was that clueless.
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Old 02-22-2017, 09:51 AM   #8
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My understanding is that like Kindle Unlimited there will be a fixed pot based on the number of paying subscribers. It will be divvied up proportional to the number of (at least 20%) reads times the list price.

I agree about the potential for scamming in this sort of system. It will be interesting to see how they manage it.


ETA: Was it already known that Kobo tracks your reading?

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Old 02-22-2017, 10:07 AM   #9
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Yes, they've bragged about the data they collect at least once a year for sever l years now.
Remember all the stories about THE GOLDFINCH being the least-finished book of the year? That's where that data came from.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=252963

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases...516594371.html

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Old 02-22-2017, 11:31 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres View Post
1- yes.
2- no.
3- maybe yes, maybe no.

Payouts will be tied to the list price but it is doubtful they will equal the list price. Not even Oyster was that clueless.
Yeah, they could never sustain that. Scribd had to totally restructure and basically not only push out romance readers, but also making stuff harder to find.
But even if its not list price, if they have a set pot like KU had for a percentage read, they are going to have the same issues. I remember KU ranged in the $1.20 per 10 percentage read. Folks started pumping out shorts like crazy. 100's of them. Lots of so called serialized chunks of story. Write a few pages, put it up, couple pages read and they got paid. Even if its a $, it adds up. While those with actual novels and books got screwed.

I expect they have to adept just like KU did. I can't read kobo stuff on my devices anyway, so I would have to go out and buy a kobo. I'd only do that if it wasn't all shorts and I can't find anything.

But I like seeing other companies at least trying. In the end though its all about content. Good content. Quality over quantity. And Amazon sells all kinds of other stuff to KU readers. Kobo just has books.
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Old 02-22-2017, 02:20 PM   #11
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Some answers via the Netherlands' bol.com and google translate:

https://translate.googleusercontent....-OKhtuln3neojA

https://translate.google.com/transla...t-e-books.html

€9.99 per month, unlimited reads off a library of 40,000 titles (16,000 in Dutch), first month free. Library expected to double by end of 2017.

Other countries to follow, one hopes.
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Old 02-22-2017, 07:24 PM   #12
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Just to be clear, they are not paying list price. They take list price for each book and multiply it by the number of times read to come up with a value for the books reads during the month. They then use the proportion of this value to the value of all the books read in the month and use it to divide the pot. So let's say for the months the value of all reads is 1000 books x $5 list price per book, so $5,000. However, the total subscriptions for the month are only $1,000. An authors book has a $5 list price and is read 10 times so the value of reads is $50. The authors proportion of the fund is $50 divided by $5,000, or 1%. So they receive 1% x $1,000 x 60%, or $6. If the pool matched the total value of books read ($5,000) the author's share would then be the equivalent of a royalty of 60% of list price ($30).

This is one of the strengths of the program, since Kobo has limited its costs. It will not suffer the fate of Oyster, Scribd etc at the hands of the large publishers. It basically takes the pool of subscriptions in a region for a month, takes 40% as its share and then divides the rest amongst the authors in proportion to the "value" of their reads to total reads. One advantage to their authors will be that the pool of funds is the total subscriptions. It is not, like KU, an amount determined by Amazon each month in some mysterious fashion. It is in an authors interest to inflate their list price, so Kobo will have to watch this. There is also the potential for authors to share with Kobo in a windfall if total subscriptions exceed the value of books read, though I doubt this is very likely.

I applaud Kobo for giving it a try, if only because I like to see some competition. Sadly, I do think it is going to be rorted.
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Old 02-22-2017, 08:42 PM   #13
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Old 02-23-2017, 08:37 AM   #14
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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.
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Old 02-23-2017, 06:30 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres View Post
First thought; Nate makes a big deal about Kobo not requiring exclusivity but I see it as a moot point. Kindle Unlimited does so any book on Kobo plus will by default be Kobo "exclusive" since none of the other major ebookstores have subscription services and the few startup subscription services have minimal presence and are likely to be steam-rolled by Kobo.

(It's similar to how most Nintendo Wii games were de-facto exclusives simply because the control system had to be tailored for the waggle wands. So being on Wii precluded being on XBOX or PlayStation.)

Unless their TOS are too restrictive, Kobo plus should do pretty well in the near term.
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.
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