I’ve watched Scribd evolve over the years from this cool place where you could post some of your content and get new eyeballs on it, to this place that was basically an illegal download zone, to this cutting edge new site where you could subscribe to a book membership that is pretty much like subscribing to Netflix.
It was interesting to see the site move and change with the times…but just when I was going to dip my toe in the subscription model waters Scribd announces that it is going to take a blunt cut to most of it’s romance titles. The reason? Romance readers read too many books and Scribd pays authors full price per book, not via a lump fund like Amazon KDP.
Scribd will be keeping a few of it’s Romance titles, especially if they are full-length novels and are under 3.99– even more so if they’re free (like series starters). [I don’t know this for sure, but that’s what the powers that be are saying about the selection process.]
I think it’s a shame that romance authors are being penalized because our readers read a lot, but I get it. Scribd needs to pay the bills and romance readers are probably breaking the bank.
This is definitely something to keep an eye on in general in the marketplace. Will the subscription model be able to remain standing, because I would guess that many of Scribd’s subscribers are romance readers.