> On Oyster, once a person reads more than 10 percent of the book, it is officially considered “read.” Oyster then has to pay the publisher a standard wholesale fee.
This article also talks about the "Sizzler Problem." Oyster costs $10/mo, so they basically have to hope that, on aggregate, people won't read more than that in cost of wholesale fees. It'd be really interesting to look at their actual numbers against Spotify and the other companies with a similar model. According to the article, only 2% of users read more than 10 books a month.
I'd imagine that the % of users that actually "cost" them money couldn't be more than ~5-10% of their entire subscriber-base. Anyone have any insight into this?
I don't have any insight, but I'm curious myself. How exactly do you compete with Amazon here? Considering Kindle, free wireless delivery, free classics, market power, etc, etc.. Competition also comes in the form of libraries.
Top comment: "Clearly you guys have a business model and a product you're selling. If I can't even rely on you guys being in business long-term, what can I do? But you guys have built an amazing product! Keep up the good work!"
I can't agree with this more, especially when it comes to ebooks. I've been mightily disappointed in the way public libraries have adopted Overdrive, which is - and this burns me - technology put in place to make consuming ebooks more difficult, and to charge libraries exorbitant fees at the same time.
I used to live in Arlington, Virginia, and while getting overdrive set up was a nightmare, actually checking books out was really easy.
I now live in New York, and frankly the New York Public Library's process for checking out e-books is so confusing that I can't figure out how to use it most of the time. It's just a better use of my time to just go ahead and buy the damn thing.
I am paying something similar per month for safari service from Oreilly ( mostly tech books). I would gladly switch to a service that offers a wider range of books .
I am Oyster subscriber. Their app is pleasant to use. I do miss a little more organization, but I am fine with it overall.
It is heavily curated ie. you get a lot of suggestions. And since they have rather limited selection, this is great. I managed to read through 3 books already and have a queue of several. I noticed that some were from Gutenberg project, so I guess they will not have to pay for those.
Overall I like experience and will continue to use, as well as Amazon and piratebay and other services to get myself books.
Only thing that might turn me off is, they have limited selection, but they can remedy that while I am going through books already available.
I really need them to come up with good Android app.
More, I like to read and once I start to read a good story, it is hard to stop, so them curating helps a great deal.
It is not that great with SF, it is more my heroic efforts that found some SF to be read. I hope they will use money to get more.
Also, I would say, some social aspects where you can discuss books you want to read or just read, would be nice. I am member of goodreads and frankly, I am tempted by promise of them being integrated into newer kindles. I have rather old one (like a year or two :) )
When i was a nerdy little boy, had someone asked me what I'd do with 1 million dollar, I might have answered I would build a huge library, because nothing is as awesome as a great library.
Today, I have the biggest encyclopedia humankind ever made with me all the time, my university gives me access to the most recent research in my field from anywhere in the world, and for a tiny fraction of my income I get all the great music, all the movies (okay, some work needed there), and soon the almighty library I dreamed of as a child. These are wonderful times we life in.
What makes a great library great is the selection of which books to include and which to exclude. Amazon reviews aside, access to everything is only the first and a less significant step toward achieving your dream.
I am concerned about a Spotify-style situation arising with these subscription reading services, in which platform operators and powerful middlemen reap the profits while content creators get the scraps (1). GigaOm found that both Scribd and Oyster have been vague about the payouts for authors (2), and this new article by the NY Times doesn't clear up the uncertainty.
Subscriber here. I think paying the $10 a month provides another incentive for me to read. I don't know if I am getting $10 worth of material to read each month, i.e. finishing about half a book every month, but it sure has increased the amount of reading I do since I started using the service.
I'm really having a hard time with this product. It's basically taking something that exists for free...a library...and repackaging it as an app.
Now don't get me wrong I admire a nicely designed product just as much as the next person but how is this worth $10 alone?
I can literally subscribe to an RSS feed that gives me free ebooks daily[1]. Granted they aren't always the best reads but they are free. Aside from that I can go to the local library and checkout any physical book I want for free.
I think a much better product would be monthly unlimited audio books. Like spotify combined with audible. Now that I would pay for.
Seems like a great service, it would be a no-brainer for me to sign up if they had a bigger non-fiction selection. Not just business, but foreign language, tech, science, etc. Maybe they have this already, but I didn't even see a non-fiction category. Am I missing something, and if not are there any good reasons why non-fiction doesn't feature more prominently in the selection?
27 comments
[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 57.3 ms ] threadvia: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/technology/as-new-services...
This article also talks about the "Sizzler Problem." Oyster costs $10/mo, so they basically have to hope that, on aggregate, people won't read more than that in cost of wholesale fees. It'd be really interesting to look at their actual numbers against Spotify and the other companies with a similar model. According to the article, only 2% of users read more than 10 books a month.
I'd imagine that the % of users that actually "cost" them money couldn't be more than ~5-10% of their entire subscriber-base. Anyone have any insight into this?
Don't take a negative reaction as the be all and end all when you present something to people.
1) If anyone considers feedback on Hacker News to be an overall indicator of future success then I worry for them deeply
2) Getting funded is not 'success'. It is a step on the way to success.
Top comment: "Clearly you guys have a business model and a product you're selling. If I can't even rely on you guys being in business long-term, what can I do? But you guys have built an amazing product! Keep up the good work!"
I'd love to see homebrew projects like this one be successful: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24567880/douglas-county-mo...
http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/sep13/Sendze_Van-Court--Own-...
I used to live in Arlington, Virginia, and while getting overdrive set up was a nightmare, actually checking books out was really easy.
I now live in New York, and frankly the New York Public Library's process for checking out e-books is so confusing that I can't figure out how to use it most of the time. It's just a better use of my time to just go ahead and buy the damn thing.
42.99 per month after trial ... as per Safari site
or limited to 10 titles ($27.99/mo after first 6 Months)
It is heavily curated ie. you get a lot of suggestions. And since they have rather limited selection, this is great. I managed to read through 3 books already and have a queue of several. I noticed that some were from Gutenberg project, so I guess they will not have to pay for those.
Overall I like experience and will continue to use, as well as Amazon and piratebay and other services to get myself books.
Only thing that might turn me off is, they have limited selection, but they can remedy that while I am going through books already available.
I really need them to come up with good Android app.
It is not that great with SF, it is more my heroic efforts that found some SF to be read. I hope they will use money to get more.
Also, I would say, some social aspects where you can discuss books you want to read or just read, would be nice. I am member of goodreads and frankly, I am tempted by promise of them being integrated into newer kindles. I have rather old one (like a year or two :) )
Today, I have the biggest encyclopedia humankind ever made with me all the time, my university gives me access to the most recent research in my field from anywhere in the world, and for a tiny fraction of my income I get all the great music, all the movies (okay, some work needed there), and soon the almighty library I dreamed of as a child. These are wonderful times we life in.
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/09/26/161758720/how-...
2. http://gigaom.com/2013/10/01/scribd-moves-beyond-document-sh...
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/31/4575506/spotify-doubled-re...
Now don't get me wrong I admire a nicely designed product just as much as the next person but how is this worth $10 alone?
I can literally subscribe to an RSS feed that gives me free ebooks daily[1]. Granted they aren't always the best reads but they are free. Aside from that I can go to the local library and checkout any physical book I want for free.
I think a much better product would be monthly unlimited audio books. Like spotify combined with audible. Now that I would pay for.
1.) http://www.freebooksifter.com/
I used to defend paper books, until I started reading a 10 lb textbook and having to lug it all over the city in my backpack.