Will Scribd's Partnership with HarperCollins help Publishers?

Will Scribd's Partnership with HarperCollins help Publishers?

Scribd has become the Netflix for books. The social publishing service yesterday announced its partnership with a major publisher, HarperCollins, to carry a majority of HarperCollins US and HarperCollins Christian’s publications through its subscription service. This partnership will allow users to read unlimited books with an $8.99 monthly subscription fee. That said, readers will not have access to the latest HarperColions publications. Instead, they will have to purchase the newest books individually.
 

Book writers are facing the same fate as traditional publishers where digital media consumption has increased significantly while print publications have continued to face a downward spiral. This drop has caused numerous writers to suffer financially. According to a 2012 The Guardian article, many self-publishing writers earned merely an average of $10,000 last year with half of them making less than $500. And although writers have tried to boost their revenues through digital distributions, they have not seen rich returns. According to The Washington Post, e-Books sales only grew by 5% in the first quarter of 2013, which is significantly lower than the 28% in Q1 2012.  Moreover, this decline is a result of e-Books passing their explosive growth phase and eventually reaching it mature stage. With that in mind, it’ll be interesting to see if writers can boost their sales through Scribd’s recent partnership with HarperCollins.

Read the whole article at TechCrunch.


 


Head Office

#113-3855 Henning Drive
Burnaby,
BC V5C 6N3 Canada

Phone

Toll Free
in North America: 1-888-407-6937
Tel: 604.473.9700
Fax: 604.473.9080

Email

support@smartt.com

# Social media

Get a free proposal

Name