Since its inception, Everand (the reading subscription service previously known as Scribd) has offered an unlimited, all-the-books-you-can-consume model at one price (with a few exceptions along the way). Now, subscribers to Everand will be moved next year to a credit-based model for digital book consumption. While unlimited access to magazines, podcasts, and a select catalog of digital books will continue, the new standard plan ($11.99) will include access to one premium title monthly, while a higher-priced plan ($16.99) will offer access to three premium titles. Everand’s catalog was always limited in that it didn’t offer much in the way of Big Five new releases, but that will now change.
At Book Riot, Rebecca Joines Schinsky notes, “Scribd has not said whether the changes to its model are a result or condition of negotiations with the Big Five, but it’s a reasonable assumption given their history of reticence to license titles for all-you-can-read services. (Old heads will remember the mini-boom in the mid-2010s of ‘Netflix for ebooks’ startups, all of which struggled to deliver on their value proposition because the Big Five, when they agreed to participate at all, held back their most appealing titles out of concern for the bottom line.) This is the fundamental tension of ebook subscription platforms: You can have unlimited access to a limited catalog, or you can have limited access to a wider selection of titles.”
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
