Scribd Revises Its Subscription Model

By Andrew Albanese
16 2016

Scribd this week announced a change to its subscription service

that executives say will enable the company to expand and offer a
wider variety of titles.

Under the new plan, Scribd's subscription service will essentially

be a hybrid offering. Monthly subscribers will be issued Monthly
Read credits that will enable them to read three e-books and one
audiobook every month from the full Scribd library, while still
being able to read an unlimited number of books from Scribd
Selects, a rotating selection of titles. There will be no change in
the services $8.99 monthly price. In addition, monthly users will
be able to roll over unused credits, so that those who read less
than three books in a month can read more titles in subsequent
months.

In terms of what goes into the limited and unlimited offerings,

titles will be chosen based on terms reached with publishing
partners, as well as seasonal and topical relevance as determined
by the Scribd merchandising team. Titles will rotate on a monthly
basis.

The new terms will go into effect sometime in mid-March,

although no exact date has been set. Scribd executives said
subscribers will get at least 30 days notice before the new model
goes into effect.

The changes come as subscription services revamp after the high

profile collapse of subscription service Oyster last year. In July of
last year, Scribd also announced that it would scale back its
offering in certain genres, including romance, where voracious
power readers were consuming titles at an unsustainable rate.

Scribd CEO Trip Adler says that the company decided to make the
change only after reaching out to Scribd users for feedback, and
noted that Scribds data shows that 97% of its customers read
less than three books per month, and will likely not be negatively
affected by the change.
Last fall, the company debuted a similar hybrid model for
audiobooks.
Adler told PW that the subscription service is doing well, and is
growing. In December, the company announced three new
categories to its e-book subscription service: sheet music;
science, technical and medical titles; and Sesame Street titles.