Scribd

[L J]

Lack of Penguin Random House may not be an issue for many readers. When MacMillan limited library availability of new ebooks I looked at my recent and forthcoming books wish list. Out of over 100 there was only one and not one I buy as ebook. Along with others I will wait out the 8 week restriction that applies to libraries before buying the book. Another hardback book is not something I really need so may just skip it. I can listen to audio an call it done.

[Andrea]

Faith wrote: "Penguin Random House books are no longer on Scribd

https://the-digital-reader.com/2020/0..."

Thanks for letting us know. Now I know why earlier this month I looked for a book that I wanted last month as my second book, but it was already not available, just disappeared this month. All her books were removed.

Two books I’m currently listening to won’t be available next month. One was removed while I was on chapter 6, but I did get it back.

Losing Penguin is huge for me. I’m so bummed. I keep my Scribd want to read list off line so no free month for me. I will probably be canceling in a month or two.

[Margo]

Wow! Thank Faith, thats a biggie. I wish I understood that statement.

Are they going to make pull out of all subscription based services? What about libraries - that would be very bad publicity but I've always wondered haw that works with intellectual rights? Maybe they will an exclusive deal with Amazon? Would Amazon do that just to kill competition?

[Janet]

Penguin Random House has a lot of imprints. Just out of curiosity I looked at 3 books I planned to listen to next month.
Such a Fun Age
Dear Edward
Long Bright River

None of them are available. I'll have to think long and hard whether this membership is worth it anymore.

[Andrea]

Here’s the question... why are they pulling out? Are they not making enough money or losing money? If they were making money would they leave? Are they pulling everything? Are they starting their own service? The questions are important because the answers tell us what may happen in the future to Scribd.

I listen to a bunch of their authors and I’m really disappointed. Some of my most anticipated listens are gone. I try to balance them by month. I would have listened to them sooner had I known. Now they are already gone.

Here’s some popular PRH authors:

Laura Hillenbrand
Stuart Woods
Janet Evanovich
Lee Child
Jojo Moyes
Debbie Macomber
Tom Clancy
John Green
Ruta Sepetys
Meg Cabot
John Sanford
Sophie Kinsella
Nancy Thayer
Philip Pullman
Ransom Riggs
Chloe Neill
Holly Black
Morgan Rhodes
Danielle Steel
John Grisham

I’ve also noticed that HarperCollins has pulled some authors as well.

[Janet]

Andrea wrote: "Here’s the question... why are they pulling out? Are they not making enough money or losing money? If they were making money would they leave? Are they pulling everything? Are they starting their o..."

That is the question. It's frustrating to me because it seems that publishers (starting with Macmillan & e-books) are moving towards making books less accessible thinking that people will then have to pay more for them when in reality what I believe will happen is that people will actually read less. I know my budget doesn't allow for everything that I want to read....and I sample a lot of things that I ultimately do not read. This is taking away my choice. I sincerely hope that Audible doesn't eliminate their return policy or I'm going to be in deep trouble.

[L J]

Good e-Reader has an article about this.
https://goodereader.com/blog/digital-...

[Robin P]

My guess is that Audible is big enough that the publishers will stay with them. Maybe costs will go up someday though. There is another thread about the issues libraries are having with restrictions from certain publishers.

[Andrea]

L J wrote: "Good e-Reader has an article about this.
https://goodereader.com/blog/digital-..."
Any money would be better then none when it comes to less popular, flops and older audiobooks. So my thought was that if they are not starting a streaming service they would leave older and less successful titles on Scribd. The entire John Grisham catalog is gone and the same for several other very successful authors. There were a few oddball titles left behind and some in German. I really became suspicious when all of Karen Harper’s titles were removed, but she has some semi-flops on Audible Escape. She is small potatoes compared to Grisham and others. We will be able to better guess what is happening next month.

They most likely would keep titles on regular Audible at least to begin with although they could cherry pick? They certainly should be removing titles from Audible Escape as that’s the other Netflix like audio streaming service. So listen to the PRH titles ASAP.

We already have too many video streaming services and adding audiobooks...uff da!

[Andrea]

Janet wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Here’s the question... why are they pulling out? Are they not making enough money or losing money? If they were making money would they leave? Are they pulling everything? Are they s..."

I will miss sampling PRH on Scribd. I love the often long sample time. It makes my subscription more valuable when books are not available until the next billing period. I can plan better.

I also believe people will read less. For me, I enjoy paying authors as often as I can. So even if my library had the audiobook I would listen on Scribd when I could.

[Whitney]

Contrarius wrote: "A further note -- Scribd sent me a message that some of the books (five of them, out of a couple hundred) in my "saved" lists were going to be unavailable as of the middle of next month (like movie..."

I got an email like that but it didn't seem to mention anything about a free month. I wish they'd give all customers the same perks. Audible does this also.

[Gail]

I have taken advantage Scribd's offer of a free month. I am listening to my 1st book and can't figure out why it stops for long periods of time between chapters. No matter how I poke it, I can't wake it up until it's ready. So strange. Thanks for any help. Stay safe, everyone.

[Andrea]

Gail wrote: "I have taken advantage Scribd's offer of a free month. I am listening to my 1st book and can't figure out why it stops for long periods of time between chapters. No matter how I poke it, I can't wa..."

I’ve had a few audiobooks with long pauses between chapters. I think it was a production issue, but still very annoying. I haven’t had any problems with the Scribd player. You might want to contact Scribd support. I hope you are still able to enjoy the book.

[Whitney]

noticed that I got throttled less this month. It was my first month really using the subscription in a few months. I'd just been to busy. hopefully this means that they've finally fixed it to be more unlimited. :)

[Contrarius]

I just discovered the extra "perks" that go along with a Scribd membership. None of them are astounding or anything, but they certainly add extra value to a Scribd membership:

https://www.scribd.com/account-settin...

1. Free subscription to Pandora Plus
2. Free subscription to TuneIn Premium
3. Free subscription to Peak Pro (mind puzzles)
4. Free subscription to Mubi (indie films)
5. Free subscription to Curiosity Stream (educational, documentary)
6. Free subscription to ConTV+Comics
7. Free subscription to FarFaria (kid's books)

I subscribed to most of them yesterday. For free, why not?

[Andrea]

Contrarius wrote: "I just discovered the extra "perks" that go along with a Scribd membership. None of them are astounding or anything, but they certainly add extra value to a Scribd membership:

https://www.scribd.c..."

Wow, I had no idea. Thanks.

[Anya]

Wonderful! I think Peak is very good but the free version was too limiter..thanks Andrea!