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 For a monthly fee of about $10, Oyster and Scribd will allow
bookworms to instantly browse and read ebooks through smartphone and
tablet apps and to download them for offline reading.
"We see ourselves as the world's digital library. You can read
whatever you want without having to make a payment every time you
read," said Trip Adler, the co-founder and CEO of Scribd, based in
San Francisco.
Eric Stromberg, the head of New-York based Oyster, said part of the
appeal is being able to digitally browse through books as readers do
in a bookstore or library.
"With books there is a strong precedence for people enjoying the
browsing experience," Stromberg said. "When you go into bookstore
you might browse 10 pages before committing to read all the way
through. We're trying to replicate that experience."
Oyster is available for iPad and iPhone in the United States, and
readers worldwide can get Scribd on iOS, Android and the web. Both
apps offer one-month free trials.
The apps also give recommendations for books based on reading habits
and connect with social media apps such as Facebook to show which
books friends are reading and their ratings.
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin and Coach House are among hundreds
of publishers that have teamed up with companies to make their
titles available on apps.
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Stromberg said the appeal for publishers is that the apps lower the
barriers to starting a new book.
"We're getting people to read more books and engage with books they
might not otherwise have read," he said. "It's about all those other
books you're sampling. The question we always ask people is, 'How
many books have you heard about and didn't pick up?'"
The apps face competition from Amazon's Kindle Owners' Lending
Library, which has more than 350,000 titles. Kindle device owners in
the United States and other countries can access the library with an
Amazon Prime subscription that costs about $79 a year.
More libraries also are allowing people to borrow ebooks for free.
Despite the increasingly easy access to ebooks, Stromberg and Adler
believe they will not replace printed books.
"I still love buying print books. With certain books I might read
print and might read ebooks for the others and that's really
representative of how a lot (of people) like to read," Stromberg
said. "I see a future where it's not mutually exclusive."
Adler also doubts there will ever be a complete switch to ebooks.
"Even CDs and records are coming back," he said.
[By Natasha Baker]
(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Bill Trott)
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