Scribd, which recently changed its business model, is adding more than 6,000 titles from Macmillan to its subscription e-book service. The addition of the Macmillan titles come on the heels of Scribd's move to a hybrid subscription model.
Among the titles being added are Matthew Quick’s Silver Lininngs Playbook and Richard Price’s Lush life. Nonfiction titles include Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat and George Packer’s Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.
Under Scribd’s revised business model, monthly subscribers will be allowed to read three premium e-books and listen to one audiobook every month from the entire Scribd library. Subscribers will also be allowed to read an unlimited number of titles and audiobooks from a separate inventory called Scribd Selects, which is a rotating selection of titles picked by Scribd from a variety of big, small and independent publishers.
Scribd CEO Trip Adler said the new hybrid subscription model will likely begin this month, once Scribd's new app is approved by the App Store.
Adler acknowledged that under the service’s new hybrid model, the three premium monthly titles will be “higher quality” titles, including some frontlist titles and bestsellers from Big Five publishers. Titles eligible for unlimited reading from Scribd Selects will include some self-published works, though Adler said that subscribers can expect a “blending” of different kinds of titles in both offerings.
Adler said Scribd’s subscribers continue to grow year over year. This is the third time Macmillan has increased the number of its titles available on Scribd, Adler said. “It shows that publishers like Scribd and the distribution, the longtail reach and the revenue we provide.”
Correction: An earlier version of the Scribd hybrid model was incorrect. Monthly subscribers will be allowed to read three e-books and one audiobook picked from the entire Scribd library.
