Scribd, the digital reading subscription service, announced the hiring of Charlie Schroder, who has been named head of domestic content acquisition and new verticals, and Liz Edelstein, who was appointed director of original content strategy and operations.
In her new position Schroder will oversee the acquisition of premium domestic content and work to create partnerships with publishers in an effort to attract new readers. Before joining Scribd, Schroder worked in executive roles at Candlewick Press, and at the Tokyo –based talent agency Creek & River.
Edelstein will be responsible for managing the creation of original content, including works produced via Scribd Originals, a new content program that will publish exclusive works by bestselling authors. Before joining Scribd Edelstein worked to create the Heroes & Heartbreakers romance website for Macmillan publishing; and she has worked for Bookspan’s Doubleday Book Club in addition to being a novelist.
Scribd v-p, content acquisition and strategy Andrew Weinstein described the hires as “two accomplished leaders who have worked with some of the biggest brands in the world.” Weinstein said they will “bolster our catalog and deepen our relationships with our partners."
A spokesperson said Scribd has had double-digit growth since the pandemic hit in mid-March. Scribd readers across the globe spent over 600,000 hours reading e-books and audiobooks during the first week of shelter in place and sign-ups during the week of March 16 increased by more than times in the U.S. compared to the week prior, the spokesperson said.
The trend towards more reading continued into April as time spent reading on the platform remained high and Scribd saw a significant increase in both e-book and audiobook reading time, when compared to April 2019.
