Riding on the momentum of Amazon's Kindle, Scribd has launched an e-book store where authors can upload and sell their written works to a readership of 60 million. The company also plans to further extend its reach with an iPhone application to give buyers access to documents across multiple platforms.
The beta version of the Scribd Store expands the social-publishing company's library of free original documents to include for-purchase works. Publishers set their own prices and receive 80 percent of the revenue.
Prices for content  currently range from $1 for a graphic novel to $5,000 for an in-depth China market-research report. Sellers can also choose Scribd's automatic pricing option, which bases costs on an analysis of similar items in the store.
"Our goal has always been to democratize the publishing process for everyday people who have so many great ideas to share," said Trip Adler, Scribd CEO and cofounder. "Adding e-commerce capability gives all our users -- professional and nonprofessional publishers -- even more options in recessionary times, when every dollar counts."
In the Seller's Seat
A wide range of written works is already available on Scribd, including recipes, articles, novels and research reports. At launch, the Scribd Store includes works such as never-before-released novels from best-selling authors Tamim Ansary, Joe Quirk and Kemble Scott, and Tim O'Reilly. It also includes an available-before-print edition of Sarah Milstein's The Twitter Book and books from the World Bank and Lonely Planet, among many others.
Sellers can decide to sell whole documents, a chapter, an exact selection of pages, or installments. They can also choose whether to serialize their books for $1 per chapter. For example, instead of having to purchase a country guide, travelers can buy a stand-alone city chapter from Lonely Planet. Documents can be read on Scribd.com, downloaded to a PC, printed or made accessible through Web-enabled mobile phones.
"The Scribd Store has the potential to revolutionize book publishing by allowing readers the opportunity to pay only for the content they need -- a model that offers real value in this down economy," said Johanna Vondeling, vice president of editorial and digital at Berrett-Koehler Publishers. "It also gives book publishers a promising new marketplace to sell short and unique content, as we are doing with our new Fast Fundamentals whitepaper series." (continued...)
|
