Oyster vs Scribd

2024. Scribd rebrands as Everand



Scribd, that erstwhile haven for the bibliophiles, file-sharers, and audiobook aficionados of the cosmos, has undergone one of those grand existential makeovers, emerging with the curious new moniker Everand. Where once stood three familiar empires—Everand, Scribd, and SlideShare—each politely minding its own, now lies a singular, unified universe beneath the Everand banner. However, the company’s wizards have assured users that, in a sort of quantum way, everything will appear exactly the same. Yes, their login details and billing artifacts still hold up, and from the user's vantage point, the whole affair should feel remarkably ordinary. Just one grand, universal Everand, orbiting itself quietly as if nothing at all had happened.


2018. Scribd reintroduced unlimited audiobooks and eBooks



Scribd has reinstated an unlimited audiobook and ebook subscription service. This allows users to read as many ebooks, magazines, newspapers, sheet music and audiobooks as they wish each month while remaining a subscriber. Casual readers who consume a few books per month from major publishers will find Scribd's service appealing. However, avid readers may encounter restrictions—not in a literal sense, of course. After reaching a certain number of titles, users will lose access to the full Scribd catalog and will only be able to read from a restricted selection. The exact threshold for this limitation is not specified. Amazon Kindle Unlimited serves as Scribd's main competitor but is available only in select regions and lacks many titles from major publishers.


2017. Scribd removes digital comics



Scribd is no longer providing digital comics on their platform and has removed over a thousand single issues and graphic novels. The company found it economically unviable to pay the substantial royalties for each comic read and chose to suspend the service rather than attempting to make it viable. Scribd has faced several challenges in recent years, despite many of their competitors leaving the market. They initially removed over 225,000 romance and self-published e-books from their platform and later announced cuts to their audiobook system due to financial losses. They discontinued their unlimited audiobook plan and now subscribers can only access one title per month. In 2016, they shifted their business model from an unlimited service to a credit-based system.


2016. Scribd is limiting the number of e-books you can read



Starting this March, Scribd subscribers will receive Monthly Read credits that will allow them to read three e-books and one audiobook each month from the entire Scribd library, while still having access to an unlimited number of books from Scribd Selects, a rotating collection of titles. The company reports that 97% of its users read fewer than three books per month and are unlikely to be adversely affected by the change. The unlimited e-book subscription model is not a sustainable business strategy and many companies in this space have shut down. Entitle and Oyster raised a hundred million dollars over the years but were unable to make the concept succeed.


2015. E-Book subscription service Oyster to shut down



Oyster, which debuted its “Netflix for books” app two years ago, has announced in a blog post that it will shut down the service by early 2016. If you have bought a book or are an Oyster Unlimited subscriber, you will receive an email about your account in the coming weeks. You will still be able to access and read purchased books indefinitely. Oyster Unlimited was priced at $9.95 a month, with Scribd being its primary competitor when it launched in September 2013. Competition intensified further when Amazon introduced its own e-book subscription service in July 2014. Despite launching with a challenging business model in a market dominated by a single player, Oyster's app distinguished itself from Kindle with features such as its user interface, curated book lists, essays and extensive selection.


2015. Scribd acquired social reading app Librify



Ebook subscription startup Scribd has acquired Librify, a social reading app, the companies announced today. In a brief press release, Scribd claims that Librify’s “emphasis on the social reading experience” made the acquisition worthwhile. The news comes at a competitive time for the publishing industry, as Amazon, Oyster and others vie to be the ultimate Netflix for books — all while offering remarkably similar products. Scribd intends to integrate the start-up’s social features to enhance its own platform with a more robust social e-reading experience. “We appreciate Librify’s focus on the social reading experience and the impressive work they’ve done within reading communities,” Scribd co-founder and CEO Trip Adler said in a statement today. “This acquisition is a natural extension of the existing Scribd product and something we and our readers, have been eager to explore further.”


2015. Oyster adds light-adjusting technology for easier e-reading



Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces a new feature to its e-reading platform that adjusts the color and brightness of mobile users’ screens to enhance the e-reading experience. Named Lumin, the software reduces the amount of blue light emitted by LED screens, which some recent studies suggest can be detrimental to readers’ eyes in dim environments and may disrupt sleep patterns. Lumin aims to help Oyster users read at night with less strain by replacing blue light with a gentler, amber light. While backlit e-ink screens are generally considered less harsh than those of smartphones or tablets, Oyster’s technology claims to cut the amount of blue light emitted by both types of devices by at least half.


2015. Oyster launches own e-book store



Oyster (the Netflix for Books) that charges $9.95 a month for unlimited access to a library of over 1 million titles, is expanding that model by launching its own e-book store. The store will enable Oyster to provide a truly extensive range of books to its readers. The interface isn’t changing significantly — you’ll simply see a much broader selection of books, with titles available via subscription displayed alongside those available for individual purchase. The e-book store is launching with all of the Big Five publishers in the United States on board, including Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. Competitor Scribd, by the way, also sells e-books individually but says it’s focused on the subscription model.


2015. Scribd adds 10,000 comic books for unlimited subscription



In case obtaining unlimited access to a vast library of e-books and audiobooks for $8.99 a month wasn’t sufficient for you, Scribd is announcing today that it’s branching out into comic books. The service is adding over 10,000 comics and graphic novels from publishers including Marvel, Archie, Boom! Studios, Dynamite, IDW/Top Shelf and Valiant. The subscription service, available across iOS, Android and the web, will provide readers the option to search for comic books and graphic novels by category, publisher and even prominent characters. Scribd also has around a dozen individuals on its marketing and editorial team who curate collections on the platform.


2014. Oyster created author board and online literary magazine



Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces two new initiatives. First, the Author Advisory Board invites prominent authors to offer their perspectives on how Oyster operates. Board members “will provide input and feedback on product and content decisions at Oyster to help ensure that streaming services for books are beneficial to writers, readers and publishers in the long run.” The second initiative involves Oyster expanding its discovery efforts to the web with the launch of a digital magazine called The Oyster Review. The publication is freely accessible online, even to those who don’t subscribe to Oyster’s ebook platform and will feature original content related to ebooks in Oyster’s catalog, much of it authored by others. While Oyster subscribers won’t receive exclusive additional content, they will have the unique opportunity to easily access and start reading books featured in The Oyster Review.


2014. Scribd adds 30K audiobooks to its $8.99/month ebook subscription



As of today, Scribd subscribers will have access to 30,000 audiobooks. The company has introduced a new audiobook section on its website and mobile applications. When it holds the rights to both the text and audio versions of a book, you’ll have the option to switch between the two. For instance, you could start reading a book at home and then continue listening to the story in your car via audiobook if you need to drive somewhere. Scribd is incorporating audiobooks without increasing its $8.99 monthly subscription fee. Scribd states that its e-book service now includes more than 500,000 titles. Subscriber numbers have increased by an average of 52 percent each month since January 2013 (when the company discreetly launched the subscription service).


2014. Oyster adds social Book Lists to drive discovery



Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces a new feature called Book Lists, allowing users to suggest and share custom collections of titles. Book Lists are now available to all Oyster subscribers at no extra charge, accessible through each user’s profile page. Readers can create lists of any length and share them selectively with other Oyster subscribers as well as on social media platforms outside the e-reading service. User-generated recommendations provide Oyster readers with a third way to discover new titles, alongside the platform’s built-in recommendation system—which is powered by both an editorial team and an algorithm—and browsing freely within the Oyster catalog. This new feature comes at a time when ebook subscription services are refining their discovery methods and promoting them as key attractions for readers. Entitle, another subscription ebook provider, recently upgraded its recommendation system to enhance how users find new content.


2014. Scribd builds new discovery experience



Subscription ebook service Scribd is introducing a new book discovery engine. This new system combines editor tagging and curation with a revamped book categorization system that departs from the traditional BISAC book classification method, along with algorithms that integrate everything to offer users fresh and enhanced book recommendations. Currently, over half of Scribd titles are discovered by chance and the company believes that increasing this proportion is crucial for retaining more subscribers. Recommendation engines are more critical for subscription services compared to other types of retail operations because customer retention hinges on keeping users engaged.


2014. Oyster launches cross-platform web reader



Oyster, the unlimited ebook subscription service, announced the introduction of its web and mobile web reader. Now accessible on both web and mobile web browsers, this expansion represents Oyster’s second new platform launch in the last month, bringing the service to a significantly broader audience of readers. Similar to reading your favorite blog, pages in the web reader will scroll seamlessly from top to bottom, while also providing the option to choose from one of five reader themes that Oyster users enjoy on Android and Apple devices.


2014. Scribd launches Windows Phone app, updates Android, iOS apps



The popular eBook subscription service Scribd announced significant updates to its existing iOS and Android apps, along with the official launch of its brand-new app for Windows phones and tablets. Current iOS and Android users will notice a refreshed browsing and book page experience, as well as updated fonts and color schemes. Readers using Windows phones and tablets will now have unlimited access to reading, anytime and anywhere, with all the features available to mobile web users. With the introduction of the Windows app, combined with existing apps for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire and Nook tablets, Scribd has been downloaded over 6 million times—making it available on more devices in more countries than any other subscription book service. This latest initiative aligns with the company’s broader global commitment to encouraging people to read more.


2014. Oyster comes to Android, Kindle Fire and Nook tablets



The ebook subscription service Oyster, which was previously available solely on iOS, is broadening its reach to Android, Kindle Fire and Nook HD tablets. New functionalities include a “read time” feature for books (a similar feature is available on Kindle e-readers) and the capability to navigate a book’s pages using the volume buttons on an Android device. Oyster, which provides unlimited reading for $9.95 a month, now offers over 500,000 book titles from two of the major five publishers — HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster — along with numerous small and medium-sized publishers. This places it approximately on par with Scribd, another ebook subscription service, which is accessible on iOS, Android and the Web.


2014. Scribd adds notes and highlights to its reading app



Ebook subscription leader Scribd has just enhanced the reading experience. It updated its iOS and Android mobile reader apps with some exciting new features. First is highlighting—you can mark your favorite passages, paragraphs and quotes and share them with your friends. You can also add notes, annotations and ideas as you read. The third new feature is Image Zoom, which allows you to zoom in on maps and other illustrations for a closer look. Your notes, highlights and bookmarks automatically sync across all your mobile devices and you can view them on a per-book basis.


2014. Oyster Teams up With Spritz to Bring Faster Reading Experience



Ebook subscription service Oyster and text streaming startup Spritz have joined forces to deliver a reading experience like never before. With growing enthusiasm around Spritz’s capabilities, Oyster is excited to offer the first platform where the public can read a full-length, in-copyright book using Spritz’s speed-reading technology. Available at OysterBooks.com/Spritz, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”—the acclaimed business book by Stephen Covey with over 20 million copies sold to date—is available for free reading with Spritz technology. The 432 print pages of the book can be completed in under 2 hours. This initiative represents a pioneering collaboration and Oyster and Spritz are eager to receive feedback from users about the experience. They will review the response and consider introducing additional full-length, in-copyright books to the public together in the future.


2014. Oyster partners with Disney to provide books for kids



Ebook subscription service Oyster has added approximately 100 titles from Disney and created a separate section for children with around 10,000 ebooks. Alongside the Disney books, which include titles like Toy Story, Cars and the Disney Princesses, the section will feature titles that were previously available on Oyster but were either grouped under "Young Adult" or not categorized. Several companies are attempting to provide children’s ebook subscriptions. One such option is Amazon’s Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, which starts at $2.99 per month and offers unlimited access to a library of children’s ebooks, apps, movies and games on Kindle Fire tablets. Kindle FreeTime Unlimited includes 1,600 ebooks, including about 100 Disney titles. Disney previously offered its own ebook subscription service but has since discontinued it.


2014. Scribd takes on Amazon - launches app for Kindle Fire



E-book subscription service Scribd has introduced a new app for Kindle Fire tablets, offering an alternative to Amazon's own Kindle e-book store. Scribd is already accessible on iOS and Android devices, as well as on the web, but this new Kindle Fire app represents its initial foray into e-readers designed specifically for books. “Since launching our subscription book service, readers globally have been requesting an app compatible with Kindle Fire," stated Trip Adler, CEO and cofounder of Scribd. "It’s one of the most popular reading devices available today and we want to allow our users to enjoy Scribd on any of their devices."