The Economist just published an article – “Spotify for Books.” Naturally, it got me thinking about one of my favorite topics – self-publishing.
Netflix provides all the movies you can watch for a flat fee per month. Hulu does the same thing for the latest TV shows.
Pandora provides streaming music. If you’re willing to listen to a commercial after a few songs, you can listen for free!
Will subscription services take over books? And if they do, what will it mean for authors?
As I read the myriad of self-publishing advice info out there, there seems to be a consistent strategy for success: Write a lot. Promote a lot. Every additional book you put out, every blog post, every tweet, every thing is just one more “net” you’re putting out into the ocean of the Internet in the hopes of catching a “fish” i.e. another loyal reader.
Sorry readers, I didn’t mean to call you fish. I meant it in the nicest possible way.
And usually, indie authors end up giving their work away for free or close to free just to promote themselves and attract readers.
So, won’t subscription services just steal those profits away?
Or, if the author gets a certain amount per download (usually if the reader reads a certain amount of the book), will that provide more exposure to the author? The reader may not have been willing to pay for an unknown indie author’s work, but might read the work if it is available through a subscription…and then if they like it, maybe they’ll be willing to buy the author’s next book.
I don’t know. It seems hard enough for new authors to make money that I worry about the growing subscription trend. But then again, I suppose we’re in a world where we follow consumer demands.
What say you? If you’re an Indie Author, will you put your work on subscription services?
Bookshelf Battle 
Something to consider, I guess…
I like the idea. One Story publishes one story every run. I sort of like that approach. For self-publishing, maybe something like Patreon would make sense.
This reminds me of Kindle Unlimited, of which I’ve read varying views. Some have bashed it, because it lowers the money an author receives for a book priced $2.99 and up — instead of the 70% profit ($2.00), you receive around $1.30. But, as you noted, there’s the idea that readers may be more likely to take a chance on an author they haven’t heard of before. And that would give an author a sale that he or she would not have otherwise had. I have a few books in Kindle Unlimited, to see what it does for me. And so far, it has given me some sales. I don’t like the fact that you put those books in lock-down at Amazon for 90 days to be in KU, but I figure it’s worth it to experiment and see how it affects my sales.