Scribd has been busy this week. Following its survey of international reading habits, it has achieved the considerable coup of signing up the entire range of “For Dummies” titles for its ebook subscription service.
The deal involves Scribd paying Wiley (and other reference publishers such as Lonely Planet) for fractional reads, for example, if a subscriber reads a section of a book without reaching the usual level that needs to be reached before a payout is triggered.
Scribd’s deal with self-publishing distributor Smashwords last year involved authors being paid for partial reads of just 15% of a book.
Trip Adler, CEO and co-founder of Scribd, says: “Subscription ebooks are a perfect fit for educational and instructional books. When learning a skill or teaching yourself something new, what could be more convenient than having all the information you need, right in your pocket?”
Wiley seem to be viewing the deal as being able to reach out to a massive new audience. Peter Balis, Wiley Vice President, Business Development, Global Digital Books, says: “We are excited to make our books available through Scribd’s ebook subscription service with their international audience of 80 million users across all devices. With Scribd, we look forward to reaching a whole new audience for Wiley titles and our authors.”
All Wiley titles are available immediately through Wiley’s Scribd profile and on the homepage. Scribd’s reference category will include all Dummies titles as well as all other relevant books from Wiley and other informational guides.
Scribd’s subscription service now features books from over 900 publishers, including HarperCollins, Lonely Planet, Open Road Media, Sourcebooks and Workman.
Scribd pays Smashwords’ authors for 15% partial reads