Leading ebook distributor Draft2Digital is now offering the Kobo Plus subscription service as an option for authors and publishers.
Kobo Plus was launched in February this year but only covers the Netherlands and Belgium at present.
Payouts to authors under Kobo Plus are based on the number of readers subscribing to and reading books through the service. When it launched, Kobo promised payouts on a fair-share model, funded by subscription revenues, to enable a self-sustaining service built for the long term.
Your royalty share is based on a formula that takes into account the price of your book, the number of reads past 20%, and the current number of Kobo Plus subscribers.
There is no requirement to be exclusive to Kobo Plus, so you could sell an ebook on Kindle (although not in Kindle Unlimited) as well as enrol it in Kobo Plus. Authors can opt into Kobo Plus on a title-by-title basis. Your book does need to be distributed to Kobo to be eligible for Kobo Plus, so you can’t just opt in to the subscription service.
Draft2digital also offers distribution through two other ebook subscription services — Scribd and 24symbols.
The Scribd subscription scheme has been in operation since 2013 but has had some problems, including dumping self-published romance books in 2015 that were proving to be very popular among readers and costing the company too much in royalty payouts. In February 2016, Scribd ended its previously ‘unlimited’ reading deal and limited members to a maximum of three books a month.
24symbols is a Spanish-based ebook service available worldwide that was set up in 2011. It costs $8.99 a month for premium subscribers who get unlimited access to the ebooks on offer plus one audiobook a month.
You can read full details about the Kobo Plus ebook subscription scheme at Kobo Plus goes Dutch to launch ebook subscription service with ‘fair-share’ payouts to authors.
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