Over the last year, we have reported on the emergence of Oyster, 24symbols and Bookboard — all planning to offer rental of multiple ebooks for a monthly subscription.
But, with the conventional ebook download craze still taking off, can this Spotify- or Netflix-like ebook access model attract consumers so soon?
A survey by media strategy agency Oliver & Ohlbaum (O&O) shows 29 percent of current UK ebook users very interested in such a prospect — and only three percent not at all.
That is a large slice of the ebooks market that is prepared to switch from ownership to access. So how would such a move affect money in the business… ?
Right now, UK ebook buyers spend an average £33 ($53) per year on ebooks, according to BML Bowker and Publishers Association data crunched by O&O.
For a “Spotify for books”, most consumers say they would like to pay only up to £5 ($8) per month. But consumers will naturally always aim low when asked — and the high end of even that margin (£5 per month) would double UK ebook buyers’ annual ebook spending to £60 per year ($96).
But there is also willingness to pay more, up to £10 per month. That would raise ebook spending to £120 ($193) per year — the same rate Spotify charges for unlimited music.
Note that, since UK ebook spending so far lags that in the U.S., the American boost from a move from ownership to access may be relatively less pronounced.
Whether this move makes sense for the industry’s value chain may depend on how many books all-you-can-eat subscribers would really use…
Right now, the majority of consumers download fewer than five ebooks per year, O&O’s Bowker and Publishers Association data shows. An unlimited-access service may need to target those who download more than one ebook per month. But that represents a combined 41 percent of all current downloaders — a sizeable enough segment to go after…
One other factor may be that even UK ebook customers, on average, spend far more on printed books each year than on digital — just as with all content types, operators swap analogue dollars for digital pennies…
My colleague Laura Hazard Owen says the prospect is distant, however:
If the book publishing market does grow as an unlimited-access service like music is, expect the same kind of debates over royalties from the creatives who supply the content in the first place.