My book club is reading And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini this month. I haven’t started yet, and I wanted a quick and economical way to get my hands on this book! So I browsed the e-book collection at my local library.
Sigh. The listings didn’t even include The Kite Runner, much less Hosseini’s newest book. In defense of my library, it is limited by dwindling funds from the state and restrictions from publishers. (See my post on the tenuous relationship between publishers and libraries.)
But I still wanted the book. I’d heard about a new e-book lending service called Scribd, so I decided to check it out.
Scribd: the Netflix of e-books
Most of the people I know get their e-books from Amazon, B & N, or the library. The library is obviously the cheapest option, but book selection can be dreadful. And e-books for Kindle or Nook cost at least $5 (Except for the classics! They’re a bargain!) The idea of having access to an UNLIMITED number of e-books for a reasonable monthly fee sounds tempting, doesn’t it?
Enter Scribd. It started in 2007 as a self-publishing site for professional papers that eventually included creative writing. In October 2013, Scribd partnered with HarperCollins Publishing to offer an e-book lending subscription service. The the developers of the updated Scribd site want it to be what Pandora is to music, or what Netflix is for movies and T.V. shows.
What you need to know about Scribd
- Readers can start with a one month free trial.
- A subscription costs $8.99 per month.
- A subscription gives you access to an unlimited number of e-books, including books from the HarperCollins back list and “thousands” of best-sellers.
- Scribd is compatable with any device that has a web browser, including computers, smart phones, and tablets. (This includes the Kindle Fire, since it is basically a tablet.)
- It is NOT compatable with regular Kindles or Nooks.
- Scribd offers you personalized suggestions to help you find new books and authors.
Sounds great, right? Well, I think it could be, if you don’t want new releases. When I browsed the site, I saw books like Bridge to Terebithia and Water for Elephants. These are wonderful novels, but not new releases.
I didn’t register for the free trial; something told me that I wouldn’t find And the Mountains Echoed at Scribd.
Where do you get your e-books? Have you ever tried a subscription service like Scribd? How did it work for you?
Click the link below to spread the word about Scribd:
Thanks for stopping by!
Julia
I know this is an old post but… And the Mountains Echoed is on Scibd in audio book form. Scribd is adding more books and publishers at a seemingly rapid rate. They actually just added The Girl on The Train and a few others that I was looking at on Amazon.
Thank you Melida! I heard recently on the Book Riot podcast that Scribd was expanding their library, including adding audio books and comic books. Thank you for drawing my attention to this. Looks like it’s time to update my post. Thanks for taking the time to comment. And I hope you find lots of great content on Scribd!
I first heard of the Scribd service a few months ago on another blog. I think the concept is brilliant. I signed up for a free trial, and unfortunately this is just a bad (reading) time for me. I haven’t been able to take advantage of it as much as I would like. There are several books on there that caught my eye. The only issue for me is that I can only read books via Scribd on my iPhone right now. I have an old school Kindle, and you need a Kindle Fire type to read on a Kindle. But, reading on my iPhone is not nearly as annoying as I originally thought:) Oh, and also… “And the Mountains Echoed” was not my favorite of his. But, his writing is so brilliant I still gave it four stars.
Thanks Jennifer. I’m actually reading “And the Mountains Echoed” on my iPhone because I’m the only one in the house without a Kindle! I agree, it’s not as painful as I thought it would be. I hope you get more time to read and take advantage of the free trial at Scribd soon. But I can relate to your dilemma- it isn’t a very good reading time for me right now either, so I’m waiting to sign up. Maybe summer?
I have a Nook and I get so frustrated when books are cheaper on Amazon. Ugh! I get some books through e-lending from the library, but the selection is limited. I would definitely pay a monthly fee to have access to more books, but I doubt that will ever happen with the Nook.
You sound frustrated with your Nook. Sorry it doesn’t give you the flexibility you need. You could use a device with a web browser to take advantage of Scribd, like a smart phone. (Although, I don’t think I’d like reading off such a small screen!)
Love Hosseini. This wasn’t my favorite book of his, but still a good read! I have not read ANYTHING as an ebook…someday, perhaps.
Have you checked out Lendle? It is a community to allow strangers to borrow the books you’ve paid for and in return you can borrow books from others. It can be pretty hit or miss, but it is another free option. Some books’ publishers don’t allow lending (And the Mountains Echoed is one of them) so those aren’t available. The biggest hassle is inputting the books your willing to share (it is just a little time-consuming). There is a whole system of points that I don’t entirely understand, but I have found that I don’t really need to. Basically you get points for sharing your books and spend them to borrow books for yourself. I haven’t ever not had enough points to borrow something.
Crystal, this is very interesting. Thanks for expanding on your FB comment. One of the things I don’t like about e-books is the limited ability to share them. I’ll have to look into Lendle- I feel another blog post coming on!!! Thanks!
Hi Julie, I’m Carrie. I run all things community at Scribd. I’m glad you checked us out, and thanks for spreading the word. Sadly, no, Khaled Hosseini’s book isn’t part of the subscription service. You can get the ebook for $14.99 at http://www.scribd.com/doc/191039130/And-the-Mountains-Echoed-A-Novel. He’s a Penguin Random House author though, and we don’t have their titles as of yet.
At any rate, I’d love if you emailed me (carrie@scribd.com), and I can give you some free time to check out the site. We may not have this book, but we do have lots of recent backlist and personally curated collections. I’d love to hear your other thoughts as well and how we can help you be an ever-stronger “word nerd”. 🙂
Happy Friday!
Thanks for stopping by, Carrie. I appreciate the extra information you shared about Scribd and will be happy to email you to discuss the service more.
Can’t wait to hear what you think of ‘And The Mountains Echoed.’ I’m a big fan of Hosseini. This service sounds good, but I only have a regular Kindle.