Is subscription-based book publishing a viable alternative?

Long-time readers of this blog know that one of my main interests is new, workable models for the publishing industry. The current model is out-of-date, antiquated and goes against the grain of most other business models for consumer products (what other industry, other than publishing, demands that manufacturers take back product that doesn’t sell?).

One idea that has intrigued me for a while now is a subscription-based book publishing service. Here’s how it can work: A publisher (usually a small press in a niche market) markets directly to consumers, bypassing bookstores altogether. The consumer pays a one-time annual subscription fee and each month, the publisher sends the subscribers a new book on their catalog.

Of course, there are variations on this. The frequency of books sent to subscribers would vary with how many books a press published each year. And like magazines, the cost of the subscription would include shipping, handling, etc.

Here are a few benefits of subscription-based book publishing:

- Consumers directly support the publisher. They get their books without the middleman (ie. bookstore).

- The publisher does not have to worry about unsold books being shipped back to them, as most bookstores demand.

- Allows niche publishers to serve very specific audiences. For example, a publisher that specializes in science fiction novels can market directly to a specific customer base. This will also help increase customer loyalty.

- Customers read books they may not normally buy on an individual basis. This levels the playing field for the authors that work with the publisher by distributing all books to all customers.

- Publishers can use the "power of free" to entice new subscribers by giving away a free book with every new subscription, or something along those lines.

The model is not entirely perfect as many questions remain: How does the publisher handle author royalties? What happens to older books in the catalog?  How many books does a publisher need to release each year for the subscription to be worth the price? All these questions need to be addressed in one way or another to make such a model viable.

Perfect for ebooks

Subscription-based book publishing is perfect for ebooks. Given that there are no distribution/storage costs, the profit margins with ebooks would very high. And delivery is as simple as a quick email! Or, publishers can use a variation of this model by letting customers, once they pay the subscription fee, give them complete access to their book catalog to either download a certain number of ebooks, or unlimited ebooks.

With the growing popularity of stand-alone ebook devices like Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader, and the emergence of the iPhone as a viable ebook reader, this is an exploding market. And a subscription-based model could solve problems that cause us ebook fans a lot of heartache – like ebook pricing. If a service offered a subscription for a flat fee, you could theoretically download numerous ebooks for less than a dollar!

Again, this is not a perfect model and still many questions would have to be answered. But it seems like a good alternative to the business model many publishers are content to use today.

What do you think? Can subscription-based book publishing work as an alternative? Give us your thoughts in the comments below. Don’t be shy!

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