Scribd is setting its sights on bigger, newer titles.
E-book and audiobook versions of The Fates Divide, the second volume in Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark series, will go live on Scribd tomorrow. It’s not an exclusive deal — you’ll be able to buy The Fates Divide in bookstores and from online retailers — but Scribd will be the only subscription service where you can find the e-book on launch day.
Roth’s publisher HarperCollins was the first of the Big Five to partner with the service back in 2013. Last year, it began offering some of its newer, “frontlist” titles on Scribd as well.
So even if you haven’t been eagerly awaiting next book in the series, it’s noteworthy that HarperCollins is willing to launch major titles on Scribd, rather than just treating the service as a way monetize older books.
Roth is best-known as the author of the Divergent series of young adult novels. She’s also making a splash with her new books, with the first volume debuting at number one on The New York Times Young Adult bestseller list. According to reviewers, Carve the Mark resembles Divergent in its combination of dystopian science fiction and teen romance — but with a touch of Star Wars as the action shifts to a distant planet.
In the announcement, HarperCollins’ senior director of digital business development Adam Silverman said:
We’re confident that Scribd’s subscription model is an excellent retail platform on which to launch new titles and generate buzz for a huge release such as The Fates Divide. Over the five years we’ve worked with Scribd, we’ve seen increasing value in providing our books on the service — their wonderful recommendation engine and merchandising efforts are hard to beat — and we’re excited to work with Scribd to promote even more of our best books in the future as our partnership continues to grow.
Scribd says it now has more than 750,000 paying subscribers. It also recently returned to a model where those subscribers can read and listen to an unlimited number of books (though there are some limitations for the most voracious readers).
