

Oyster, a Start-Up for E-Reading, Raises $14 Million - Vvick727
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/oyster-a-start-up-for-e-reading-raises-14-million/

======
netrus
When i was a nerdy little boy, had someone asked me what I'd do with 1 million
dollar, I might have answered I would build a huge library, because nothing is
as awesome as a great library.

Today, I have the biggest encyclopedia humankind ever made with me all the
time, my university gives me access to the most recent research in my field
from anywhere in the world, and for a tiny fraction of my income I get all the
great music, all the movies (okay, some work needed there), and soon the
almighty library I dreamed of as a child. These are wonderful times we life
in.

~~~
msutherl
What makes a great library great is the selection of which books to include
and which to exclude. Amazon reviews aside, access to everything is only the
first and a less significant step toward achieving your dream.

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pkfrank
> On Oyster, once a person reads more than 10 percent of the book, it is
> officially considered “read.” Oyster then has to pay the publisher a
> standard wholesale fee.

via: [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/technology/as-new-
services...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/technology/as-new-services-
track-habits-the-e-books-are-reading-you.html)

This article also talks about the "Sizzler Problem." Oyster costs $10/mo, so
they basically have to hope that, on aggregate, people won't read more than
that in cost of wholesale fees. It'd be really interesting to look at their
actual numbers against Spotify and the other companies with a similar model.
According to the article, only 2% of users read more than 10 books a month.

I'd imagine that the % of users that actually "cost" them money couldn't be
more than ~5-10% of their entire subscriber-base. Anyone have any insight into
this?

~~~
aet
I don't have any insight, but I'm curious myself. How exactly do you compete
with Amazon here? Considering Kindle, free wireless delivery, free classics,
market power, etc, etc.. Competition also comes in the form of libraries.

------
alexcason
I guess a negative reaction on HN isn't always necessarily an indicator of
potential failure:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6335153](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6335153)

Don't take a negative reaction as the be all and end all when you present
something to people.

~~~
untog
Two takeaways:

1) If anyone considers feedback on Hacker News to be an overall indicator of
future success then I worry for them deeply

2) Getting funded is not 'success'. It is a step on the way to success.

------
desireco42
I am Oyster subscriber. Their app is pleasant to use. I do miss a little more
organization, but I am fine with it overall.

It is heavily curated ie. you get a lot of suggestions. And since they have
rather limited selection, this is great. I managed to read through 3 books
already and have a queue of several. I noticed that some were from Gutenberg
project, so I guess they will not have to pay for those.

Overall I like experience and will continue to use, as well as Amazon and
piratebay and other services to get myself books.

Only thing that might turn me off is, they have limited selection, but they
can remedy that while I am going through books already available.

I really need them to come up with good Android app.

~~~
blparker
Do you find an incentive to read more as to ensure that you are getting your
monthly money's worth?

~~~
desireco42
More, I like to read and once I start to read a good story, it is hard to
stop, so them curating helps a great deal.

It is not that great with SF, it is more my heroic efforts that found some SF
to be read. I hope they will use money to get more.

Also, I would say, some social aspects where you can discuss books you want to
read or just read, would be nice. I am member of goodreads and frankly, I am
tempted by promise of them being integrated into newer kindles. I have rather
old one (like a year or two :) )

------
jonknee
If only there were public institutions where you could get books (and eBooks!)
for free...

~~~
subpixel
I can't agree with this more, especially when it comes to ebooks. I've been
mightily disappointed in the way public libraries have adopted Overdrive,
which is - and this burns me - technology put in place to make consuming
ebooks more difficult, and to charge libraries exorbitant fees at the same
time.

I'd love to see homebrew projects like this one be successful:
[http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24567880/douglas-county-
mo...](http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24567880/douglas-county-model-gives-
libraries-new-e-book)

[http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/sep13/Sendze_Van-Court--
Own-...](http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/sep13/Sendze_Van-Court--Own-Your-Own-
Ebook-Lending-Service.shtml)

~~~
jeremyt
I'll second this.

I used to live in Arlington, Virginia, and while getting overdrive set up was
a nightmare, actually checking books out was really easy.

I now live in New York, and frankly the New York Public Library's process for
checking out e-books is so confusing that I can't figure out how to use it
most of the time. It's just a better use of my time to just go ahead and buy
the damn thing.

------
ilamont
I am concerned about a Spotify-style situation arising with these subscription
reading services, in which platform operators and powerful middlemen reap the
profits while content creators get the scraps (1). GigaOm found that both
Scribd and Oyster have been vague about the payouts for authors (2), and this
new article by the NY Times doesn't clear up the uncertainty.

1\.
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/09/26/161758720/how-...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/09/26/161758720/how-
musicians-make-money-by-the-fraction-of-a-cent-on-spotify)

2\. [http://gigaom.com/2013/10/01/scribd-moves-beyond-document-
sh...](http://gigaom.com/2013/10/01/scribd-moves-beyond-document-sharing-
with-8-99month-ebook-subscription-service/)

~~~
jljljl
This source is a year old, but it doesn't seem like Spotify is really raking
in the profits either:

[http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/31/4575506/spotify-doubled-
re...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/31/4575506/spotify-doubled-revenue-
in-2012-but-losses-grow)

------
dajohnson89
Seems like a great service, it would be a no-brainer for me to sign up if they
had a bigger non-fiction selection. Not just business, but foreign language,
tech, science, etc. Maybe they have this already, but I didn't even see a non-
fiction category. Am I missing something, and if not are there any good
reasons why non-fiction doesn't feature more prominently in the selection?

------
jameszhang
Subscriber here. I think paying the $10 a month provides another incentive for
me to read. I don't know if I am getting $10 worth of material to read each
month, i.e. finishing about half a book every month, but it sure has increased
the amount of reading I do since I started using the service.

------
magikbum
Oyster, a Start-Up name that was already a name for another startup…
oyster.com

------
ryanSrich
I'm really having a hard time with this product. It's basically taking
something that exists for free...a library...and repackaging it as an app.

Now don't get me wrong I admire a nicely designed product just as much as the
next person but how is this worth $10 alone?

I can literally subscribe to an RSS feed that gives me free ebooks daily[1].
Granted they aren't always the best reads but they are free. Aside from that I
can go to the local library and checkout any physical book I want for free.

I think a much better product would be monthly unlimited audio books. Like
spotify combined with audible. Now that I would pay for.

1.) [http://www.freebooksifter.com/](http://www.freebooksifter.com/)

~~~
thrill
Libraries are not free - you pay for them whether you use them or not.

~~~
dajohnson89
Moreover, a library doesn't offer an app that's this easy to use. Assuming it
offers a decent selection of ebooks in the first place.

I used to defend paper books, until I started reading a 10 lb textbook and
having to lug it all over the city in my backpack.

------
manishsharan
I am paying something similar per month for safari service from Oreilly (
mostly tech books). I would gladly switch to a service that offers a wider
range of books .

~~~
desireco42
You will not find books you can find on Safari here :) I need to check them as
I was under impression they cost much more.

