Free-eBooks.net was on the cutting edge of innovation when it first launched about eight years ago. Since then it has emerged as a leading site for global downloading of e-books, serving millions of people in dozens of languages who have downloaded more than 20 million books. During that time the rest of the reading and publishing universe has also caught up and gotten into the game, and now e-books are even being used in colleges and university classrooms.
The Emergence of Mainstream Subscription Services
Digital subscription services were virtually unknown a decade ago, and when Netflix first launched its streaming content option it was met with a lot of disapproval from some customers. At that time the movie rental giant tried to bundle its streaming services with its traditional subscriptions for movies delivered through the mail on DVD discs. Customers complained, and soon Netflix found itself backtracking and separating the two services with distinct billing.
New technology is always greeted with some resistance, though, and if you have been tracking Netflix long enough you may recall that the company’s stock price faltered in the early days as many analysts predicted it would go bankrupt. People were having trouble getting used to the idea of shopping for movies online, expressing a preference for browsing through titles in a brick and mortar store. But that was then, back in the dinosaur days before Blockbuster bit the dust and Netflix disrupted the entire movie rental industry with its popular innovations.
The Amazon Acceleration
Along the way Amazon invented the Kindle, kindling a digital revolution that has disrupted the centuries-old book publishing establishment and ushering in the mainstream acceptance and widespread global use of e-books. Sure, e-books had already been around for a while, but most industry observers thought they were a passing trend that was headed down a dead end road to nowhere.
Today, however, e-books are not only wildly popular but content providers like Amazon have launched e-book subscription services like Kindle Unlimited. Amazon is rather tight-lipped about the success of its program and the deals it makes with authors who agree to include their books in Kindle Unlimited, but estimates are that the service has consumers downloading millions of titles per month.
The Popular Appeal of E-Book Subscriptions
One part of the broad appeal of subscription services is that it offers readers a way to receive books and check them out, without having to pay typical full retail prices for those titles. That removes a great deal of the perceived risk of buying a book that the reader may not really enjoy.
That same model for content delivery has worked brilliantly for other products, particularly movie DVDs and downloadable music that lets listeners buy one song without paying for an entire album. But from the point of view of many traditional publishers, subscription services are not exactly their idea of a dream come true.
Publishers Reluctantly Joining the Party
Publishers often feel threatened, for example, because they are worried that the success of subscriptions will undermine the profits they are accustomed to earning form actual book sales. The tide is turning, however, because of so much consumer demand for digital books at an affordable price point and with easy deliver. Just a few months ago, for instance, the CEO of the major publishing house McMillan announced that it would soon launch a subscription service focused on books not typically found in traditional brick and mortar stores.
Our Philosophy and Subscription-Style Options
But we are happy to remind the world that at Free-eBooks.net we have always supported independent authors and given them a worldwide platform to connect with readers. We also believe in offering readers the broadest choices in diverse genres, free of charge. That’s as good as it gets. You can also take advantage of our affordably priced subscription type services, in the form of our special VIP Membership plans.
You’ll enjoy unlimited downloads of thousands of titles – ranging from contemporary to classic – for less than $8 a month. You can also sign up for a whole year for less than $40, or make the most rewarding and budget-priced investment with a Lifetime membership. That enables you to download books for life with other VIP privileges for a one-time investment of less than $50. That’s about what you’d pay for a couple of traditional printed books or for only a few short months of subscription service from other e-book sources – but that’s just how we roll at Free-eBooks.net.
