What is Scribd?

Recently, Scribd offered 30 days of free access (no credit card required) in response to COVID-19. You’re probably wondering, should you even bother? Is Scribd worth it?

Scribd, which was established in 2007, is an online subscription service of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and more. It touts itself as the world’s biggest library and has books from the Big 5 publishers such as Simon and Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Macmillan. It also has tonnes of books from independent writers and publishers, a big plus for me.

When I first reviewed Scribd in 2015, I didn’t have great confidence that it was going to last. It had pulled out a number of romance novels from its catalogue; the business model seems to be standing on shaky legs.

I revisited the service on a whim last year, and discovered that yes, not only is it still around, it has improved by leaps and bounds. In fact, I think it can go toe-to-toe with the other ebook subscription we all know about – Kindle Unlimited. It is especially beneficial for non-American readers who can’t get access to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited service. You know, countries like Malaysia.

Currently, the monthly subscription fee is about US$8.99, which is a dollar cheaper than Kindle Unlimited’s US$9.99 monthly subscription fee. You get a free trial for 30 days.

Here’s what you get with a Scribd subscription:

• eBooks
• Audiobooks
• Digital magazines and newspapers from the United States, Australia and United Kingdom
• Documents such as research papers, court filings, business templates
• Sheet music
• “Snapshots” – short summaries on popular non-fiction books

After a few months trying out Scribd again, I’ve come to the conclusion that Scribd is worth it if you’re a voracious reader. Heck, I believe it’s even better than Kindle Unlimited. Here’s why:

The Good Stuff

One: The magazine catalogue is reason enough to subscribe

I was overjoyed to find my favourite magazines on the platform. Many of these magazines cost more than the Scribd subscription and some are impossible to find in Malaysia. To have it just here at the click of a button was amazing. Also, I’m really glad that I could support these magazines via Scribd.

Two: You can find interesting and quirky titles to read

While it’s great to read popular books cheaply, it’s more exciting to find hard-to-get, rare reading gems and Scribd is full of them. I’m glad that it’s friendly to indie authors.

Three: A sustainable, minimalist way to read

I often whinge about my massive TBR and how I wish I had a minimalist library. (Ironically, I’m thankful for it now because Malaysia’s Movement Control Order has shut down all the bookstores.) Books are tough to maintain, causes dust build up that my sensitive nose hates and are a pain to sell. With Scribd, I don’t have to worry about all that.

Four: Great value for money

RM37 (US$8.99) can buy you a book. But with Scribd, you can read over a dozen ebooks, magazines and listen to a couple of audiobooks. (And they most certainly cost more than RM37.)

Five: A great, cost-efficient way to support authors and publishers

Nothing makes me happier than supporting fellow authors, but I can’t afford to buy more than two or three books a month, and even then that’s a splurge. (Books are sadly very expensive in Malaysia.) With Scribd, I can indulge in my voracious reading appetite while supporting writers and publishers.

Six: You have the option to pause the membership

Sometimes, you just don’t have the time to read the wealth of books available to you. Scribd allows me to pause my membership for a couple of weeks to three months. This is useful especially if you feel it’s a drag to keep unsubscribing and resubscribing to the service.

Seven: If you love audiobooks, it’s a cheaper option than Audible

An Audible subscription is about US$14.95-US$22.95 per month. Sure, you don’t get to keep the Scribd audiobooks, but imagine listening to three audiobooks for US$8.99? Pretty hard to beat.

The Bad Stuff

One: It’s not really unlimited

This is a biggie. Scribd boasts that you get unlimited reads with its subscription. But it’s not entirely true. You don’t get unlimited access to its audiobooks or ebooks. If I listen to more than half a dozen audiobooks, I’ll often get throttled. Suddenly, many audiobook titles become unavailable. They’ll only become available in the next payment cycle.

Also, there’s this weird bug where, if you save too many ebooks, you get throttled too. When you “save” an ebook, you effectively bookmark a book so that you can read or download it later, but apparently Scribd considers it read. Some subscribers have taken Scribd to task for this throttling issue. And yes, if you get greedy and download too many ebooks, the ebooks will suddenly disappear from your app.

While I think Scribd should have been more transparent, I think it’s understandable why they’re doing this. Their service is great value for money, but if they make the entire catalogue a free for all, the business model might not be sustainable.

Still, Scribd needs to fix it’s transparency issue. It makes readers feel lied to or tricked. (It’s probably is the reason behind its low Trustpilot score.) Also, it’s it’s highly annoying to not know when the throttling will happen. A simple counter such as “3 more books left” would have been immensely helpful.

Two: You don’t get to keep the books

I’m pretty happy not owning my books, but I can understand why you’d want to own something after spending RM37 a month. I mean, that’s the price of a book!

Three: It can cause overwhelm

When I restarted my Scribd membership, I found myself saving a tonne of books (120 to be precise). Or I downloaded over a dozen ebooks and half a dozen audiobooks. I may be a fast reader, but I can’t read that fast! I often end up overwhelmed, and since overwhelm causes stress, this is a downside you need to be conscious of.

Scribd could be for you if:

• You prefer not to own your books
• You want a cost-effective way to read a lot of books
• You’d like to explore new writers without spending too much
• You want to support writers and publishers

How about you? Would you consider subscribing to Scribd? If you’re a member, what do you think about the service?