The Netflix of books...

[GuestUser152]

Just got a cool app called Oyster. It's pretty much the netflix of books.

Unlimited reading of their 100,000 + book library for less than $10 a month. One month free trial. You can sign up at oysterbooks.com That's pretty much it.

I'm not affiliated just thought it was a great service many here might be interested in. Adios.

 

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[Mbc]

I wonder how much they pay for the books.

 

[InLikeFlint]

Upon first reading this I figured that it would be 100k books comprised of maybe 300-500 good books and the rest filler. However, I gave the site a look and it seemed great, lot's of interesting choices!

I will surely utilize the free month once I finish my current pile of books, thanks for the share.

 

[Corygoneke]

They don't have an option to search for what books are available before you actually put in your credit card information. This could be incredible but I'm not willing to give them my information without even knowing exactly what they provide.

 

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[McCoyH]

I wonder how many cistomers they have

 

[Mbc]

Ebooks are so cheap though, how many would you have to read per month for it to make sense? And would you really find the books you want or would you end up reading some books just because they are there?
Netflix makes sense because it takes 2hrs to watch a movie, so you watch 4 movies in a month or x amount of TV shows and it's worth it.
There are so many books I really want to read, I wouldn't waste time (you could argue reading is never a waste of time) reading other books just because I pay for the service.
Now if they had audio books too, that would be even better. hmm...

 

[Milkanic]

Pretty cool but you can probably get for most of these for $0 and a library card.

http://www.worldcat.org/

 

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[MattCour]

Interesting idea, but I have to agree w Milkanic about the library. You can get a bunch of ebooks for free from your local library. I'd be curious to see how they do though. I find the subscription biz model fascinating.

 

[RHL]

If I could get a netflix-price-range subscription for iPod compatible audio books with very good selection (modern stuff, as well as good recordings of most of the Western "classics") I'd sign up instantly.

 

[Bosstradamus]

If I could get a netflix-price-range subscription for iPod compatible audio books with very good selection (modern stuff, as well as good recordings of most of the Western "classics") I'd sign up instantly.

Sounds like a niche waiting to b exploited

 

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[Mbc]

If I could get a netflix-price-range subscription for iPod compatible audio books with very good selection (modern stuff, as well as good recordings of most of the Western "classics") I'd sign up instantly.

Been seeing ads for it for about 1-2 weeks now. If I remember correctly it's 10$/month for audiobooks. I wonder if it's anyone from here lol.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Not anymore...

Oyster Shutters Operations
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac...amazon-competitor-oyster-shutters-operations/

I'm starting to see a lot of startups go under these last few months.

Starting to smell awfully like the late 90's tech implosion, not to mention the market's recent downturn.

 

[Bouncing Soul]

Many serious Angel/VC investors think early stage startups are overvalued right now.

EDIT- I should be more specific: IT-type startups are overvalued.

 

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[Sehcill]

I was just reading thru my girlfriend's issue of Vanity Fair (please no judgement) because I saw an article on the cover talking about how we're in a tech bubble again. The most memorable part of the article was something along the lines of "these kids have their apps that locate a parking space for you and they feel their app is worth tens of millions of dollars... I ask them why so much, and they look at me like I'm the crazy one".

Yikes.

 

[Bouncing Soul]

I was just reading thru my girlfriend's issue of Vanity Fair ...

This is very worth the read for anyone working on something they think they'll eventually be trying to get venture money for- http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/08/is-silicon-valley-in-another-bubble

 

[Kreedos Phoenix]

Not anymore...

Oyster Shutters Operations
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac...amazon-competitor-oyster-shutters-operations/

I'm starting to see a lot of startups go under these last few months.

Starting to smell awfully like the late 90's tech implosion, not to mention the market's recent downturn.

Looks like Groupon is heading in that direction as well...

Groupon to cut 1,100 jobs, pull out of 7 countries

http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-groupon-job-cuts-20150922-story.html

 

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[Charnell]

 

[Chazmania]

I'm starting to see a lot of startups go under these last few months.

You mean self-pubbing specifically?

edit: should have finished reading thread before posting - I think I see my answer.

 

[Kak]

Y'all should download overdrive media console and then go to your library and get a card.

Why pay for some stuff when you don't have to! It also puts a deadline on the book so you need to finish it before it expires which, surprisingly, I like.

 

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[Delmania]

Looks like Groupon is heading in that direction as well...

Groupon to cut 1,100 jobs, pull out of 7 countries

http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-groupon-job-cuts-20150922-story.html

I had thought of mentioning that, but different circumstances. Groupon's business model isn't that good. Basically, they get a bunch of retailers to take a massive loss on some products or services in exchange for being listed in Groupon. If a business resists, they pull out the "your competition is doing this" tactic. When a customer purchases something, Groupon gets a cut (50%?). Pretty much the only way for the business to make money is for the customer to become a repeat customer. If you're using Groupon for services, chances are, you're going to use the cheapest deal, regardless of who the company is. It's a race to the bottom. People who hold strong loyalty to a particular company for various services generally don't care about the price, and hence, would never use Groupon for that service.

Oyster, on the other hand, is an example of the over valuation. They got 3 million in seed funding, and then 14 million in a second round. If I was the VC, I'd ask how they plan to compete with Kindle Unlimited, which offers both ebooks and audiobooks, Audible, Google Play*, and the local library. The issue is content, as Amazon (and Google) has the cash to license a lot more books than Oyster.

* Some of their staff got hired by Google, probably to compete against Amazon.

 

[Delmania]

Not anymore...

Oyster Shutters Operations
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac...amazon-competitor-oyster-shutters-operations/

I'm starting to see a lot of startups go under these last few months.

Starting to smell awfully like the late 90's tech implosion, not to mention the market's recent downturn.

https://www.reddit.com/r/shutdown

Anyways, isn't the chance for a startup to succeed something like 5%? I vaguely recall someone telling a bunch of people in an class on entrepreneurship to look to their left and right, and that those people's startups would fail.

 

[SEBASTlAN]

if they really were selling public domain books then they weren't exactly providing value

still..seems KindleUnlimited took their spot

 

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