SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Which ebook/audiobook stores do you buy from? Or which digital (unlimited) reading/listening services do you subscribe to? Let's get a list going!

We all know about the big A ones, but I'm interested in what else is out there. Even if it's not international, tell us about it, someone else from your country might find it useful.

Link to store
Type (store, subscription)
Ebook/Audio
Country
Anything else you want us to know?

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Libro.fm
Serial Box - discuss here
Storytel - discuss here

I've become a https://www.storytel.com/ (the German version) subscriber (the unlimited plan) - they have almost *everything* and it's truly unlimited. They have mostly audiobooks, but also ebooks. Currently using the free trial and very happy with it. Caveat: needs to be on your phone, the desktop version can't play the audiobooks.

Storytel is great! I added a link to the list of countries it's available in to the Storytel thread.

Eva wrote: "... Caveat: needs to be on your phone, the desktop version can't play the audiobooks. ..."

Hmm ... I already listened to audiobooks on the PC - so it must be possible on the desktop version.

Humble Bundle:
https://www.humblebundle.com/
Store but need to register to get offers via email
Ebooks, Comics and Game bundles
Supports: English, Russian, French, German, Italian, Spanish and either Chinese or Japanese interface, so i imagine it's available to those countries

Storybundle:
https://storybundle.com/exclusive
Store but need to register to get offers via email
Ebook
US based, but can be sent to other countries as long as book isn't banned there

Baen:
https://www.baen.com/
Store
Ebook and Paperbooks (links to other sites for paperbooks)
US but I was able to use this site in France

Bookview Cafe:
https://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/
Store
Ebook
US based

https://www.scribd.com/
Subscription
Ebook and audiobook
Global (?)
Available as web page and app (I use the web page if I want to know the spelling or looking for information)

I use it 95% for audiobook after I cancelled my Audible subscription. I have 140 titles in my saved titles so that probably says that it has quite a good selection. The downside is that they have this weird algorithm that could make some books unavailable at a certain period.

Yes, the throttling (along with them charging me for my free trial month) is what killed Scribd for me, especially since it's so unpredictable: will you be restricted to classics after 2 books this time? 3? 1 1/2? But for people who know they never listen to more than 1 or maybe 2 books per month, it's probably pretty good. I like that I don't have to worry about that with Storytel because e.g. this month, I've already listened to 6 of their books and all they do is ask "great, which one next?".

Storytel looks nice but not available in my country. Haven't tried using VPN though.

Oh, that sucks! I hope VPN will work. It's weird how provincial digital content still is. They could just negotiate tariffs that get added when you want to access foreign digital content not otherwise available in your own country, just like when you order a physical book in another country and have it shipped to you.

ah, on that subject, here's a good article as to why that happens:

https://www.malindalo.com/blog/2013/0...

it applies to ebooks, audiobooks, music and videos. As the article states it's based on rather antiquated laws and would require worldwide changes to implement which would void a lot of contracts plus kill the revenue streams for some rights holders, so I doubt it will happen any time soon

Back on topic

https://www.gutenberg.org/
Free site for digital books
Ebook
US & World
Mostly Public Domain books with this note from the site:

Our eBooks may be freely used in the United States because most are not protected by U.S. copyright law, usually because their copyrights have expired. They may not be free of copyright in other countries. If you live outside of the United States, you must check the copyright laws of your country before downloading or redistributing our eBooks. We also have a number of copyrighted titles, for which the copyright holder has given permission for unlimited non-commercial worldwide use.

Thank you for all the excellent links, CBR! :)

Just to add: Project Gutenberg unfortunately can't be accessed from Germany as a result of a legal battle some years ago.

Gabi wrote: "Just to add: Project Gutenberg unfortunately can't be accessed from Germany as a result of a legal battle some years ago."

How sad - hopefully there's a German equivalent?

I’m not sure you need VPN for Storytel, Silvana. I signed up to the German version, because I speak fluent German and I don’t care if the interface is in German. I didn’t have to provide an address or anything, so if you speak any of the languages of the places it’s offered in, try that?

Oh and for Audiobooks of public domain books: LibreVox - https://librivox.org/. Books are read by volunteers, so your mileage may vary.

Storytel Singapore is in English, so that'd probably be the best one to try. But let's move the rest of the Storytel talk over to that thread, and keep this one on track!

Amazon offers the digital versions of most classics for free or almost for free in Germany.

There's also
http://www.digitalbookindex.org/
https://classic-literature.co.uk/
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/ (over 2 million books, but only as large scans in PDF format)
https://www.freeclassicebooks.com/
http://www.loyalbooks.com/

The app Serial Reader is great, especially if you pay a nominal amount (I think it was €2.50?) then you don’t have to wait for the next day’s issue. There are lots of classics and more obscure SFF books.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/serial-...

BookBeat is similar to Storytel, and it seems to be available in the UK. I tried a free month maybe a year ago, and while it's otherwise pretty much the same, their SFF selection is smaller than Storytel's.

There's also Nextory, another Swedish company, but I can't find any info about which countries it's available in. I've tried it, and honestly it sucked. Both the app and their selection.

A lot of what is on Project Gutenberg has been read aloud by volunteers on Librivox.org. Quality of narration varies, of course, but some is very good, including many classic short stories, some by authors who you'd think would have retained copyright.

And of course don't forget Overdrive/ Libby from the library.

Scribd users! How many audiobooks are you able to listen to per month? Approximately? I didn't have any limitations when I tried it, but I'm thinking of getting it again, and I'm not sure I want to pay the extra money (on top of Storytel) if I can only listen to two books per month. Anything you've noticed about how the throttling algorithm works would be appreciated!

It seems unlimited to me. I switch between 4 apps though: Audible, Libby (which I used for books from the Free Library of Philadelphia), Sora (which I use for my school library books), and Scribd.

IDK what throttling algorithm means?

I've been using BookBeat for over a year now, and my subscription also covers my husband and daughter. We're all quite happy with the audiobook selection.

Melanie, some (most?) user have lots of books suddenly "disappear" with a text that says they'll be available again next month. Apparently they somehow calculate how many (new?) audiobooks anyone can listen to per month. It didn't happen to me either, so I'm not sure what it looks like.

Scribd says: "Occasionally, some titles may be temporarily unavailable to you depending on your recent reading activity. If you're only seeing a preview of a specific title, you should also see a notification indicating when that book or audiobook will be fully available to you."

https://support.scribd.com/hc/en-us/a...-

And: "Our catalogs generally start to rotate the more you read, and the availability of the books and audiobooks in our library is based on a variety of factors, some of which include:

Conditions regarding the deals we have with our publishing partners
General consumption level
Cost
Popularity"

https://support.scribd.com/hc/en-us/a...

Hmmm. I haven't been reading a lot of new releases with that site, so this has not affected me .... yet.

I don't remember what exactly I listened to, so it's possible I was listening to stuff that was old and unpopular :)

Scribd update

...apparently I read too many books and so I've lost the books I had cued up for 'next' and one I had already started listening to. This is the first time this has been an issue, probably because I read more books in the summer? Otherwise I have been extremely happy with the servive.

I do wish I knew the magic number, so I could track it. Like is it counting books I "test" but don't read/listen to? Does it count every ting in my saved list?

yeah, the throttle point is frustrating bc it's so nebulous. it's something to do with how new/ popular a book is and what format. I can't usually get more than 3-4 new audio a month, but have gotten way more than that if they're older or relatively less buzzy

You all are making me wonder if I’m getting my money’s worth out of Scribd. Probably not. I’ve never had my saved books disappear or anything like that. Relatively frustrating is when a book “isn’t available in your region”!

I don't (currently) use these, so I can't vouch for them, but Bookbub is a site that helps users find free and discounted ebooks, but isn't a bookseller directly, and Chirp is a site run by the same people, that DOES sell discounted audiobooks, but is only available only in the US and Canada.

www.Bookbub.com
www.ChirpBooks.com

ereaderiq is a good way to track Amazon book prices either by adding books there or by following authors there.

I have been happy with the service until now. I definitely read/listen to $12 worth of books each month. (apparently too many books) I am not liking not really the lack of warning or foreknowledge, just poof books unavailable until next month. I definitely would not be buying this many books for the subscription fee, so it is still worth it, but suddenly frustrating too. I would be willing to pay more to not have a cut rate. There should be an upgrade version of the subscription.

I just checked out my spreadsheet. I've read/ listened to 26 books so far this year from scribd. That's about 3-4 books per month.

Scribd is changing their subscription service. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Or I am the only one still using it?

I sub to Scribd/Everand and I'm not entirely happy with the changes and I haven't upgraded yet, although I plan to try out the plus plan for at least one month. I don't like them paywalling like that but I guess it could be worse? From what I can tell so far, it seems maybe this is allowing them to offer more in-demand titles. Only 3 unlocks per month for the upgrade seems a little stingy still.

I LIKE that they are giving a number. A lack of a number has been frustrating in the past. But you can't switch back after you select a new plan so I'm hesitating. Eventually they will probably require you switch.

I hadn't realized that the current offering was an intermediary step to eliminating the old plan. Yeah, I have more reservations about that. Well, given I actually do use it a lot, it might be OK. But in the past I have stopped subbing when I wasn't using it and it seems you lose the titles you've unlocked if you unsub?

It seems to be the case that you loose access when you stop your subscription. Also you have to use your "unlocks" or they disappear. There is no option to roll over between months.

I don't know for sure the old plan is going away. That is just a guess. It's generally how businesses do these things.

https://www.campfirewriting.com/
Global platform for indie authors to publish their books.
Some are available for free.
Many have additional materials from the authors.
I haven't actually tried it, but maybe it's worth checking out.

I'm not a fan of the perpetual pay model, so I only use the public library for non-purchased audiobooks. Clearly, I fund that with taxes and donations, so it's not 'free' free, but it seems more logical to me than other options.

Additionally, the 'subscription' model does not make financial sense for me - I listen to books regularly (10-15 per year) but I like to have what I want to hear ready to hand when I want to listen. The 'subscription' models seem too arbitrarily restrictive and I lose access to everything if I don't keep paying in perpetuity...

I'm seeing a lot of chat about 15 hours re: Everand, what's that about? Is there a plan that includes only 15h of audio?

I recently moved (on another platform) from an unlimited account to a "timed" one, and I *hate* having to keep track of hours and checking which books I can fit in :( I'm trying really hard to use the service the same way I did before, but so far I'm using more time calculating things in my new spreadsheet than listening to books <_<

I have no idea what the 15 hours thing is about but it sounds really not good. I mean, of the audiobooks I have on my saved list to read this month )not counting the title they're holding hostage until I upgrade and "unlock" it), that's the one I'm listening to now and 1/2 of the next one. How is that worth the sub price? Does Everand want to go under? I don't see any of these changes keeping current users or attracting new ones.

I'm already reassessing my whole long-term reading plans. For a book to get on my Google doc TBR that I use to organize my reading plans, I have to know I have access to it and Everand has been vital for that. Without Everand, I'll lose access to a lot of books on my TBR, including ones for my 2 current reading projects, and I do not have the money to buy these titles myself. I use my local library a lot too, but their audiobook collection is very limited and they don't have a lot of SF/ spec fic, especially older or more niche stuff that I'm interested in. And if it's a series, they probably won't have all the books. As long as KindleUnlimited and Audible don't change a lot with what is included with the subs, I'll still have plenty to read, but those services really push more contemporary stuff. It's super depressing to consider I might be losing access to so many harder-to-get titles and am wondering if I need to just focus on reading as much on my Everand saved list this month in prep for ending my sub there.

I don't know what other services out there would suit my reading needs.

I don't know a lot about the US library system, but I do know that in some states there are several libraries where you can get Libby access even if you're not a resident. It's worth checking!

edit: Meaning if you're a resident in the same state, but not eligible for a full library card based on residency.

I only subscribe to one, Audiotribe, it has ebooks and audio, I'm from Romania.
I also buy ebooks from Amazon.

I've encounter the 15 hours limit on Everand. It seems that once you hit that limit for the month, certain titles will be locked for you and you will need to use your "locks" to unlock them on the upgraded plan or wait until the next month on the old plan. I had several audiobook titles available in my saved list until today after listening to the latest audiobook on there, and now most of the recently added titles are marked as "coming soon" and I cannot access them for the rest of this month without unlocking them. Then with the unlocks it's only limited to 3 unlocks a month and whatever in their catalog isn't being gatekept behind these locks (which excludes nearly all their more recent additions to their catalog, in particular audiobooks).

Anna wrote: "I don't know a lot about the US library system, but I do know that in some states there are several libraries where you can get Libby access even if you're not a resident. It's worth checking!

edi..."


I looked into this and yes, I was able to get a library card from the Houston Public Library. I'm a bit embarrassed by that because I used to live in Houston and used that library a lot, I should have known I could still use its digital catalog. One downside is it's a popular library so I will have to deal with long queues for items (I'm 22 in queue for the audiobook I want that Everand cut me off in the middle of) but I suppose it'll have to do if it can free me from depending on Everand.

Yay, that's great!