If you’ve been in the book community for a little while now, you’ve probably come across people talking about Scribd. I’ve even mentioned it in other posts before. But if you don’t know, let me introduce you.
Scribd is a paid service that allows you to read a selection of books and audiobooks, as well as read magazines and PDFs. I don’t use the magazine or PDF files, so I can’t say what the reading experience there is like. But for most of us, we just want the e-books and audiobooks anyway.
With Scribd being a service you pay for, you may be sitting on the fence about using it. If you just want to give it a try for 60 days, you can use my referral link. You will have to fill in your card or PayPal details straight away, though. So if you’re still not sure? Read on, and I’ll give you the run down, and you can decide if it’s worth it for you or not.
Do I Get Unlimited Audiobooks?
Yes and no. Technically there will always be some audiobooks available. But Scribd will limit you. You can generally listen to around three or four audiobooks a month. How many can depend on how popular the books are. Though I often find that the latest audiobooks to be added tend to stick around a little longer.
This means that to make the most out of the audiobooks, you need to start the month with the two audiobooks you want to listen to most. Then see what you want to listen to most out of what’s left. You should be happy with what your choices are still. It’s just not as unlimited as the ads may make you think.
You also might not get all the audiobooks that you see friends listen to. Release rights are very much in place, and there are a lot of popular YA books in audio available on the US Scribd and not the UK. So again, it might be worth having a search of what’s available in your country before you sign up.
Is The E-Book Selection Any Good?
Yes! There’s a large selection of books that a few years old, brand new popular e-books and some indie books wind up on here too. Unlike the audiobooks, there are no limits to how many of these you can read per month. I don’t read the e-books as much as I should. There are so many I want to read, but I wind up reading the books I own instead. I have a workaround for that plan now, though! Basically, I’ve put a few slips of paper in my jar that if I pull it out, I read an e-book from Scribd.
The app is also really nice to read on. You can change the font, line spacing, brightness or background colour to make it as easy as possible for you to read. And the book keeps its page numbers. So if you’re filling in a spreadsheet, like me and need the page number whenever you finish a book, there’s never a problem here. You can mark pages by tapping the corner so it looks like it folds, and skip through chapters on an easy menu.
Is It Easy to Cancel?
If you try a free trial and don’t like it, or maybe you pay for it a bit and then can’t afford it anymore, you might want to cancel your account. And if you do, it is fairly easy. That being said, I’ve yet to see how to cancel on the actual app. You do need to log in on the browser and do it through there. You simply click on my account, scroll down and click End My Membership. It will ask you if you’re certain and for a reason why, but it’s easy to do.
You can’t remove your card details, but you can update them if they change. So that’s a bit of a disappointment. But I’ve not had any security issues in the year or so I’ve been using Scribd.
Once you’ve cancelled, you can still use Scribd until your next payment date. So you’ll have time to get those last few books in.
So Is Scribd Worth It?
Personally, I think so. I use it a lot for audiobooks. And I want to start using it more for e-books. The selection is so much larger than that of my library, and half the time books I plan on buying come up on Scribd as audiobooks. This means I should be buying fewer books but still reading new releases.
I love Scribd, but I also understand why others don’t like it. It’s definitely something you should try out before making up your mind. Again, if you want a 60-day free trial, then you can use my referral link, and I’ll get an extra free month too. Which is an easy way for you to get free months if you sign up and get your friends to join through your link!
Basically, I’m a big fan of Scribd, and I think you all will be too!
Lace and Dagger Books 