Simon & Schuster Embraces E-Book Subscriptions

Two down, three to go.

Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday that some of its titles are now available on Oyster and Scribd, two of the leading e-book subscription services. The move makes Simon & Schuster the second of the Big 5 publishers to experiment with the relatively new e-book subscription market.

As part of the agreement, Simon & Schuster will make available its entire backlist of thousands of books, including works by authors ranging from Ernest Hemingway to Stephen King

Eric Stromberg, cofounder and CEO of Oyster, framed the deal as a strong endorsement for the e-book subscription market, or as he put it, the access model. "We see this deal with Simon & Schuster as a tipping point for the access model for books," Stromberg told Mashable. "It is accelerating quickly." Read more...