Online bookstore Bol.com considers "Spotify-model” for ebooks

According to Mediafacts.nl, Dutch online bookstore Bol.com is exploring new ways to sell books online.

Similar to what Spotify is doing in the music business, Bol.com is developing a subscription scheme where users get unlimited access to a catalog of digital books, in return for a monthly fee. The company has been exploring the possibilities for such a business model and reported that they would only need about 60.000 paying customers to make it work.

According to Michael Schaeffer, marketing director at Bol.com, this is not the only new idea developed within his company. Another field of interest to Bol.com is intensified cooperation between publishers, authors and other sellers. "That is not an option but a necessity, " said Schaeffer to reporters of Emerce. "We must focus on what’s legally possible, rather than the prevention of illegality." The way Spotify is set up is a good example of such a new possibility. "But you can set it differently. The reader should not have problems with security. This may mean we have to limit DRM."

Bol.com reports that they have also talked about experimenting with the price of digital books. However VAT on books in The Netherlands makes it difficult to experiment with more attractive pricing. Mr. Schaeffer believes that giving away content pays off. "We gave the first chapter of a book by Herman Koch away. This had a positive impact on sales of the digital book. If you're sharing your content and dare to give parts of it away, then you ultimately sell better. " 

Source: Mediafacts.nl, Emerce