In an effort to reach more readers, Harvard University Press will soon begin selling 1,000 digital books via the social publishing website, Scribd. Daniel Lee, director of digital content at Harvard University Press commented, “Our goal is to get our books in front of as many people as possible; Scribd helps us reach readers who prefer to read online and on digital devices.”
In recent months, Scribd has gained popularity and become known as the “YouTube for text” because it allows users to share and read original written works. The majority of the content available on the site is contributed from individual users but recently publishers have also begun offering their content. Last month, Simon & Schuster became the first major publisher to sign a partnership with Scribd and other publishers include: O’Reilly, Berrett-Koehler, and Lonely Planet. New York University Press and MIT Press also offer free previews of books and reports on the site.
An article from The New York Times notes that publishers are likely pleased with Scribd’s pricing policy over Amazon’s because publishers control the e-book pricing and can keep 80 percent of the revenue.
