Today, ebook subscription service Entitle announced its launch to the public. Formerly named eReatah, the service offers subscribers to read a minimum of two books at a starting $14.99 monthly rate. Using a pricing model similar to Netflix, TechCrunch said this provided subscribers of Entitle to have unlimited access to a massive catalog.
According to Entitle Chief Executive Officer Bryan Batten, the startup is not entering into a raw deal due to two reasons. He told the tech news site that for one, subscribers of Entitle get to own digital copies of the books that even after opting out to unsubscribe from the service, users still have access to the titles they have already purchased. Moreover, Batten added that despite the growing adoption of the pricing model that Netflix and Spotify have popularized with their creative content, he believed that there are still people who like the idea of owning something.
Batten said, "With an all-you-can-eat type service, people might put five or 10 books on their bookshelf that they may not ever get to. And they don't get to them, they're lost if they cancel."
TechCrunch explained that the pricing model of Netflix created a new demand in users who wishes to have access to entire collections of creative content. This way, there is that dominant possibility that users will binge-watch, for one, all of Netflix's television shows and movies on its collection. Entitle hopes to get the same demand with its book collection.
Batten also added that the company have partnered with major publishers, including Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, HarperCollins Christian, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. As such, subscribers will have access to over 100,000 professionally-published titles from authors like Stephen King, Dan Brown, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Crichton, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others, the report said.
Chantal Restivo-Alessi, Chief Digital Office, HarperCollins Publishers, said, "We are excited to work with Entitle on their unique offering that provide a new way for consumers to engage with our authors' works."
Along with its public launch, Entitle said it had raised funding from a single, anonymous investor in the amount of $5.3 million. TechCrunch noted that the company had disclosed this information in an earlier filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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