By Katherine NoyesThe flurry of launches continues fast and furious in the eBook subscription space. Last month we looked at Epic’s new service targeting kids, and just last week a fresh new contender caught our eye: Rooster.Working on the premise that a lack of time is why most people don’t read more, Rooster aims to deliver a curated selection of books in manageable increments to subscribers’ smartphones. Rooster describes its value proposition in terms of three pieces. In the first, it aims to reproduce the curation aspect that’s typically lost in large, chain bookstores but expected online because of sites like Amazon. Second, the books are delivered in small installments that can be read “in the small breaks you get throughout your day – whether on a commute or waiting on line at the supermarket,” the company says. “A 500-page novel may seem daunting to dig into when tackled head-on, but when broken into 15-minute segments, it seems a lot easier.”Third, Rooster lets users choose the schedule on which those bite-sized pieces are delivered, whether it’s every day before work or on weekend evenings.”Frictionless fiction” is essentially what the company hopes to create, and it’s a brilliant concept, offering subscribers something that clearly can’t be replicated in print. Rooster plans to kick off the service publicly in invitation-only form this week. Pricing is $4.99 per month following a two-week trial. The service is currently available only on iPhones running iOS 7.Rooster reportedly pays novelists a small advance and a “generous” share of revenues; authors also retain the right to resell their work to traditional publishers.If all this rings a bell for you, then you may already be familiar with DailyLit, a site founded back in 2006 with delivery via email and RSS. DailyLit was acquired by digitally focused Plympton last year; Rooster, it turns out, is the long-awaited mobile-app piece of the picture.It’s a compelling premise driving both Rooster and DailyLit, but we’re thinking they’re going to have to expand their platform support in a hurry. We’ve already seen that Kindle owners read more books than iPad owners; an iPhone-only launch is clearly limiting. It will be interesting to watch the uptake on this service once it’s fully rolled out.
For $4.99 a Month, Rooster Delivers eBooks to Your Phone in Bite-Sized Pieces
By Katherine Noyes The flurry of launches continues fast and furious in the eBook subscription space. Last month we looked at Epic’s new service
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