Ah -- I might have found the catch with that Kobo Plus deal. It doesn't give you access to their entire catalog, just some titles:
"Not every eBook or audiobook from Kobo is available to read with a subscription. There are over 1.3 million eBooks and over 100,000 audiobooks currently available through Kobo Plus, with more being added all the time.
Any time you see an eBook or audiobook with the option Read with Kobo Plus, it's available to read with your subscription."
A quick browse suggests that most books in their catalog aren't covered by this program.
The publisher has to enroll books in the program. It's why KU has so many self published authors and so many titles.
K+ has to hope that enough authors will populate the space to make it attractive to readers.
It has the potential to be a game changer, removing the exclusivity provision of KU and offering a subscription availability to authors publishing outside of Amazon.
@nlowell I guess I've been spoiled by things like the old O'Reilly/ACM deal or music streaming services, which gave you the entire catalog.
I'm usually looking for specific books, not just something to read. I was also hoping this would be useful for students buying textbooks.
I recognize the economics at play, but it gave me flashbacks to Microsoft's Xbox Live, USAir's voucher to make up for an overbooked flight, and Amazon Prime Video, where "unlimited" inevitably meant "but not that one".
@peterdrake
That "but not that one" thing rings a bell. 🤪
KU had the same catalog problem when it started, along with a really bad author payment system. It didn't really take off until 2015 when they revamped it to KU2 - electric boogaloo.
It appeals to readers looking for something to read rather than a specific (trad pubbed) title.
I'm hoping that Kobo learned the KU lessons and doesn't repeat them.
I'm in the "wait and see" camp before I do anything rash.