Looking for More Books? Book Subscription Services Recap

Hi Guys! So, awhile back I wrote a post about two book subscription services: Oyster, and Scribd. (Link in case you missed it) I figured it's been a few months so I might be overdue for an update (and if you've been wondering about this "Oyster" I keep mentioning, here's a good chance to get informed)

To summarize, Oyster and Scribd are both subscription services for books. You pay a monthly fee, and then you get access to browse their libraries and read as many books as you want. While I eventually discontinued Scribd (their reading list just didn't impress me), I have stuck with Oyster and am really pleased with how the collection has expanded. I did look into the new Amazon service, but I didn't really want to invest in Amazon Prime at this time, and Oyster has worked fine for me. Since March, Oyster has expanded to almost 500,000 books, and added compatibility with Android devices (yay for all you non-apple users!) The appearance has gotten even snazzier, and it's ease of use continues to be a highlight for me, even with the non-standard scrolling some people complain about. (I actually prefer the vertical scrolling personally, but that's just me)

Most of the books in Oyster aren't recently released, but there are a lot of best-sellers so it's nice to pick up on books you missed reading while they were hyped up. It's also fun to pick up some more obscure books you maybe didn't read (for instance, I nosed through The Psychology of Joss Whedon the other day, just because it popped up on the new release page) While I do love all my indie authors, it's nice to sit back and see what's happening in the main-stream from time to time. Plus, I still adore how pretty the app is. I never thought I'd like reading on my phone that much, but I'm a sucker for shiny things.

So what sorts of books does Oyster have right now? Well, just to give you an idea, here are just some of the books I reviewed since I got the app:

I also read Titanic: The Long Night and Selling Women Short, and today I added another 10 or so books to my reading list.

Twisted Fairy Tales are fun.

So what's the downside? The only real flaw I found with having a subscription service like this is some months I am reading a lot of other books beyond Oyster. When you pay $9 to read 2 or 3 books that are normally pretty expensive, it doesn't feel so bad. But on that occasion you read one book you only somewhat liked for the same fee, then you feel a little bummed. This month I'm pretty jazzed about my options though, so we're on an upswing. I would recommend it if you're reading more than your wallet can handle. And if you decide you want to give it a shot, I happen to have a handy little referal link to save you a few $: https://www.oysterbooks.com/invite/lorraineb Shameless plug, I know. But discounts are pretty awesome, and my first free month got me hooked in the first place.

Anyway, in case you were wondering how my opinion has changed since I first started with Oyster, there's my update on my experience so far. This post is not sponsored by Oyster in any way, just FYI. I just really like how pretty it is. <3 and the awesome books.