Scribd, the digital subscription reading and listening platform, launched in 2007 and has since attracted 1.9 million subscribers and more than 200 million unique monthly visitors from 190 countries, according to the company. One big lure is access to a vast library of some 195 million pieces of content. This ranges from e-books—including many from the major publishing houses—to magazines, academic papers and journals, sheet music, and original documents.
In 2019, the company also began commissioning work, starting with Mueller’s War, a 71-page e-book by Garrett Graff about Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Since the release of Mueller’s War, Scribd has published nearly 60 works, including Writing Into the Wound by Roxane Gay, an essay about the aftermath of publishing her memoir Hunger Shelter; The Summer of Fall by Laura Lippman, a memoir about overcoming adversity; and Ada Limón’s Shelter: A Love Letter to Trees.
The focus, said Charlie Schroder, Scribd’s New York–based head of original content development and publishing, has been on nonfiction, though Scribd Originals has published new work by several A-list fiction writers as well, including Two Scorched Men by Margaret Atwood, The Orchard by Peter Heller, Junket by Lauren Groff, Finn by Stephen King, and The Only Living Girl on Earth by Charles Yu.
“Nonfiction performs especially well on Scribd,” Schroder said. The publications are typically less than 100 pages and are released in e-book and audiobook formats. Authors are paid a flat fee and retain their rights to adapt and expand their work.
“We’re trying to be additive to the ecosystem and are committed to expanding opportunities for writers to be compensated for their work,” said Schroder, noting that the outlets for magazine-length pieces have shrunk over the years. “Scribd Originals is a lucrative alternative to magazine publishing and, often, writers see it as a way to publish between books.’
Scribd’s most ambitious book was published in July: 77 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists is a collection of 24 personal essays about Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with an introduction by poet and musician Serhiy Zhadan. The book runs 236 pages, or five hours as an audiobook, and offers translations of work that originally appeared in Reporters, a Ukrainian magazine focused on long-form literary journalism. The collection was curated by Marichka Paplauskaite, editor-in-chief of Reporters, and edited by Mark Bryant, a consulting editor at Scribd. It was translated by Dmytro Kyyan and Kate Tsurka.
“With 77 Days the focus was on ordinary and extraordinary people who are impacted by the war,” Bryant said. The book documents the first 76 days of the war, between February 23 and May 9—two symbolic dates for the Russian military. On February 23, the country celebrates Defender of the Fatherland Day; May 9 is Victory Day, marking the defeat of Germany in World War II. “The editors chose to add one more day, a 77th,” Bryant said, “to demonstrate that the war continues still. This is urgent lived history.”
The project was first published by Laboratory, a publishing house in Ukraine, and the project was sold to Scribd by the Wylie Agency.
“We do old-school editing and modern marketing,” said Schroder, who added that the company is looking for stories that are “both timely and timeless.” Until now, the majority of titles have been available exclusively to Scribd subscribers, but the company is experimenting with releasing more and more titles through third-party distribution. For example, Charles Yu’s The Only Living Girl on Earth and Paul Theroux’s novella Camp Echo are each available on Amazon for $1.99.
Looking ahead, Schroder said the company will continue building on its program. In 2022, Scribd published 22 original titles, and this year it will publish 15–20. Recent titles include Birth of The Endless Summer: A Surf Odyssey by Jamie Brisick and Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln by Jesse Joyce. Forthcoming titles include new works by Roxane Gay and John Freeman.
“The sweet spot for us is to publish between 15 and 30 titles a year,” Schroder said. “Our aim is that the author always has an exceptional publishing experience. If we published any more books, we would have to dilute the attention we give to the authors. And we won’t risk letting that happen.”
