Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".

[11][12][13]

External links

History[edit]

Founding (2007–2013)[edit]

Scribd began as a site to host and share documents.[12] While at Harvard, Trip Adler was inspired to
start Scribd after learning about the lengthy process required to publish academic papers.[14] His father,
a doctor at Stanford, was told it would take 18 months to have his medical research published.[14] Adler
wanted to create a simple way to publish and share written content online.[15] He co-founded Scribd
with Jared Friedman and attended the inaugural class of Y Combinator in the summer of 2006.[16]
There, Scribd received its initial $120,000 in seed funding and then launched in a San Francisco
apartment in March 2007.[6]

Scribd was called "the YouTube for documents", allowing anyone to self-publish on the site using its
document reader.[14] The document reader turns PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoints into Web
documents that can be shared on any website that allows embeds.[17] In its first year, Scribd grew
rapidly to 23.5 million visitors as of November 2008.[18] It also ranked as one of the top 20 social media
sites according to Comscore.[18]

In June 2009, Scribd laun Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

ched the Scribd Store, enabling writers to easily upload and sell digital copies of their work online.[19]
That same month, the site partnered with Simon & Schuster to sell e-books on Scribd.[20] The deal
made digital editions of 5,000 titles available for purchase on Scribd, including books from bestselling
authors like Stephen King, Dan Brown, and Mary Higgins Clark.[21]

In October 2009, Scribd launched its branded reader for media companies including The New York

Screenshots of Scribd's subscription service

In October 2013, Scribd officially launched its unlimited subscription service for e-books.[11] This gave
users unlimited access to Scribd's library of digital books for a flat monthly fee.[11] The company also
announced a partnership with HarperCollins which made the entire backlist of HarperCollins' catalog
available on the subscription service.[25] According to Chantal Restivo-Alessi, chief digital officer at
HarperCollins, this marked the first time that the publisher has released such a large portion of its
catalog.[26] In March 2014, Scribd announced a deal with Lonely Planet, offering the travel publisher's
entire library on its subscription s Scribd.com

Alexa rank

169 (As of 7 June 2019)[1]

Current status

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Contents

History

1.1

Founding (2007–2013)

1.2

Subscription service (2013–present)

1.3

Audiobooks

1.4

Comics Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]
2

Timeline

Financials

Technology

Reception

5.1

Accusations of copyright infringement

5.2

References

9 Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

ervice.[27]

In May 2014, Scribd further increased its subscription offering with 10,000 titles from Simon &
Schuster.[28] These titles included works from authors such as: Ray Bradbury, Doris Kearns Goodwin,
Ernest Hemingway, Walter Isaacson, Stephen King, Chuck Klosterman, and David McCullough.[29]

Scribd added audiobooks to its subscription service in November 2014 and comic books in February
2015.[4][30

the first subscription service to offer unlimited access to audiobooks, and "it represents a much larger
shift in the way digital content is consumed over the net."[36] In April 2015, the company expanded its
audiobook catalog in a deal with Penguin Random House.[37] This added 9,000 audiobooks to its
platform including titles from authors like Lena Dunham, John Grisham, Gillian Flynn, and George R.R.
Martin.[38]

Comics[edit] Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]
Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

In February 2015, Scribd introduced comics to its subscription service.[39] The company added 10,000
comics and graphic novels from publishers including Marvel, Archie, Boom! Studios, Dynamite, IDW, and
Valiant.[30] These included series such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil, X-O Manowar, and The
Avengers.[40][41] However, in December 2016, comics were eliminated from the service due to low
demand.

Timeline[edit]

In February 2010, Scribd unveiled its first mobile plans for e-readers and smartphones.[42] In April 2010
Scribd launched a new feature called "Readcast",[43] which allows automatic sharing of documents on
Facebook and Twitter.[44] Also in April 2010, Scribd announced its integration of Facebook social plug-
ins at the Facebook f8 Developer Conference.[45]

Scribd rolled out a redesign on September 13, 2010 to become, according to TechCrunch, "the social
network for reading".[46]

In October 2013, Scribd launched its e-book subscription service, allowing readers to pay a flat monthly
fee in exchange for unlimited access to all of Scribd's book titles.[47]

conversion, as long as the reader has Flash installed (although Scribd has announced non-Flash support
for the iPhone).[54] All major document types can be formatted into iPaper including Word docs,
PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, OpenDocument documents, OpenOffice.org XML documents, and
PostScript files.

All iPaper documents are Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and ha Scribd.com

Alexa rank

169 (As of 7 June 2019)[1]

Current status

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]
Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Contents

History

1.1

Founding (2007–2013)

1.2

Subscription service (2013–present)

1.3

Audiobooks

1.4

Comics Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Timeline

Financials

Technology

Reception

5.1

Accusations of copyright infringement

5.2

References

9 Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

s been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

hosted on Scribd. Scribd allows published documents to either be private or open to the larger Scribd
community. The iPaper document viewer is also embeddable in any website or blog, making it simple to
embed documents in their original layout regardless of file format. Scribd iPaper required Flash cookies
to be enabled, which is the default setting in Flash.[55]

On May 5, 2010, Scribd announced that they would be converting the entire site to HTML5 at the Web
2.0 Conference in San Francisco.[56] TechCrunch reported that Scribd is migrating away from Flash to
HTML5. "Scribd co-founder and chief technology officer Jared Friedman tells me: 'We are scrapping
three years of Flash development and betting the company on HTML5 because we believe HTML5 is a
dramatically better reading experience than Flash. Now any document can become a Web
page.'"[57][58]

Scribd has its own API to integrate external/third-party applications,[59] but is no longer offering new
API accounts.[60]

Since 2010, Scribd has been available on mobile phones and e-readers, in addition to personal
computers. As of December 2013, Scribd became available on app stores and various mobile
devices.[citation needed]

Reception[edit] Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Scribd has been praised by several newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Fast
Company, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.[61] The company has been dubbed the "Netflix for e-
books"[11] by Wired, and is a known pioneer of the "all-you-can-read" model for e-books.[13] Its
founders, Trip Adler and Jared Friedman, have been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and Inc. 35 Under
35.[62][14]

In April 2015, Los Angeles favorably reviewed Scribd's subscription service by saying, "Subscribing to
Scribd is sort of like shopping at Trader Joes: you may not find every product you want, but it sure as hell
is convenient, inexpensive, and downright delectable."[63] Scribd has grown to more than 100 million
users in 75 countries who use the site on a monthly basis.[64] As of June 2015, the Scribd app has been
downloaded 5.7 million times on Android and 3.3 million times on iOS.[65]

Accusations of copyright infringement[edit]

Scribd has been accused of copyright infringement. In September 2009, American author Elaine Scott
alleged that Scribd "shamelessly profits from the stolen copyrighted works of innumerable authors".[66]
Her attorneys sought class action status in their efforts to win damages from Scribd for allegedly
"egregious copyright infringement" and accused it of calculated copyright infringement for
profit.[67][68][69] The suit was dropped in July 2010.[70][71]

In 2007, one year after its inception, Scribd was served with 25 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
takedown notices.[72]

The Guardian writes, "Harry Potter author [J.K. Rowling] is among writers shocked to discover their
books available as free downloads. Neil Blair, Rowling's lawyer, said the Harry Potter downloads were
'unauthorised and unlawful'...Rowling's novels aren't the only ones to be available from Scribd. A quick
search throws up novels from Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett, Philippa
Gregory, and JRR Tolkien. Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

"[73]

Controversies[edit]

In March 2009, the passwords of several Comcast customers were leaked on Scribd. The passwords
were later removed when the news was published by The New York Times.[74][75][76]

In July 2010, GigaOM reported that the script of The Social Network (2010) movie was uploaded and
leaked on Scribd; it was promptly taken down per Sony's DMCA request.[77]

Following a decision of th Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as Scribd.com

Alexa rank
169 (As of 7 June 2019)[1]

Current status

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Contents

History

1.1

Founding (2007–2013)

1.2

Subscription service (2013–present)

1.3

Audiobooks

1.4

Comics Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Timeline

Financials
4

Technology

Reception

5.1

Accusations of copyright infringement

5.2

References

9 Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can access unlimited books a month[8] from
1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely
Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

e Istanbul 12th Criminal Court of Peace, dated 8 March 2013, access to Scribd is blocked for Internet
users in Turkey.[78]

In July 2014, Scribd was sued by Disability Rights Advocates, on behalf of the National Federation of the
Blind and a blind Vermont resident, for allegedly failing to provide access to blind readers, in violation of
the Americans with Disability Act.[79] Scribd moved to dismiss, arguing that the ADA only applied to
physical locations. In March 2015, the U.S. District Court of Vermont ruled that the ADA covered online
businesses as well. A settlement agreement was reached, with Scribd agreeing to provide content
accessible to blind readers by the end of 2017.[80]

BookID[edit]

To counteract the uploading of unauthorized content, Scribd created BookID, an automated copyright
protection system that h Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]
elps authors and publishers identify unauthorized use of their works on Scribd.[81] This technology
works by analyzing documents for semantic data, meta data, images, and other elements and creates an
encoded "fingerprint" of the copyrighted work.[82] BookID allows authors and publishers protect their
content on the Scribd pla Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

tform.[83][better source Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][ Scribd.com

Alexa rank

169 (As of 7 June 2019)[1]

Current status

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Contents
1

History

1.1

Founding (2007–2013)

1.2

Subscription service (2013–present)

1.3

Audiobooks

1.4

Comics Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Timeline

Financials

Technology

Reception

5.1

Accusations of copyright infringement

5.2

References

9 Active
smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

needed] Scribd.com

Alexa rank

169 (As of 7 June 2019)[1]

Current status

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Contents

History

1.1

Founding (2007–2013)

1.2

Subscription service (2013–present)

1.3

Audiobooks

1.4

Comics Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Timeline

Financials

Technology

Reception

5.1

Accusations of copyright infringement

5.2

References

9 Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd.com

Alexa rank

169 (As of 7 June 2019)[1]

Current status

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Contents

History

1.1

Founding (2007–2013)

1.2

Subscription service (2013–present)

1.3

Audiobooks

1.4

Comics Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Timeline

Financials

4
Technology

Reception

5.1

Accusations of copyright infringement

5.2

References

9 Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd.com

Alexa rank

169 (As of 7 June 2019)[1]

Current status

Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Contents

History

1.1

Founding (2007–2013)

1.2

Subscription service (2013–present)

1.3
Audiobooks

1.4

Comics Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]

Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the Netflix for books".[11][12][13]

Timeline

Financials

Technology

Reception

5.1

Accusations of copyright infringement

5.2

References

9 Active

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal computers. Subscribers can
access unlimited books a month[8] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Harlequin,
HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon &
Schuster, Wiley, and Workman.[9][10]