In Germany there are so far only two large e-book flat rates with Skoobe and Kindle Unlimited and a few smaller competitors such as Readfy or Tolino Select . In the audio book segment, Amazon subsidiaries Audible and Bookbeat stand out. Now, with Nextory, an offer from Sweden is venturing onto the German market that provides e-books and audio books for a monthly subscription price in an app (iOS and Android) * .
Nextory: Tens of thousands of e-books from 600 publishers
Nextory claims to have “tens of thousands of audio books and e-books” on offer. Numerous genres are represented. The digital books and audio books are available in German and English. Nextory should have more than 600 publishers on board, as the industry portal Selfpublisherbibel writes . In contrast to other flat-rate offers on the German market – especially in the e-book area – Nextory should also make bestsellers available for download. Access to the media is unlimited during the term of the subscription.
But that also has its price. Nextory offers five different subscription options. In the cheapest model, known as silver, a user pays 13.99 euros per month – but may only use the account alone. And only e-books that are older than six months are included. If you want full access, you have to pay 16.99 euros. The family offers for two, three or four users cost between 19.99 and 29.99 euros. The subscription can be tested free of charge for 14 days.
Germany is the second market after Sweden where Nextory is launching its range, as Shadi Bitar, CEO and founder of Nextory, says. Bitar sees enormous potential in Germany, one of the world’s largest markets for digital books. According to Nextory, sales of digital audio books and e-books in Germany in 2018 were around 285 million euros. Nextory has identified 21.6 million digitally savvy readers and listeners.