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Scribd Launches Scribd Store,

Online Marketplace for Original Written Works

Sellers Include Lonely Planet, O’Reilly Media, Berrett-Koehler,


World Bank Publications and Best-Selling Authors

SAN FRANCISCO – May 18, 2009 – Scribd, the world's largest social
publishing company, today announced the beta launch of Scribd Store,
a first-of-its-kind e-commerce destination and publishing marketplace
where anyone – from professional publishers and authors to students
and enthusiasts – can upload and sell their written works to a
readership of more than 60 million.

The Scribd Store (www.scribd.com/store) expands Scribd’s library of


free original documents to include for-purchase works, many of which
are new, exclusive or hard-to-find anywhere else on the Internet. In a
radical departure from industry norms, the Scribd Store offers a
generous revenue sharing agreement that gives sellers 80% of
revenue. Prices are set by the seller and currently range from $1 for a
graphic novel to $5,000 for an in-depth China market research report.
Sellers can also choose Scribd’s automated pricing option, which
generates an optimal price tag based on a cost-sales analysis of similar
items in the Scribd Store.

“Our goal has always been to democratize the publishing process for
everyday people who have so many great ideas to share,” said Trip
Adler, Scribd CEO and co-founder. “Adding e-commerce capability gives
all our users – professional and non-professional publishers – even
more options in recessionary times, when every dollar counts.”

“Scribd’s announcement is a sign that competition is alive and well in


the eBook market,” said Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly
Media. “We're seeing exciting new developments every day. Any
publisher who isn't paying attention will regret it!"

“The Scribd Store has the potential to revolutionize book publishing by


allowing readers the opportunity to pay only for the content they need
– a model that offers real value in this down economy,” said Johanna
Vondeling, Vice President, Editorial and Digital, Berrett-Koehler
Publishers. “It also gives book publishers a promising new marketplace
to sell short and unique content, as we are doing with our new Fast
Fundamentals whitepaper series.”

The company will soon launch an iPhone application to give readers


and buyers access to documents across multiple platforms; the mobile-
optimized version of Scribd.com is already very popular. At launch, the
beta version of Scribd Store will be open to buyers and sellers in the
United States, with international launches to follow.

Choice and Flexibility for Buyers and Sellers


The range of written works available on Scribd reflects people’s actual
reading habits, including recipes, articles, novels and research reports
for school or work. At launch, the Scribd Store will include: never-
before-released novels from best-selling authors Tamim Ansary, Joe
Quirk and Kemble Scott; Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein's “The Twitter
Book,” available before print editions; books from the World Bank and
Lonely Planet; and much more.

With Scribd Store’s flexible pricing, publishers have complete control


over price and packaging. Sellers can specify selling whole documents,
a chapter or an exact selection of pages, or in installments. They can
also choose whether to serialize their books for $1.00/chapter; now,
instead of having to purchase a country guide travelers can buy a
standalone city chapter from Lonely Planet. Documents can be read on
Scribd.com, downloaded to a PC, printed, or made accessible through
web-enabled mobile phones.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Scribd to bring Lonely Planet


information and advice to a new set of travelers on a tailored basis,”
said Matt Goldberg, CEO, Lonely Planet Publications. “Our goal is to
empower travelers to get to the heart of a place, whether they choose
a Guidebook, a Mobile Application or a Digital Chapter from Scribd.”

Quick, Easy Publishing to Millions


Scribd makes it easy for anyone to publish and sell original written
works – books, essays, comics, presentations – and make them
discoverable by the world via major search engines or the more than
one million searches per day on Scribd.com.

Sellers on Scribd Store must own the digital rights to the works they
wish to sell and provide detailed information about their ownership of
those works in order to sell their works through Scribd Store. Sellers
can also easily manage their digital rights – choosing viewing/reading
options such as “View on Scribd only” “Download PDF,” “Download PDF
with DRM” or “Download ePub with DRM.” Sellers have the flexibility to
make real-time changes to pricing and preview options for their works
at any time.

Scribd Store sellers also benefit from Scribd’s existing Copyright


Management System (CMS), an industry-leading technology that helps
prevent the upload of unauthorized works onto the site. Every
document uploaded to Scribd is compared to the CMS database. If
someone tries to upload a document that the system identifies as one
of the tens of thousands of works in the database, that document is
automatically removed from Scribd. All works sold in the Scribd Store
are added to the CMS automatically.

Getting Started
Scribd Store is available immediately. To start selling, please visit
http://www.scribd.com/upload/store. For more information about the store
see http://www.scribd.com/store/about or www.scribd.com/store.

About Scribd, Inc.


Scribd is the world’s largest social publishing company with more than 60 million
readers each month. Scribd is changing the way people discover, share and sell
original writings and documents on the Web. Its innovative document reader
technology, iPaper, enables anyone to easily upload PDF, Word, PowerPoint and other
document types and share on Scribd.com or embed on thousands of other websites.
Scribd is backed by Charles River Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Paul Graham's Y
Combinator, the Kinsey Hills Group and several prominent angel investors. For more
information about Scribd, visit www.scribd.com.

Media Contact: Kathleen Miller


press@scribd.com

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