Not only movies and series can be followed via a subscription service: for a fixed amount per month, you can also get access to a collection of books. We list the options.
Where streaming services have an enormous amount of choice, the range of book subscriptions in the Netherlands is quite limited. There are mainly three parties that compete with each other, all three with a slightly different type of offer. The price also fluctuates considerably, with amounts between 3.50 euros and 14 euros per month.
Kobo Plus
The most obvious book subscription in the Netherlands can be found at Kobo. For 10 euros per month you get access to ‘hundreds of thousands of books’, the service advertises. Although English-language titles are also included. A more expensive subscription of 13 euros per month also gives access to audiobooks.
If you have a Kobo e-reader, you can download books from your subscription directly to that device to read. If you have a device from another manufacturer, you cannot simply put the books from your subscription on it. However, you can download an accompanying app to read the books on your phone or tablet.
Storytel
The Swedish Storytel offers a subscription specifically for audiobooks. The price of the subscription depends on your listening behavior: for 8 euros per month you can listen to books for ten hours per month, for ten euros you have thirty hours of listening time at your disposal. A subscription of 14 euros is required to listen to the audio library unlimited.
The service claims that there are more than one million books in the range, but titles in nine languages are added together. It is unclear how many Dutch and English titles there are. You listen to the books via a separate app from the company.
The online Library
Through the library you can also read books on your e-reader every month. That is included in your subscription to a physical library, the price of which differs per location. If you only want to read digitally, you can subscribe to the online Library for 42 euros per year, converted to 3.50 euros per month.
With the subscription you ‘borrow’ the digital books, which means that you can select ten titles every three weeks. You also get access to ten audiobooks and five digital magazines. The offer is somewhat smaller than that of competitors, with a collection of 41,000 titles in 2023.
Library books can be read on an e-reader, but that is quite a lot of work: you have to load the files onto a laptop or PC and transfer them to the e-reader via a special app. This ensures that the book is made unreadable after your loan period. For less hassle, you can use the Library app.