I hope this isn't a totally inappropriate subreddit for this.

I recently snagged another free trial for Scribd, and I've had paid subscriptions in the past.

It's a book service. Some of the stuff is free, but not much of it. You get like 3 book credits and one audiobook credit per month.

Once you spend a credit, the book is basically yours to keep.

Recently, I was disappointed to find that you cannot simply buy more credits for books. You can buy an extra audiobook credit, but at $12.99, it's more expensive than the monthly subscription itself.

As an avid reader, I can blow through credits pretty quickly. The last few, I ended up spending on books that were kind of "easy reading," which I read front to back in one day.

The explanation in their FAQ about why you can't buy more credits was literally just, "It's complicated."

Does anyone know exactly how licensing works for apps like this?

I'm a copywriter by profession, so I understand why books can't just be given away for free. But I've only written ebooks on behalf of businesses, usually short ones meant to be used as lead magnets.

So I have no idea how licensing works for books that have gone through the traditional publishing process, or why a service like Scribd can't basically literally function as "Netflix for books," where a monthly subscription gives you access to everything in their catalogue.