Glose has been in operation since 2014 and they sell digital audiobooks and ebooks. They carry content from all of the major publishers, including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster. The books can be edited and the notes and highlights can be shared with friends. More than 1 million people have used Glose and 25 universities have signed up to Glose Education, including Stanford and Columbia University. Glose also provides hundreds of thousands of public domain books for free.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Medium supports a wide range of publishing, from short blog posts to in-depth investigative journalism, and everything in between. With the integration of Glose, Medium will have more than 1.5 million books available within its vibrant ecosystem. Readers will be able to find more of what they are looking for by an author or on a subject, and writers can have their different content forms all in one place, elevating their voice and perspective.
I think Medium bought the company so they can recommend audiobooks or ebooks by authors who write on their platform. Once the Glose library is eventually hosted by Medium, it will be a one stop shop for journalism and also selling digital content, so you can read for free, and also buy an ebook by an author you like, without having to leave Medium and being diverted to other websites. Glose will continue to run their business as usual, there is no date in which the service will be sunsetted.
“We’re impressed not only by Glose’s reading products and technology, but also by their experience in partnering with book authors and publishers,” Medium CEO Ev Williams said in a statement. “Books are a means of exploring an idea, a way to go deeper. The vast majority of the world’s ideas are stored in books and journals, yet are hardly searchable nor shareable. With Glose, we want to improve that experience within Medium’s large network of engaged readers and writers. We look forward to working with the Glose team on partnering with publishers to help authors reach more readers.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.