Here's a news video about Oyster:
I thought about a subscription model for books a few years ago, but I knew it would take a big publisher to come on board for it to be successful. HarperCollins, which had aquired the Eos line of science fiction books and renamed it Harper Voyager, will be the key to Oyster's success because it provides quality books. Smashwords, a distributer of indie books, on the other hand, provides the volume of books that Oyster needs to justify its subscription price and attract customers. I couldn't find information detailing the pay model for publishers and ultimately authors, so I'm not going to get into that discussion, but I assume it's by the number of views.
Here's how I think Oyster has great potential:
