Google takes on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble with new e-book store
Books from Google eBooks will be readable on most devices, including smart phones, the search giant says. More than 3 million volumes will be available for access and download, it says.
Screen grab of Google's books page. Amazon Kindle users will not be able to buy new e-books from Google, but the Kindle will be able to display some of Google’s public-domain (non-copyrighted) books. (Associated Press / December 5, 2010)
In creating one of the largest online catalogs, the Internet search giant said Google eBooks would have more than 3 million volumes available for access and download.
Most of those titles are free, public-domain works, such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Moby-Dick," but the store will also feature hundreds of thousands of titles for sale from major and minor publishers, including Random House Inc. and Hachette Book Group.
Unlike digital bookstores run by Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Barnes and Noble Inc., Google's venture, unveiled Monday, is not tied to a particular reading device, Google said. Instead, its electronic books can be read on most devices and not just on those that the seller manufactures. An e-book bought from Apple, for instance, can be read only on an Apple device.
"Google is essentially going to try to break that model open" by allowing users to purchase books online and read them on as many devices as possible, said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
Google is entering a market that has more than tripled in 2010 and is expected to grow by nearly 40% next year, to $1.35 billion, according to Forrester. By the end of 2011, more than 25 million U.S. adults will be regular e-book readers.
Google also has a big ace up its sleeve: The company has been scanning library books since 2004 and says it has digitized about 15 million books — close to 12% of the world's estimated 129 million books.
That effort has been ensnared in a protracted lawsuit with authors and publishers, who in 2005 sued Google to stop it from publishing copyrighted books. The two sides have since created a settlement that would allow Google to share the books while paying rights owners, but the pact is awaiting approval in federal court.
If that happens, Google's digital bookstore could become by far the largest anywhere.
Google's books can be read online through a reading interface the company also debuted Monday. Google e-books will also work on a number of tablet and e-reader devices, including Apple's iPad and iPhone, Android-based smart phones like the Droid X and e-ink devices from Sony and Barnes & Noble.
Amazon Kindle users will not be able to buy new books from Google, though the Kindle will be able to display some of Google's public-domain (non-copyrighted) books.
"Our philosophy is 'Buy anywhere, read anywhere,' " said James Crawford, the director of engineering for Google Books.
Google's system is meant to allow readers to keep their books stored on remote servers in the so-called cloud, enabling users to read a single book on a variety of devices. Readers who pause on a given page while reading on the Web, say, can continue on the same page later on a smart phone or digital tablet. This mechanism will not initially work for e-ink devices. Nor will Google's Web interface allow for highlighting or note taking.
Google will sell the books through two main online channels: The first is its eBookStore, where it will sell directly to consumers and share the proceeds with publishers. The second is by way of online bookstores, which will add a Google e-book sales widget to their websites and split the retail proceeds with Google.
Books sold by the largest U.S. publishers (excluding Random House) are sold under the so-called agency model, in which the publisher sets the list price and takes roughly 70% of the sales revenue, leaving the retailer — in this case Google — with the remaining 30%.
For all other (non-agency) books, Google will use an algorithm to choose a price based on a number of bits of market data. Google then keeps the proceeds from that sale, minus about 52% of the publisher's original list price.
Google representatives said the proportion of the revenue split can vary somewhat depending on the specifics of deals with individual publishers.
Google has also reached deals with hundreds of independent bookstores under which if customers buy Google e-books through stores' websites, the stores split the proceeds with Google (after the publisher's cut). Google said it made deals individually with each store, and it has not disclosed the proportions of the revenue sharing.
Independent booksellers haven't yet found a way to sell e-books effectively, but more than 100 members of the American Booksellers Assn. have signed with Google eBooks, hoping it will provide an entry point.
"We can do it the same way the big guys can," said Kerry Slattery, co-owner of Skylight Books in Los Feliz. "I think it's important for us to let our customers know that we're not some dusty little business."
Skylight, Vroman's in Pasadena and Book Soup in West Hollywood are all now selling Google eBooks through their websites.
Copy protection has been a concern among publishers of e-books, who worry that the digital book files can be copied and widely circulated online. Google said it would use a variety of copy-protection mechanisms, including a patented copy-protection scheme for books displayed on the Web, encrypted files for iPhone and Android devices, and Adobe Inc.'s ACS 4 system for e-ink devices.
david.sarno@latimes.com
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