Aussie readers asked for input about future of publishing

Last week, the Internet behemoth Google launched its e-book sales site, Google eBooks, in the U.S. The e-book market is now crowded with offerings from Amazon, Kobo, Apple, and Sony, which in turn has spawned a cottage industry for articles about the future of reading and the future of publishing. Amid all this cacophony, it’s small wonder publishers have responded to the rapidly diversifying marketplace with a mixture of fear and confusion.

In Australia, a consortium called the Book Industry Strategy Group is directly petitioning readers about their reading habits, desires, and preferences as a way of gaining clearer insights into the way forward. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Barry Jones, chair of the BISG, states that the group is “seeking ideas from all Australians on how to face the challenges of the digital age, and to turn them into opportunities.” Jones suggests that opportunities lie in the flexibility and ready availability of e-books as against their print counterparts:

Where Amazon and Apple have got it right is the immediacy of purchasing an eBook. Both the Kindle and the iPad come with wireless connectivity to the Amazon and Apple stores, respectively. In the case of the Kindle, if you have an Amazon account, the Kindle comes preconfigured with your details so you can buy a book at 3am if you so desire. New York Times technology writer Nick Bilton calls this Me Economics, which is really just instant gratification in book buying. But it beats late-night television.

And although Jones throws a bone to those of us who still enjoy reading printed books (which he refers to as “pBooks”), it is clear that the digital arena is where he and his group are most invested:

And what about people who like the smell of books or the feel of books, or the cover artwork, or who just want to scribble over the pages? No, these sorts of people will mix up their reading habits and buy both pBooks and eBooks.

Public libraries are starting to offer access to eBooks via downloads or by access, by borrowers, to subscriptions taken out by the library. We want to hear about these initiatives and your experiences with them.

School kids will agree that carrying an eReader with all their textbooks on it beats carrying a heavy school bag with all their textbooks in it. And textbooks form a large part of the book industry in Australia. Can we hear your thoughts?

The public can submit comments and suggestions to the BISG until Jan. 31, 2011. One hopes that they will be slightly more innovative and nuanced than the sort of shopworn analysis Jones allows himself above.

Google book-scanning forges ahead in Europe

Remember the Google Books Settlement? The controversial, precedent-setting agreement would give Google a legal basis for building a massive digital library of out-of-print books, but the deal is still awaiting final approval from a U.S. court. What about Google Editions? Google’s e-book service was supposed to launch in North America this summer, but it has also stalled.

In Europe, however, Google’s book-digitization projects are moving ahead. On Wednesday, the company announced it had reached a deal with Hachette Livre in France to scan thousands of out-of-print books and make them available for sale through Google Editions, which is now expected to launch in Europe by Easter. While the deal with Hachette has ruffled feathers in the French cultural establishment, which vigorously opposes Google’s digitization efforts, a Google spokesperson says the deal could “serve as a framework for other French publishers and maybe other publishers around the world,” The New York Times reports.

Now, The Bookseller is reporting that Google is in talks with U.K. publishers over a similar deal to scan and sell orphan works. From The Bookseller:

Industry observers welcomed the announcement [of a deal with Hachette Livre] saying it was a sign of how Google was “playing nice” towards book publishers…..

On the surface, the deal achieves a similar result to the Google Books Settlement, though without the costly litigation and long-wait for judicial approval. Piers Blofeld, an agent at Sheil Land, and one of the harshest critics of the original GBS said: “At first look it is a far more collaborative system and crucially Google seem to have come a long way in their interpretation of copyright. This looks like good news.”

Google Editions to launch before year’s end

Representatives from Google met with publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week and revealed that the long-awaited Google Editions will debut (in the U.S., at least) this year, despite rumours to the contrary. According to The Bookseller:

Abraham Murray, product manager on Google’s Books team, said at launch in the U.S. there would be over 400,000 paid-for titles available from “publisher partners,” along with two million public domain titles, but that more titles would be made available once the service opened internationally [in 2011]. He said the company was working with more than 35,000 publisher partners, in more than 100 countries, and added that he hoped to launch in “much of Europe in first half of the following year.”

However, there are already signs that Google Editions might not be the saviour publishers were hoping for. Though Google plans to use the publisher-preferred agency pricing model, the Google rep admitted this was not a model Google had sought out and hinted that it might be subject to change:

“We will meet the needs of the market, and we are accepting the agency model in the U.S., but we haven’t gone after it, and as that plays out we will follow,” he said.

Google Editions delayed until fall

A Reuters story on the resurgence of U.S. independent bookstores contains an interesting piece of news: Google Editions, an e-book service that will compete head on with Apple’s iBookstore and Amazon, won’t launch until the fall. The service was originally scheduled to launch this summer, with Google hinting that it would appear sometime in June or July.

From the Reuters story:

The [American Booksellers Association] has reached a deal with Google Editions – Google’s digital bookstore, due to launch this fall – that would allow its 14,000 members to sell Google’s eBooks through their websites.

So far, Google itself has revealed few details about the service. However, the aforementioned partnership with the ABA is giving indies hope that they will soon gain a foothold in the realm of e-book sales. A New York Times story from earlier this summer has some of the details:

Google is promoting its e-book plan as a fundamentally different and more “open” alternative to its rivals’ stores. Though it will act as a retailer and sell books from its own site, it will also behave like a wholesaler and allow independent bookstores and other partners to sell its e-books on their own sites.

People who buy Google e-books will not be locked into any particular reading devices or book formats, the company said. Books bought from Apple’s iBookstore, by contrast, can be read only on Apple devices.

Wanted: one universal e-book format

E-books and e-readers have moved out of the fringes, and publishers and readers want a standard format that will work with all devices.

In a Reuters story, Kobo chief executive Michael Serbinis said the battle between companies like Amazon and Apple  for the biggest virtual store and most popular e-reader only distracts us from the real changes coming to the book world. Kobo books can be read on most devices, and the forthcoming Google Editions promises the same.

From Reuters:

“Today you can buy a book at Barnes and Noble and you can buy a book at Walmart and you don’t have to keep them in separate rooms in your house,”Serbinis said. “You buy a book from Apple and Amazon and you have got to keep it tied up with your Apple universe or your Kindle universe.”

David Shanks, chief executive of leading publisher Penguin U.S. also weighed in on the subject, telling Reuters: “Our fondest wish is that all the devices become agnostic so that there isn’t proprietary formats [sic] and you can read wherever you want to read.”

Google Editions to launch in June or July

According to the Wall Street Journal, representatives from Google revealed today that Google Editions, the company’s planned bookselling service, will debut in late June or July.

Chris Palma, Google’s manager for strategic-partner development, announced the timetable at a panel on Google’s plans sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group in New York. The event, held at Random House’s Manhattan offices, was entitled: “The Book on Google: Is the Future of Publishing in the Cloud?”

[...]

Google says users will be able to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service. It will also allow book retailers – even independent shops – to sell Google Editions on their own sites, taking the bulk of the revenue. Google is still deciding whether it will follow the model where publishers set the retail price or where Google sets retail prices. Publishers have yet to publicly commit to participate in the service, yet many continue to cheer the idea as potentially significant new opportunity to increase the sale of digital books

As an aside, it would be pretty ironic if Google were to be hailed as the publishing industry’s new saviour. Wasn’t it only a few months ago that everybody was freaking out over the Google Book Search settlement?

Bookmarks: Google Editions, and more

Sundry links from around the Web:

• Google announces that its online e-book service, known as Google Editions, will launch sometime in the first half of 2010. According to a report on CNET, Google will take a 37% cut on titles sold through its own website; for books sold through a third party – such as Amazon – the publisher would get a mere 45%
• Delivering the keynote at Frankfurt’s TOC conference, Cory Doctorow says that the publishing industry is bent on destroying itself through a restrictive approach to copyright
• The jurors for the 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize are: Anne Carson, Kathleen Jamie, and Carl Phillips

Bookmarks: Barnes and Noble e-reader leaked; Google Books tweaked

Some tech-themed book links from around the Web:

• Gizmodo leaks first photos of Barnes and Noble’s new e-reading device
• Google unveils Google Editions at Frankfurt Book Fair
• Cory Doctorow rails against “jaw-droppingly dumb” Access Copyright comments