There are currently 3 particularly “hot” topics in the small world of techies and geeks of all kinds:
- the new version of Facebook profiles (an advice: wait a bit before changing)
- Wikileaks (an advice: if you are to read one article on the subject, it should be the one by Dominique Cardon (in French), and enjoy playing with this application)
- and the launch of Google Edition
My students will confirm it, in 2006 I had already announced that Google would one day become a bookseller. And I also said it would not be later than 2010. That was close (just 25 days left before 2011), but I won my bet 🙂 December 6 will remain as the official date of the launch of Google Edition: http://books.google.com/ebooks.
Available only in the United States, opening for Europe (and France?) is announced in early 2011 (“first quarter 2011″).
One question, first.
Why start Google Edition now and in some kind of hurry? Because it is nearly Christmas and … / … all indicators and all analysts say this Christmas is that of touch pads and other e-readers.
For info, and according to a study by Forrester cited here, “the U.S. market represents nearly $ 1 billion in 2010 and is expected to triple by 2015“, on the other hand, here, “the e-book market is growing : +200% of sales in 2009 for the United States.”
The issue of numbers. Tough one. For some, adopting the firm official communication, Google Edition represents “three million books out of the 15 million books that have been digitalized up to now by the search engine, taken from catalogues of 35,000 publishers and over 400 libraries.” The truth is likely to be sought in the Book Review from the Los Angeles Times: 2.7 million public domain books + 250,000 books copyrighted = close to 3 million books, out of the 15 million that Google said to have digitalized, and in which there are at least 60% of orphan works that would not be, for now and until the court decides, in the introductory edition of Google.
The issue of competitors: well … there are a lot of them: Amazon, Apple, Amazon, Apple, Amazon, Apple. Maybe Barnes & Noble as well (the largest American bookseller).
The issue of (small independent) publishers. Well, yeah. In the crazy world of bookstores, the same Google, which yesterday was the big bad wolf is now poised to become the lifeline of the independent bookstores. Google is to provide them the bricks needed to build their digital library. Unless it provides the tar and feathers necessary for their first-class burial. But suddenly, the big bad enemy of the independent bookstores is Amazon, and Google is liked, forgiven, and gets itself a skilled workforce that will help it to quickly sell … its books. Or how to cheaply create a chain of Google franchised bookstores (let’s recall there are as many independent bookstores in France as throughout the U.S., and if the news is greeted with enthusiasm by the alliance of independent U.S. booksellers, enthusiasm may be less spontaneous on the side of French Bookstore Union…
The issue of reading materials. One can read the books purchased on Google Edition on almost everything and all the touch pads/smartphones/e-readers /Ipad … with the notable exception of Amazon Kindle 🙂
The issue of sharing the pie. Yoooo! It’s gonna be tough (see here the “pricing options”). So, many options. We know that for copyrighted works, and only for these:
- the publisher will receive up to 52% of the price if the item is sold “on” Google Edition (up to 45% if sold by a retailer – or a partner bookseller)
Let’s recall that since Google regulations (and even if they still have not been finally approved by the U.S. justice) and concerning Orphan Works, if copyright holders are known they can decide of the sale price, but for the vast majority of works without known copyright holders, and unless otherwise agreed (as in the case of Hachette), it is Google and only Google which will set and modify (at its will) the price (in the range of 12 price band between $1.99 and $ 29. 99).
The issue of sharing the pie (again). Since 2009, I keep betting with my students that Google will introduce on Google Edition an equivalent to the adwords model to compensate authors not only on “the percentage of sales” but also – and perhaps especially – on “ consultation “. Others (Forrester’s analyst) are not far from following me and assume the creation of an “ad-supported publishing model ” in which Google sells sponsored links (= offers campaign adwords) on the content of books:
I almost forgot: the weird machine that can print and bind a 300 pages book in 5 minutes is arriving in Europe. It can already be found in 53 libraries and bookstores in the United States. Did I tell you yet that Google was a partner of the Espresso Book Machine?
The moral is: Google Edition is actually a bookstore. Google Print was actually a library. Just have to wait now for the launch of Google Library, which will, in fact, be a publisher. I would see that coming in, let’s say, 2 years time 😉
Et oui ! Je suis donc officiellement embarqué dans la plateforme e-blogs (blogs européens) de Wikio. Merci à l'équipe de Wikio et aux traducteurs. Pour les autres versions : 
. La version longue et originale (en français) est ici.
That's it ! I'm officially engaged in the new Wikio e-blogs platform (European Blogs). Thanks to the wikio team and congrats to the translators. For other versions of this post : . The original – and long – version of this post (in french) is still accessible.
