Google GOOG-Q is turning its massive store of digital information into an online bookstore to rival Apple and Amazon – and in the process further transform Canada’s book market.
Unlike its competitors, Google is opting to allow a host of smaller booksellers to join its online store, something industry experts say could be a boon to the Canadian industry and consumers.
The Web search engine, which has been digitizing and indexing books for years, is poised to capitalize financially on its database with a service called Google Editions
Google Editions will allow people to purchase books they find through the search engine’s database. Booksellers will also be able to run Editions on their own websites, sharing revenue with Google.
Although the search engine stores millions of obscure titles ranging from out-of-print novels to Greek arithmetic manuals, Editions will focus on relatively new, popular titles such as the Harry Potter books.
The distinction is important because Google’s controversial book-digitizing process has come under intense criticism from authors, publishers and even governments; much of the criticism centres on Google’s attempts to index books for which copyright-holders are difficult to find. The issue is currently before the courts, with a judgment expected soon. However Google plans to launch Editions regardless of which way the judgment goes.
Although some have suggested Google Editions will launch as early as next month, a person familiar with the project said that timeline is likely optimistic, and the service will probably go online later in the year.
Google considered a bookstore project as early as 2006, but held off in large part because Web browsers at the time couldn’t support the proposed service, the person said.
Google’s move is the latest in a series of aggressive plays by major technology firms for control of the lucrative and growing electronic-book market. Apple recently launch its own online bookstore tailored to its mobile devices. Amazon, which produces the popular Kindle e-reader, has also promoted electronic books as the future of publishing.
But unlike its two competitors, Google will try to leverage its traditionally more-open business model to get smaller booksellers onside. Both Apple and Amazon put restrictions on how – and on what devices – their e-books can be accessed. However Google is expected to offer open-format e-books that can be stored on any number of devices.
Canadian booksellers who were upset recently when Amazon was allowed to open a physical distribution centre in Canada – something they said would further harm the Canadian book industry – are striking a decidedly more optimistic tone when it comes to Google Editions.
“I think it could be a good thing,” said Mark Lefebvre, vice-president of the Canadian Booksellers Association and books operations manager at the McMaster University bookstore. “I think it could be better for the book industry in general.”
Mr. Lefebvre noted that many bookstores already have an indirect relationship with Google. For example, he has access to a catalogue of about 800,000 titles on which copyright has expired that he can print on-demand for customers – and the majority of books in that catalogue come from Google’s book index, he said.
Google’s entry into the e-books market may prompt a sea change similar to what took place in the MP3 market three years ago. Initially, many major online music stores sold music tracks with severe restrictions about what a user could do with the files. That quickly changed as customers opted for stores that gave them free rein on their purchases.
Still, Mr. Lefebvre said, the concern among booksellers is that Google, or any one retailer, becomes the sole source of content. He said it is still worrisome “for a single entity to own everything.”
