Publisher Realizes Google Books Isn't Evil, But Quite Beneficial
from the good-for-them dept
From the beginning, we've been confused why book publishers were so against Google's Book search. When you realize that it's really a giant (and much, much, much better) card catalog that helps people find and discover more books, it's only a short leap to realize that it should help publishers more than hurt them. And, indeed, a few empirical studies have found that embracing Google Books has helped sales. But, for many publishers this has, apparently, been tough to understand. Thankfully, it looks like some are coming around. Gerd Leonhard points us to a blog post by the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Michael Hyatt, where he explains why authors, agents, and publishers should embrace Google Book search.It was based on someone from Google visiting the company and explaining Google Books. While it's a little depressing that publishers have to wait for a person from Google to show up in person to explain what's been discussed at length for years by Google and many, many others, it's great to see that it worked in this case. Hyatt admits that he went into the meeting quite skeptical, but came out convinced. He notes that the two reasons given by publishers and authors against Google Books (people can just read the books online instead of buy them, or they can print them out) are simply not true. From the meeting he realized four key points (all of which Google made clear when all this launched, but many have simply ignored the facts):
- Google Book Search creates greater book awareness.
- The biggest problem authors face today is obscurity not piracy.
- Most people have no desire to read a book on their computer.
- Google only allows users to preview 20 percent of a book’s content.
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Filed Under: books, google books, publishers
Companies: google
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They also need to realize...
Come on, how hard it is to set up a tip jar for the book on the publisher's webpage? I mean, by all means sell books and stuff but ALSO set a tip jar dammit! It's cheap if not free!
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Re: They also need to realize...
Question - is your house a wood frame house?
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Re: Re: They also need to realize...
Last time I checked, it's a concrete building. :-b
Not everybody in the world (or even in US) lives in a personal clamshell, thank you very much. :-b
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You got wood.
PS WTF is a personal clamshell?
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Re: They also need to realize...
I have to say your dead tree statement has to be the most retarded comment and belief on the internet...
/facepalm
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Re: Re: They also need to realize...
2) Bathroom cabinets? See above
3) What about the framing around your sink and counter tops? Nope, why would someone need "framing"?
4)Do you receive ZERO mail - Correct, no dead tree mail. If someone has something to say to me, they use phone, email or in person (that includes the guberment). However, I can't help the spam mail that does come in, but I burn that to ashes as soon as I can.
5) What about your shampoo and detergents - I'm one with nature and don't use shampoo or detergents. I take a bath in the pond on my property using plain water. I assume the detergent is for clothes? If so, I don't own clothes, I'm a nudist.
I have to say your dead tree statement has to be the most retarded comment and belief on the internet...[and I have to say that your world-view is very limited to your concept of "normal" and "right way to do things" for some reason you can't imagine people living differently than you]
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Re: They also need to realize...
Your insinuation that you would pay your share if only they would do this or that is nothing but a self-rationalizing ruse to help yet another freeloader sleep at night.
Why not take your own advice and give away whatever service or product you make and put up a tip jar for compensation? I would be interested (amused) in seeing how long you last with this model.
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20 percent
So yes, obscurity issues? taken care of. Preservation of info? Not so much.
That 20% seems to apply to public domain stuff when google lists it too.
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Google Books - the world's biggest library
Granted, I didn't buy any of the books in question, but I wasn't going to buy any books anyway just to write an article. However, I did reference all the books I quoted from, giving those books some visibility and perhaps making a sale to someone that reads the article.
The sad part was how few of the books I could actually read on Google Books. Most were snippet view (useless) or nothing at all. The books I couldn't access were basically non-existent to me. That's what the publishers need to figure out. The day will come where if a book isn't readable online, it may as well not be published. Google books is good for books.
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Re: Google Books - the world's biggest library
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Print them out?!?
Even if it were true, what idiot would print out an ebook? That's like downloading an MP3 and copying it to cassette.
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Re: Print them out?!?
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RE: Google Books - the world's biggest library
So you wrote an article with all the material you could google in a limited amount of time? sounds like a publication with the highest of standards.
I hope you referenced the links and not the books, lest you be one of the thousands to discover something scanned in or linked incorrectly. http://chronicle.com/article/Googles-Book-Search-A/48245/
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Re: RE: Google Books - the world's biggest library
Google Books scans a copy of 'the' book. It doesn't really reformat the text nor change it's publication date. Therefore, the book, if when scanned, had it's original publication page data will have that original publication page data.
It's like you're telling people that the actual manuscript of a book has less errors than the actual book. Therefore, people should use the manuscript. Sort of pointless. Just like the manuscript makes it possible to publish millions of books the published millions of books make it possible for digital copies of that same material.
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Google Books Search vs. Google Books Settlement
Search is an unalloyed good. The Settlement, which uses the class-action process to grant the market leader a de facto monopoly on scanning certain kinds of books, doesn't automatically deserve the same praise.
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Sorry, I've been in a coma for the past decade but I know I'm right.
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The issue at hand isn't the searchable resource part...it's the displaying the full text of the resource. If Google had simply re-created the catalog system on their site and incorporated all magazines and books there wouldn't be an issue.
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But that's why I joined their Safari program.
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Sounds like a win win situation to me
How much does GBS get?
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Re: Sounds like a win win situation to me
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