What Every Author Should Know About Google Print
Ever since the BEA (Book Expo America) there's been a lot of
buzz about Google's latest endeavor: Google Print (a service
technically still in Beta testing but launched by the company in
October) which allows prospective readers to take a quick peek
at the book they're considering purchasing. Some in the industry
have come out quite vocally against Google largely because of
potential copyright issues (these same issues were brought up
when Amazon launched their "Look Inside the Book").
The concept is this: authors and publishers sign up for this
free program and Google makes up to 20% of the book available
for viewing on their Google Print site. If a reader decides to
purchase it, Google refers them to an online bookstore (such as
Amazon). Pretty simple, right? Yes, in fact it is. While I was
at BEA I got a walk through this program and it's simple in
execution and powerful on the consumer end. A recent article in
PC World (see link:
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,121247,pg,1,RSS,RSS
,00.asp) discussed at length the issues related to Google Print
- many of which I disagree with. One issue in particular that
was brought up was that "if readers see the actual content of
the book they might not be inclined to purchase it" - Huh? So,
let me see if I get this straight. It's ok to sell a book but
let's not let the reader see what's in it or they may decide not
to buy it? What about people browsing bookstores, doesn't the
same apply there?
So how about this: write a great book, so great in fact that
*even* if readers browse it, they'll still want to buy it. What
a concept.
The idea my friends is that we live in an electronic society,
meaning that we live and die by email and the internet,
bookstores are not dinosaurs but they soon might be and browsing
a book "electronically" is in my opinion the next big thing.
Google gets it because they are visionaries. Yes, there are
copyright issues. I'm sure that Google in its wisdom isn't going
to jeopardize a program they're putting so much muscle behind to
list books that aren't supposed to be listed (i.e. publishers or
authors who haven't signed up for this program). They are, in
fact, doing us a favor. Let's face it, Google's got clout. It's
the biggest search engine on the net right now, so big in fact
the competition can't even keep up. Now, they're offering
authors an additional way to get their books noticed. I say
let's stand up and applaud them.
As a publicist I'm front line everyday trying to push my authors
into the spotlight and the facts are brutal: with 477 books
released in this country each day authors need every bit of help
they can get. I have seen authors with great books struggle to
get *anyone's* attention. To me, Google Print is another way for
them to get noticed in a noisy world and it's another way for
readers to find the books they might not otherwise be exposed
to. Forgive the cliche but it sounds pretty win-win to me.
So if you're an author looking for another way to "get out
there" give Google Print a look-see. In my opinion if you're not
using every avenue to promote your book then you're not only
doing your career a disservice but cheating your potential
reader out of some pretty great stuff.
Here's the link: http://print.google.com/googleprint/about.html