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Posts Tagged ‘E-Book selling’

Google is seriously contemplating to start selling E-Books beginning this July, which will see it in the battle field with other major players like Amazon and Apple. Google has though about this for years now, and its service will be called Google Editions. This service will be different from its competitors as it will allow the reader to get books from many websites whereas its competitors have so far concentrated on proprietary tools.

Google has devised a plan whereby even small book sellers can sell Google Editions on their website, and they will get the majority of the revenue. Google will sell all those books for which it has entered into agreement. Mr. Chris Palma, manager at Google said that the users can read books through any browser.

Though there is no dearth of skeptics, Google feels that eventually, all publishers will join the project. Even the smallest of book sellers will be able to get to the huge selection of works. Publishers have not started to agree to this project but voices have started pouring in. According to Evan Schnittman, who is the vice president of global development for Oxford University press, Google edition provides a platform where all publishers, big or small, will be treated as equals. What is important is that the readers don’t require any e-reading device to look at the books. Anyone with a Google account can get access to the books.

The project will be a test of Google’s ability to sell digital books and it is to be seen whether people will buy books that are not in the paperback editions. Google has not done retailing before, though it sells Google Android applications on the internet. It also has the experience of selling software to business houses, and more recently, it has been selling Nexus, its own phone.

So far, the front at which Google has been sluggish is to create awareness among the users about its new service. It hopes that other book sellers will push Google Editions to promote awareness among the audiences. However, much will depend on the amount of revenue Google will ultimately share with them.

In a related development, Google is trying to acquire the rights of out of prints books, so that it can distribute them after agreements with the authors and the publishers. Currently, this lawsuit is pending, and the result of the same is expected very soon.