Google fans begin counteroffensive against Library critics

Google is benefitting from some common-sense counterattacks on critics of its Google Book Search and Library programs.

Obviously, the pendulum has been swinging in one direction too long. Google has taken a public-relations beating on grounds of copyright infringement, and much of the criticism has been either disingenuous or just wrong.

USA Today tech correspondent Kevin Maney weighed in this week, arguing that "[t]he misinformation and misguided attempts to stop these projects are mind-blowing."

Maney rightly points out that Google Print and Google Library don't threaten publishers, because the programs are much the same as Amazon.com's "Search Inside the Book" feature, which has helped publishers stay afloat by boosting book sales for the past couple years. And exposure of niche titles on Google probably will boost sales even further.

Google shows Base items in general search results

Google is showing items listed in its Base classified service in its general search results, which could be a boon for self-publishing authors seeking publicity for their work.

When Google launched Base several days ago, I listed my self-published book Home-Based Bookstore on the service, just to see if it might get a few hits and perhaps a sale or two among Web surfers using the terms "used books."

The Base listing has drawn more hits than any other link, including an eBay listing, the relevant product page on my Web site, and the book's product page on Amazon.

Amazon to sell subscriptions to sales data

Amazon.com will begin selling monthly subscriptions to its historical sales data. Amazon Historical Pricing provides access to over three years of Amazon sales data on books, music, videos, and DVDs.

See more information here.

Google changes name of 'Print' program to 'Google Book Search'

Google is trying to sidestep the copyright infringement controversy over its 'Google Print' program by renaming it 'Google Book Search.'

In making the announcement on its official blog, Google product marketing manager Jen Grant acknowledged the controversy over the program. "Google Book Search" actually is a better moniker for the service, than Google Print, which implied that users will be able to print out copies of copyrighted material.

Many publishers have enthusiastically joined the program, hoping for greater exposure and sales of their titles. But Google has come under intense criticism from publishers who argue that Google should obtain permission before posting out-of-print titles before obtaining permission from copyright holders. The Association of American Publishers sued Google on Oct. 19, claiming copyright infringement.

Selling books on Google Base: It's better than Froogle, Adwords, Amazon or eBay

Google Base went live just a day ago, and it appears the new platform is providing serious traffic for small sellers of products on the Internet.

Earlier today, I listed my recently self-published book, The Home-Based Bookstore, on Google Base, which has already resulted in about 20 page views at my Web site in the past two hours. So my brand-new listing on Google Base already is outperforming all my other Internet-based marketing efforts, which include:

-- A listing on Froogle, which has resulted in no page views in nearly two weeks.

-- A Google Adwords campaign costing over $400 in the past week, which has resulted in about 200 page views and no apparent sales.

-- A listing on Amazon Marketplace, which has resulted in a half-dozen sales in one week (but no costs except for a 15-percent commission after the sale); and,

-- A few dozen hits over the past week from organic seach-engine hits from Google, MSN, and Yahoo.

Recently I uploaded my book's PDF to Google Print, which should result in a lot more free traffic, whenever the Google gods get around to making my listing live and I begin seeing hits on the full text of my book. (I uploaded the PDF two weeks ago, but it's not even in the "processing" stage yet.)

Make no mistake, I don't believe that Google Base should be used for spamming people with irrelevant content. However, the potential beauty of Base is that people searching for classified-type ads can find relevant products they'll be interested in. For example, people who are viewing my Google Base listing are searching for "books for sale", "selling books", selling on the Internet", etc. I believe that many of them will be glad to see a clearly relevant product listing.

The main question is, how will Google integrate its Base results into its regular organic search results for users at Google.com? Certainly at this point less than one percent of Internet users are even aware of Google Base. For Base listings that are highly relevant to general search queries, it seems to me that everyone will win by including these Base listings in regular organic results.

So, kudos to Google for continuing to push the envelope on introducing new services that lots of people can use. Let's just hope they don't get the same degree of monopoly power with Internet traffic that Microsoft achieved with desktop software.

Here's one way to self-publish: post an e-book on your blog

Fiction writer William Quick has come up with a way to profitably sell books using free publicity generated by a blog. After five years of trying to get his conspiracy novel Inner Circles published by a regular trade press, Quick gave up and posted it as an e-book on his blog, Daily Pundit. The effort cost nothing, not even the 15-percent agent's cut, since it rode free on his popular blog, which carries the tagline, "Rationales for an Irrational World."

In the first few weeks after posting the e-book last September, Quick sold more than 900 copies at $5 a pop, raking in about $4,500. After the initial burst of sales from his blog faithful, sales settled down to about 100 copies a month. Not a huge fortune, but Quick figures his total take will be higher than he would have gotten with a mainstream press -- if he had been able to find one for this particular book.

A typical contract for a midlist title would have included an advance of about $10,000 –- half on signing the contract, and the other half upon publication.

Can any self-publisher do this? Not exactly, Quick admits he’s a special case -- an experienced fiction writer with a track record. He had a steady readership at his blog, which provided a ready audience. (Internet trivia buffs may recognize Quick's name as the writer who coined the word "blogosphere.")

To replicate this kind of success, you’d need to first build up an online readership, and then put out a respectable product.

Since releasing the book as an e-book, Quick has used the self-publishing company Lulu to sell the book in hard copy, a 329-page trade paperback. On Lulu the book is priced at $17.95.

Read Quick’s complete account of his e-book adventure here.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Print-on-demand hardware may dip under $100K

A New York company plans to become the first to offer an automated book printing machine for under $100,000. The innovation could put the printing of perfect-bound out-of-print and niche titles within the reach of self-publishers and small publishers.

3BillionBooks, Inc. (3BB) has designed a totally automatic printer that can produce between 15 and 20 "library quality" paperbacks per hour. The company says it has three patents on the machine and has applied for four more.

The company says it's developing technology for a digital library that would reside in numerous locations, and ensure the proper titles are in a compatible format, along with appropriate licenses, rights and encryption. The company plans to do business in the United States and Europe, but plans to make the thrust of its efforts outside the U.S. in order to bypass the controversies in the U.S. relating to digital rights.

3BB also wants to develop multiple language content for its digital library, and distribute English and other "important" language content, to leverage the global nature of its long-term distribution plans.

3BillionBooks was founded by Jason Epstein and Michael Smolens, who were profiled in a 2001 story in New York Review of Books.

More information is available by contacting:
Michael L. Smolens
Chairman & CEO
3BillionBooks, Inc.
360 East 72nd St. #C3104
New York, NY 10021 USA
Tel: 1-917-742-0158
Fax: 1-208-275-4193
Email: MLsmolens@aol.com
http://www.3billionbooks.com/




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Authors pan Amazon's buy-by-the-page program

Consumers are cheering Amazon.com's new program enabling readers to purchase single pages or chapters of a book, and why not? Who wants to pay $24.95 for the whole book if you only need one chapter?

The reaction among authors is more circumspect. What if a self-publisher already features sample chapters on his Web site? If a reader can then cherry-pick the rest of the book from Amazon, they won't need to buy the whole thing.

You can bet Amazon is getting inundated with inquiries from authors who are believe the program is already live. In fact, just an announcement was made, with no specifics on pricing or how revenues will be split with publishers. Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said the cost for most books would be "a few cents per page" although specialized reference works would cost more.

Publishers who are interested in participating can inquire at the address digitalbooks@amazon.com.

The announcement featured two programs: Amazon Pages, in which customers will be able to buy portions of a book for online viewing, and a separate program, Amazon Upgrade, where buyers will be able to access the full online text of a book after buying the hard-copy edition.

The cost of Amazon Upgrade would likely be "small," Bezos said, such as $1.99 extra for online viewing of a $20 book.

Meanwhile, Random House also said it plans to work with online booksellers, search engines, and portals to offer the contents of its books on a buy-by-the-page model. Up to 5 percent of book pages will be available as sample page views. After that pages will cost four cents. Special reference works and cookbooks would cost more, perhaps 25 cents a page, Random House says.

It seems that Amazon is having a hard time keeping up with Google these days. The search giant is also reportedly developing an eat-by-the-page program.

Self-publishing authors have seen past Amazon initiatives such as "Search Inside the Book" as beneficial because they have spurred book sales. They will likely take a wait-and-see attitude toward "Amazon Pages."




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

How to pay state sales taxes on direct sales

Self-publishing authors who sell copies of their book through their Web site or the mail should take care to pay state sales taxes on orders shipped to customers residing in their home state.

Although the Internet is a "tax-free zone" in many respects, this does not apply to state sales taxes for goods sold to customers in your state. To pay the tax, you’ll need to open an account and obtain a "resale license," known as a resale number or sales tax certificate in some instances.

You don't collect state sales tax on orders shipped outside your state, however. This is because Internet sales — as well as fax, telephone, and mail-order sales — shipped to another state aren’t subject to sales tax unless you have an office or warehouse located there. In some states, shipping and handling fees are not subject to sales tax, but in some they are — you will need to investigate the issue for your home state.

Obtaining a resale certificate from your state tax office will relieve you of paying state sales tax on the items you buy for resale, but it will also obligate you to report and pay taxes on the sales you make to customers within your state.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Print-on-Demand grabbing spotlight from e-books

So far, the impact of e-books has been practically invisible, and it's no mystery. Big publishers haven't discounted them much, giving consumers little incentive to switch from their dead-tree forerunners. When buyers must choose between a fancy hardcover for $18 and an e-book for $12, the e-book loses.

Amazon is moving ahead with e-books while Barnes & Noble seems to be swearing them off. B&N dropped its e-book initiative in 2003, aruging that consumers have rejected the new format.

Meanwhile, while e-books have gotten most of the publicity, free nonfiction on the Web has already made lots of book categories irrelevant. And nobody could have expected a dozen years ago that the hard-copy encyclopedia would be virtually extinct by now.

At the same time, print-on-demand and totally reversed the economics for nich self-publishers. POD enables the efficient printing of books one at a time. In the future, it’s possible that no title would every have to go out of print. And books that didn't have a big enough market to warrant a new edition will stay alive.

No double publishers have electronic files of most books published within the past two decades. Whether POD will bring in enough cash to pay for scanning and reformatting of older titles is anyone's guess at this point.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)