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Plug Your Book!
143
Google, Amazon, digital content
Already dominant in the search-engine business, Google is
becoming an increasingly important ally to publishers and booksellers—
or a threat, depending on your point of view. A growing share of Web
users use Google to find what they’re searching for online, so Google is
a crucial source of new visitors to author and publisher sites.
Meanwhile Google is evolving into an online marketplace connecting
book shoppers and publishers, and could become a major competitor to
Amazon in book retailing, both with e-books and physical books.
Google Book Search
Google’s Book Search program allows publishers to make previews
of their books available on the Web, much like Amazon’s Search Inside
the Book program. Users can search the full text of books that Google
scans and stores after receiving submissions from participating
publishers at:
For each participating book, Google provides links to online vendors
who sell physical copies of the book. Google won’t say how many books
are enrolled in the program, other than to say it’s in the “hundreds of
thousands.”
Google Book Search provides free worldwide exposure for books,
which is particularly valuable for publishers of niche and backlist titles
where an expensive marketing program isn’t feasible, said Jennifer
Grant, product marketing manager for
Google Book Search.
“That’s
really where Google and technology can come into play and help market
these books very cost-efficiently…and help these books find their
readers.”
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