Changing face of publishing
November 13th 2008 08:33
At the end of October this year, Google settled with publishers around the world after a three-year long battle regarding the former's book-search program.
Google had virtually stepped in with all its muscle and begun to offer scanned versions of both out-of-print and in-print books - without paying anyone a penny. It wasn't surprising that there was a hue and cry. Google claimed, basically, that it was doing the world a service. Authors (and publishers along with them) claimed they were robbing the writers of their financial dues.
The new deal isn't just a matter of Google taking all that scanned material off-line. As we all know, once something's on the Net, it's pretty much there for good. (My son still shakes his head over a couple of items that I put on the Internet years ago and that still turn up if he enters his name in a search box - along with something he did as a child).
What will happen now is that a lot more people will be happy. Authors will get paid for their works (not a lot, but at least something); publishers will see sales increase (surprisingly) and out of print books will be even more available than before.
Google's putting a lot of money into the deal, and even spending cash on setting up a "nonprofit Book Rights Registry that will store copyright information and co-ordinate payments."
But things are changing in the book world as in the music industry. Books are being made available for free on the Net - in some cases you can even download copies of them for nothing. Publishing is a changing business, and the changes haven't all happened yet.
Google had virtually stepped in with all its muscle and begun to offer scanned versions of both out-of-print and in-print books - without paying anyone a penny. It wasn't surprising that there was a hue and cry. Google claimed, basically, that it was doing the world a service. Authors (and publishers along with them) claimed they were robbing the writers of their financial dues.
The new deal isn't just a matter of Google taking all that scanned material off-line. As we all know, once something's on the Net, it's pretty much there for good. (My son still shakes his head over a couple of items that I put on the Internet years ago and that still turn up if he enters his name in a search box - along with something he did as a child).
What will happen now is that a lot more people will be happy. Authors will get paid for their works (not a lot, but at least something); publishers will see sales increase (surprisingly) and out of print books will be even more available than before.
Google's putting a lot of money into the deal, and even spending cash on setting up a "nonprofit Book Rights Registry that will store copyright information and co-ordinate payments."
But things are changing in the book world as in the music industry. Books are being made available for free on the Net - in some cases you can even download copies of them for nothing. Publishing is a changing business, and the changes haven't all happened yet.
In the basement of a local secondhand bookshop
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Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
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This shows that if you hit the nail on the head, like you did, a short post can be very effective. Nice job!!!!!!
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Comment by moonglow
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I love love love books, but they do take up an awful lot of space!
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