Google is poised to launch its "buy anywhere, read anywhere" digital books programme
Google Editions simultaneously in the US, UK and Europe within the first half of next year.Speaking at the Tools of Change conference in Frankfurt, Amanda Edmonds, Google's director of strategic partnerships, said the programme would be rolled out by June. Edmonds said one of the strengths of Google's offering was that once bought, the e-book would exist in a "cloud library", which could be accessed from potentially any device, including laptops, "smart phones" or e-readers. "As long as you can get onto the library, you can access it," Edmonds said. "All books will live in the same library, so it doesn't matter where you buy it or where you read it."Once a book has been accessed on a given device, a cached version will exist, making it possible for readers to access the book offline. "There's a really complex set of offerings out there for the consumer. Our concept is that it should be open: they shouldn't have to pick the device, software or retailer," said Edmonds.
Google Editions has three business models: to allow the consumer to buy the e-book via Google Books; to buy it from a partner retailer; or from a publisher's own website.
Payment will be split 63/37 in the publisher's favour through the first route, while if the book is bought from a retailer, the publisher will take 45%, with the remaining 55% split between retailer and Google.
Edmonds said discussions were "just beginning" as to what split that would be. She added no split had been decided on for books bought via a publisher's site.Edmonds said Google may discount books from their list price in countries where this is permitted, however the discount would be taken from Google's slice of the profit, not the publisher's.
Existing retail and publisher partnerships that the company has through its Google Preview programme are expected to pave the way for groups to sign up. W H Smith, Blackwell and The Book Depository are existing partners, as are thousands of UK publishers.Edmonds said it was "definitely" Google's intention to partner with device manufacturers, but declined to give names. She added she "doubted" Kindle would be on board. The one topic Edmonds would not comment on was the Google Settlement.
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