FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
October 20, 2005
Google Those Books. Stat.
As expected, Google's plan to digitize every book ever written is coming under fire. Yesterday, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the Association of American Publishers filed a court complaint against Google, arguing that its plan violates book publishers' copyrights.
Note to publishers: Hello! Wake up. Quit your whining. You're actually going to make a killing on this deal -- and lord knows you need the help.
As any fool knows, it's inevitable that all content will be digitized. The first step is to admit it, and deal with it.
Next, let history be your guide. Each time a technological breakthrough impacted media, the media adjusted -- then benefited. Radio did not kill the newspaper. TV did not kill movies. The VCR did not kill TV. All of these added value, and that's what's happening with the Internet as it impacts every existing media form. Books will benefit greatly by being searchable in a universal database.
For one, the ease of accesss will create new interest in books. As users search book excerpts, the book -- if it's doing its job -- should interest them further (as a hit single does with an album), which should lead to a purchase. More books will be sold. It's a new marketing tool.
Second, niche books will find new audiences. At the moment, it's very difficult for any small publisher to make a profit -- too many get lost in the shuffle. Ease of access means easier connections to the target reader. Again, more books sold, more intelligent marketing.
Finally, online book content can be monetized. Publishers can be paid fees for access to copyrighted material of a certain length (provided that publishers work this out with Google -- granted, that's a big "if"). As search ads become more sophisticated and targeted, they can be used to monetize bits of searchable content. The user finds a paragraph, sees a contextual ad next to it, and the publisher collects a small royalty. As Google has proved, these can add up to a significant revenue stream.
There will surely be other ideas coming along too. Bottom line to publishers: To paraphrase Blue Oyster Cult, Don't Fear the Future.
Posted by at October 20, 2005 11:50 AM | Category: publishing + broadcasting |
4 Comments
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When I was in college in the late 60's, the text books in transportation still referred to jet travel as "aeroplanes." Strangely all the transportation professors were ex-railroad men. That in the late 1960's, not 1860s and at the Wharton School of Business. Talk about fearing the future. Of course, you're right, you don't get ahead of the power curve by hiding in the corner. Jump in, eat it up, and figure a way of making money from it in your little world. Or die.
I don't know whether I'd use the drug - sodden Blue Oyster cult as any kind of elevated example to follow, but your main idea is certainly a sound one.
Roger Fulton
http://spaces.msn.com/members/rogerroost/
My understanding of the CNN blurb is that the publisher (at least McGill) see the value of viewers googling their texts, but doing so for free violates copyright. Only the copyright holder has the right to grant access to the work. Just because the text is available at the library isn't enough. The library bought their copy. Furthermore, a few universities (mine included) have already turned over all their dissertations (in my case all 200 years) to Google... I wonder if the authors of those dissertations signed a waiver.
wait a second....
so i make an obscure sculpture. a gentleman knocks on my door and tells me, for FREE, he'd take a snap of it and put in on a medium that the whole world uses and my piece will be on it and so my potential buyers now are not just the people from the village but the WORLD...
hmmm.....no, thanks. I am a Luddite. Spank me.
How STUPID are these tools who are opposing this....
and we are the species that went to the moon. wow.
It is a nice step Google has taken and all praises to them.Intiaally when something new comes there is criticism as we hear about copy right laws and all.But such things slow down and the things developed develop further.Good things remain.And just watch how things have changed for better.