PublishersLunch
Both the ABA and Powell's Books indicate
Google informed them on Tuesday it is cancelling their eBooks reseller
partnerships as of January 31, 2013. ABA ceo Oren Teicher told members in an
email, "Google's decision to discontinue the program is, therefore, far
larger than just IndieCommerce and the users of our product. After January 31,
2013, Google will sell e-books through Google Play only." Google says on
their blog
that "the reseller program has not gained the traction that we hoped it
would, so we have made the difficult decision to discontinue it." Whether
that's a statement about the resellers or the core program itself is an open
question. Google notes, "looking at the results to-date, it’s clear that
the reseller program has not met the needs of many readers or booksellers."
By their count they only have "16 reseller partners" and the search
giant says "this change will help us focus on building the best ebooks
experience we can across hundreds of devices with millions of books. Books will
continue to be a major content pillar...in the Google Play store."
Teicher remarked, "To say the least,
we are very disappointed in Google's decision, but, we have every confidence
that, long before Google's reseller program is discontinued, ABA will be able
to offer IndieCommerce users a new alternative e-book product, or choice of
products, that will not only replace Google eBooks as it currently works on
IndieCommerce sites but that will be in many ways a better product."
In a separate release, Emily Powell of
Powell's Books said, "The news from Google is extremely disappointing. Our
decision three years ago to partner with Google and provide Google eBooks was
an important move for Powell's, to solidify our place in the highly competitive
ebook industry. We believed in good faith that we would be partners with
Google far into the future, and we invested in that portion of our business
accordingly." Google has not responded to a request for comment yet.
Powell's has continued to use Ingram to
supply some ebooks and "will explore opportunities to expand that business
in response to the loss." Ironically, the change may provide an opening
for Barnes & Noble to extend their platform to independent bookstores. At
the Digital Book World conference in January, BN executive Jim Hilt indicated
interest in collaborating with independent bookstores: "what we want to do
is to be working together to get more books in front of more readers."
It's expected that BN's platform expansion, including the internationalization
of their business, will launch relatively soon. And Nook already has an ebook
sales partnership with Books-a-Million.
In other clashes among the bookselling
titans, Barnes & Noble has agreed to a request from the Authors Guild to
resume carrying already-published Marshall Cavendish print titles in their
physical stores. "Barnes & Noble has agreed to our request to bring
Marshall Cavendish children's books back to their stores' shelves. By our
count, more than 250 authors and 150 illustrators have been affected." The
bookseller has not changed their policy about new titles from Amazon Publishing
imprints.
The Guild had asked "that authors and
readers not become collateral damage." The organization reasoned that
"the authors and illustrators who signed contracts with Marshall Cavendish
had no way of anticipating that the publisher would assign their contracts to
Amazon." Note that, while Amazon's deal to acquire the Marshall Cavendish
Children's list was announced in December, neither party has confirmed the
closing of the deal (and the MC website continues to feature their children's
line.)
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