The News
Google Print. The reference version has been around since the end of last year.
But it recently got SO much better. They’ve opend up the publishing partnership to anyone who has published a book with an ISBN.
My Own Pondering and Revelations
Color me confused. And yes, that is part of the news, because it takes more than a couple of beers to get me in a state other than inebriation.
But this post isn’t about beer. It’s about a nice little on the hush project by Google called Google Print.
Here’s a quote from how it works.
To use Google Print, just do searches on Google as you normally would. Whenever a book contains content that matches your search terms, we’ll show links to that book in your search results. Click on the book title and you’ll go to a “content page,” where you can see the page containing your search terms and other information about the book. You can also search for other topics within the book. Click on the “Buy this Book” link and you’ll go straight to a bookstore selling the book online.
Hey wait. That sounds familiar…. isn’t there a company that does something really similiar to this… let me think…
Oh.
That’s right. Amazon.
Who just came out with the A9 search engine.
That uses Google search results.
Quelle surprise….
So I took a closer look.
Amazon does this for books they sell in their online store, of course.
Google, apparently, will let you do this with books anyone sells. as long as you have an ISBN. If you have a Google AdWords or AdSense account, or are willing to create one, you can let surfers see a little tease of your book if it matches their search results. And you get paid for any AdWords link they click on that is within your book.
Which brings me back to my original confusion. If I can get a surfer to buy direct from me from a Google search, the most likely place for them to find me, what do I need Amazon for again?
I said that with a wink and a joke. Despite how many ebook sellers Google just made big time with people who learn how to use this properly, you still need to work with Amazon if you can. That’s a secret I’m writing about in my next book though. So I can’t tell.
Amazon says they are happy with their current relationship with Google, and don’t plan on pioneering their own technology, according to an article in yesterday’s Search Engine Low Down.
Of course, with Alexa Internet, which they own, they kinda have their own thing going on, something that is becoming a lot more important for those of us who have a top 100,000 ranking.
(Why? Can’t tell you yet. The book will be out in two weeks. I’ll give you a hint in my free article in about 9 days. But it will prove, once and for all, that your Alexa rating DOES have a practical use, beyond third party reviews and traffic guesstimates.)
Then you have Google launching a business that sounds like competition, and many a publisher’s dream – to sell their books on the Internet without having to pay the “Amazon tax”. And yet questions regarding a possible rivalry where downplayed, according to Reuters.com.
Hm. Is really all I can say….
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