Rights and Royalties: Details Emerge on Google Editions
Booksellers at the New England Independent Bookseller Association fall conference, held last week in Rhode Island, were given some long-awaited hints about Google Editions, including hints on how competition in rights and royalties management may become even more important.
Google Editions, the much-delayed online e-book store store which the search giant has been trying to launch, will offer universal access and non-restrictive copying of e-books. Purchases made at the Google bookstore will be stored online, and linked to the customer’s Google account, and they can then be read online, or downloaded to a cache for offline reading.
At the conference, Harvard University Press sales director turned Google strategist Chris Palma said “the role of publishers and booksellers as gatekeepers is going to become stronger. People are going to realize that free is not best.”
Palma described Google’s role as a wholesaler, like Ingram or Baker & Taylor. Under the agency model, Google will act as an agent on behalf of the publisher, and prices will be fixed across the board.
The fact that Google will also be selling directly on its site caused some booksellers concern. As one commented, “it’s kind of like the fox watching the henhouse.” Palma praised booksellers’ ability to curate, adding that cince Google excels at selling ads – $26 billion worth – it has not needed to sell e-books. Kenny Brechner, owner of Devaney Doak and Garrett Booksellers in Farmington, Maine, was not convinced: “You’re not good at bookselling yet. Over time you’ll be creating a curatorial model.”
ABA COO Len Vlahos acknowledged that the partnership with Google has some drawbacks. “ABA would be foolish, if we didn’t come into this with skepticism, too,” he said. “But Google’s DNA is wired to help people search. We don’t know who the other partners are. They could be Barnes & Noble or Wal-Mart. The alternative is we won’t be in the conversation. Truthfully these people came to us. We feel it’s absolutely imperative that we be there.”
Whatever role Google plays as an agency, a wholesaler, or in the DTP fray with B&N and Amazon, it’s poised to have profound impacts on royalty rates, royalty calculations, and royalty payments. Whether publishers and retailers work with the search giant, or try to resist it’s reach into the book market, everyone is going to have to play by a few rules from Google’s playbook – whatever that ends up being.
The only way publishers can truly prepare for Google’s entry into e-books, is to make sure their own houses are in order. Being ready to play with Google requires the ability to plug into markets and manage data streams that are very, very deep. A smart first step is incorporating software help, such as systems to automate contract management, or royalties management. Royalty management and complex rights agreements are set to become make-or-break arenas of competition, and accurate, efficient rights and royalties management is only going to become a more critical ingredient for success.
