Google opens dialogue with book publishers

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I've read Doctorow online...

and I have to admit, I would probably have never read his stuff otherwise. Once I read one of his stories though, I went searching for the rest of his stuff, and read every story of his I could find. I did that, because I could. If I couldn't have done that, maybe Cory Doctorow would have faded from my mind and i might never have read another of his stories again. But now, after having read all of his stories, if I were in a bookstore, spending the Barnes & Noble Gift card I seem to get every Christmas, and I came across a paper copy of a new book by him, I would buy it - no questions asked. This is because now I know the author and I know he will write a story that will be clever, and unusual, and it will be everything I want and look for in a science fiction book. Think of publishing online, as a giant library, perched in cyberspace. Admittedly the physical libraries of the world have to buy their copies of the books they loan out, but think of all the books that the libraries don't pick out to buy. In this respect, all the "little people" of literature can get their books into every library of the world - and that, even if it only means that their third book gets bought at a bookstore, is much better than their second book never getting published at all. I'm writing a children's book at this very moment, and I know from experience that a storybook online is not nearly as good as a hardbound copy that you can take upstairs and read as a bedtime story for your children, but it might get you to search out the book the next time you are browsing Amazon.com and buy it to go into that little white bookshelf you just put together for your child. I'm not saying all books should be open source, after all, what's the point, with the next Stephen King novel, people are going to buy that, no matter what. But the publishers need to have a more open mind on this - allowing searchable text on Google isn't a bad thing, as long as it isn't easily gotten around. There's a ton of books out there I would love to be able to search for a phrase, or a passage or even the first five pages, to see if i want to read the book at all.

Posted by: timgesner   Posted on: 01/19/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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