Bad news for independent bookstores: Is Google becoming 'another Amazon'?
It鈥檚 a sad day for indie bookstores and a sign of more consolidation in the publishing world.
Reports emerged this week that Google contacted the American Booksellers Association and Powell鈥檚 Books to announce that it is ending its as of January 31, 2013. The program gave independent bookstores a leg up by allowing them to sell e-books through Google鈥檚 platform. With the cancellation of that program, lauded by indie supporters across the world, Google Play will be the only platform through which consumers can buy e-books through Google.
Google explained its decision in : 鈥淲ith the launch of Google eBooks in 2010, we introduced a multi-faceted approach to selling ebooks: online, on devices, through affiliates and through resellers. One part of that effort 鈥� the reseller program 鈥� has not gained the traction that we hoped it would, so we have made the difficult decision to discontinue it by the end of January next year.鈥�
CEO of the ABA Oren Teicher to members Thursday morning notifying them of the cancellation. 鈥淭o the say the least, we are very disappointed in Google鈥檚 decision,鈥� he wrote, 鈥渂ut we have every confidence that long before Google鈥檚 reseller program is discontinued, ABA will be able to offer IndieCommerce users a new alternative e-book product, or choice of products.鈥�
Of course, the move further consolidates an increasingly consolidated marketplace for books and e-books. Google is trying to integrate its services much like Amazon and Apple have in recent years.
鈥淕oogle Play seems to be Google鈥檚 bid at centralizing all of their services into one place to better compete with Apple鈥檚 iTunes marketplace. Providing eBooks from one location, instead of many, would help to decrease confusion over eBook sources,鈥� writes .
The move certainly makes sense for Google, but it leaves consumers with fewer choices and indie bookstores with less leverage. Of course, Google must tread carefully as it tries to compete with the likes of Amazon and Apple as it moves into this market lest it lose goodwill. What it needs to avoid are comments like these, posted , in response to Thursday鈥檚 news:
鈥淕oogle is becoming just as overbearing as Amazon. This is a real disappointment to those of us who like to support independent bookstores when buying e-books.鈥�
鈥淲hat I find sad about this is that I remember when Google started and they were positioning themselves as cool, hip, and independent. They have definitely lost that and become just another fat cat like Microsoft and Amazon.鈥�
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
