Google is at work on a “digital book ecosystem”, says the NY Times, that would allow authors to partner with Google and release their works on a variety of platforms. It will put Google in direct competition with Amazon’s Kindle for e-books and e-reading, says CRN.
Amazon offers Kindle editions of most new best sellers for $9.99, far less than the typical $26 at which publishers sell new hardcovers. Of course by virtually eliminating printing and distribution costs, publisher’s overhead is reduced. Google will allow publishers to set consumer prices for e-books sold through Google’s service.
Amazon keeps about 70% of the revenue from e-books, with authors and digital book publishers getting only about 30%. Amazon sells 280,000 fixed-price titles that can only be read on the Kindle or its iPhone app. Google does not have a dedicated eBook reader — but it does that the Android platform.
Meanwhile, online document sharing site Scribd, recently begin allowing authors a way to charge for their content. Scribd will focus on a corresponding iPhone app, similar to the idea behind the Kindle iPhone app.
Publishers committed to Scribd’s store include O’Reilly Media, Simon & Schuster, Random House and a handful of other publishers. They offer books and excerpts of new novels to promote them.
Driven by Amazon’s popular Kindle device, e-book sales worldwide will jump from $323 million in 2008 to nearly $9 billion in 2013, according to a new In-Stat forecast. E-book shipments, meanwhile, will soar from under 1 million to almost 29 million in the next five years.
