Google has established an affiliate program for publishers and bloggers to join the search giant’s eBook program to sell books and get commissions, writes TechFlash.
Similar to Amazon’s ecommerce affiliate program, Google is offering affiliates a chance to join theGoogle eBooks affiliate program, linking ebook titles on their websites to the Google eBookstore for purchase. Affiliates can earning a sales commission for books sold.
Google launched a beta version of its affiliate program in December with Goodreads, a social reading site, reports TechFlash. Google say it has more than 3 million book titles.
After signing up, affiliates can subscribe to the Google eBooks product feed to get links to all available Google eBooks. Affiliates interested in a more targeted set of books, can use the new Google Books APIs.
Google eBookstore has downloadable apps for Android devices, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, or internet browsers and for Nook and Sony Reader.
Google describes the affiliate relationship this way:
Google eBooks affiliate integration is based on Google Affiliate Network (GAN) and Google AdSense. GAN allows a website owner (the publisher) to establish a special affiliate relationship with the advertiser (namely Google eBooks) to show ads for the advertiser and to be compensated for referrals when the referred user buys the advertised Google eBook.
Google eBooks affiliate integration is based on Google Affiliate Network (GAN) and Google AdSense. GAN allows a website owner (the publisher) to establish a special affiliate relationship with the advertiser (namely Google eBooks) to show ads for the advertiser and to be compensated for referrals when the referred user buys the advertised Google eBook.
In related news, Reuters reports that spam has hit the Kindle, clogging the online bookstore with material that is far from being book worthy and threatening to undermine Amazon’s publishing foray.
Many of these ebooks not written in the traditional sense.
Instead, they are built using something known as Private Label Rights. While licenses differ with each author and seller, the basic premise is that the license permits buyers to re-brand the content under their own name and brand (excluding copyright). In general practice this means that the product can be modified, sold, resold or repurposed in many different formats.
These ebooks are listed for sale — often at 99 cents — alongside more traditional books on Amazon’s website, forcing readers to plow through many more titles to find what they want.
One tactic involves copying an ebook that has started selling well and republishing it with new titles and covers to appeal to a slightly different demographic.
This new phenomenon represents the dark side of an online revolution that’s turning the traditional publishing industry on its head by giving authors new ways to access readers directly.
Smashwords, an ebook publisher and distributor, has also struggled with spam, but not to the same degree as Amazon’s Kindle, according to Founder Mark Coker.
Smashwords manually checks the formatting and other basic characteristics of the submissions it receives, before publishing. Obvious signs of spam include poorly designed covers, the lack of an author’s name on the cover and bad formatting, Coker explained.
Smashwords pays authors quarterly, while Amazon pays monthly, Coker added. The longer payment period means Smashwords has more time to track down spammers and close accounts before money changes hands, he said.
Recent E-Reader announcements include:
- Amazon launched a $164, 3G-enabled, ad-supported Kindle. Amazon now offers 4 models of the small Kindle, priced at $114 (wi-fi only, ad-supported), $139 (wi-fi only), $164 (3G-enabled, ad-supported), and $189 (3G-enabled). Amazon began selling hardcover and paperback books in July 1995. E-book titles now outsell paperback and hardcover editions. A free Kindle eReading application is availble for the iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, PC and Mac.
Barnes & Noble’s $139 Nook E-Reader. It comes with a 6-inch Pearl E Ink display and a touch screen. As with previous models, such as the $250 Color Nook, readers can browse entire e-books in the Barnes & Noble physical stores over Wi-Fi, and share recommendations with friends via Facebook and Twitter. The new Nook runs Android 2.1 and has 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, with free Wi-Fi access at all Barnes & Noble stores. A free Nook eReading application is availble for the Android, Blackberry, iPad, iPhone, NOOK, PC and Mac.
- Kobo announced the $129 Kobo eReader Touch Edition, with the new Pearl 6″ E Ink 16 level grey screen and a touch screen. It also announced that its current model, the Kobo Wireless eReader (as in no wireless), drops from $140 to $99.99, the first e-reader to break the $100 barrier. Borders Books is a proponent of the Kobo reader. A free Kobo eReading application is available for the iPhone, iPad, iTouch, Android, and Blackberry.
Ebook readers are generally attached to e-book libraries. One library can generally support multiple devices. E-reader apps allow you to browse and read all your books – no matter which device you originally bought them on.
The Nook ereader device is attached to the Barnes and Noble ebook store, while the Kobo eReader Touch ($139) has a more limited library. Kindle devices are attached to Amazon. Running a Kindle application on a Nook requires a hack, and it’s not available for Kobo devices.
The trend is moving towards open libraries. Today’s big ebook libraries; Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Apple and Google, each with hundreds of thousands or millions of ebooks, may be soon be accessible by most devices. Currently that’s not necessarily true. A Kindle can’t read B&N ebooks and Nooks can’t (generally) access Kindle books.
The development of ePub-3, with full HTML-5 support (EPUB 3 Overview), may make multi-media ebooks with embedded video and Flash-like animation the next big thing.
The number one book on the iPad is the media intensive Our Choice by Al Gore. It was developed by Push Pop Press. But it only runs on Apple’s iPad and IOS devices. EPub-3 promises to change all that. Develop once, play anywhere.
There’s always been lots of spam on the web.
There will be lots of spam on e-book libraries, too.
It may not be the end of the world. Solutions will be developed.
But ebook authors will need to be publicists. They’ll need webpages, blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts to get the word out.
A free app in the iTunes and Google Market should feature a Twitter Feed, a “Fan Wall” for multimedia chat, Videos and Pictures, and a free chapter to read. Do it yourself application builders may help non-coding authors develop free mobile apps.
Is HTML5 the Holy Grail for building next-generation Web applications? And should developers ditch the browser for client applications that run on specific devices, like the iPhone and Android?
Those are the questions an all-star lineup of Web and application designers from Microsoft, Google, Twitter and other companies debated Thursday during a panel discussion at the annual USENIX technical conference in Portland, Oregon, reports Network World.
Related e-book articles on Dailywireless include; The Future of Newspapers, Apps & e-Books: Merging with EPUB-3?, E-Book Judgement Day , Nook Color Updated for Android Apps, Kindle Library Lending, Amanda Hocking: e-Book Sensation, Pagination comes to Google Docs, Adobe: Tablet Publishing for Android, Google Editions: Web eBooks Readied , Bookstores: Preparing for E-Books?, e-Publishing: The New Normal, iPad Publishing Model: It’s People!, Here Come the Tablets, 2010: 11 Million Tablets, Google: King of all Media?, WiFi Nook: $149, Free Download for iOS 4 Ready , Starbucks: Free WiFi + Free Content, Scribd Does HTML 5 Magazines, Kindle Announces 70% Royalty Option
