I attended my second Commonwealth Club event this year on Wednesday for a discussion on the impact of Google Books on the future of the publishing industry. The five participants were Google lawyer, author, Internet archivist (working with libraries and universities in the Open Content Alliance), IP lawyer, and independent bookstore owner. So the only stakeholders missing from the debate were i) consumers (but we were in the audience) and ii) publishers.
I was particularly looking forward to the debate because it encompassed both mundane/ everyday issues (how will this impact and how and where I buy/read books?) and esoteric societal issues (what does this mean for knowledge creation and the maintenance of diversity in books?)
The first part of the debate was focused on the "what", getting to what Google Books actually does. Cutting through the lawyer speak and the media confusion, the essential point is that Google Books attempts to put the contents of books online and therefore make them discoverable, but not to sell them online. They do this by scanning the books, then presenting the thumbnail and snippet, and links to retailers (predominantly Amazon). . This has led to lawsuits from copyright holders claiming massive copyright infringement at the expense of the rights of individual writers. Hardly surprising given Google's cash hoard.
The second part of the debate was focused on the "so what", assessing the impact of Google Books on the other players in the industry. There has been a great deal of concern that Google Books would put books online and therefore deprive publishers, authors and retailers of their revenues. The two most interesting comments were from the author and the bookstore owner. The author was actually hopeful that Google would ultimately, if not immediately, benefit him because it would connect new potential readers to his otherwise hard to find. For example, his dearly beloved book on the great African American pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Page would now be discoverable, even if it went out of print. He could also envision one day selling his books directly over the web and bypassing the publishers, although he believes he would need to make more money from appearances given the inevitable losses from copying. The bookseller was more pessimistic and made the point that the nature of the books produced is inextricably connected to the nature of the distribution. If Safeway stopped selling books, then the formulaic romance and thriller novels would disappear; if independent local bookstores disappeared, then edgy, vibrant, innovative books would disappear. He laid claim to being the canary in the coalmine.
The Google lawyer concluded by saying that Google loves authors, publishers and booksellers and their only goal is to make books more accessible to a wider audience. I would be a little more convinced by his argument if Google Books was linked to Google Local, thus encouraging potential readers to find books at their local bookstore, rather than primarily directing them to Amazon. But then again Google make less money on Google Local...
Another $18 well spent. Maybe it's time to become a member of the Commonwealth Club.