Skip navigation

Media Money

MEDIA MONEY VIDEO GALLERY

» More

Current DateTime: 10:56:49 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31765984
Expiration DateTime: 11/27/2009 10:57:04 AM

RSS FEED

» Help

Current DateTime: 10:56:49 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31625651
Big Day for Publishing: Brown Scores and Google Tackles the Future
Published: Thursday, 17 Sep 2009 | 12:30 PM ET
Text Size
By: Julia Boorstin
Correspondent

Dan Brown - Davinci Code
AP
Dan Brown - Davinci Code
There's no question that the publishing industry is struggling and Dan Brown's latest book is providing a much-needed jolt of energy. The author of "Da Vinci Code" still has the magic touch six years later; his latest book sold over a million hardcover copies in the US, UK, and Canada since its Tuesday release. Bertelsmann's Random House says this is its best first day of sales for an adult fiction-title ever.

This is of course good news for book sellers (Amazon [AMZN  Loading...      ()   ], Barnes and Noble [BKS  Loading...      ()   ] and Borders [BGP  Loading...      ()   ] and it should also provide a boost for rival booksellers as this hot title brings buyers into book stores, real and virtual. (Here's my blog previewing the book's launch)

Meanwhile, the future of digital book rights is at stake as Google [GOOG  Loading...      ()   ] and the Department of Justice are in talks about its controversial settlement over digital book scanning. Google's $125 million settlement with the US Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers would create a "Book Rights Registry," allowing authors and publishers to resolve copyright claims and take a cut of Google revenues from the books. Many in the book industry are concerned that this Google-controlled Registry will be able to set prices for all copyright-protected works. Another controversial point: the deal also allows Google to profit from "orphan titles," those books who are out of print and whose rights holders haven't come forward.

The fear is that Google is creating and controlling a competition-free market, and no competition means lower prices, which means less revenues for the content creators.

Now Google is heading towards a new way to distribute (and generate revenue) from the public domain books they've scanned. The Espresso Book Machine, from a company called On Demand Books, does just that, it prints books on demand. This machine, which can cost nearly $100,000, can print a 300 page book in four minutes. And I'm not talking about a regular-old HP or Xerox printer; this gadget binders the book and even prints a cover. Google is reportedly on the verge of announcing that it'll offer its public domain books through the system. Right now just few publishers have signed up to print through the machine -- it now offers 1.5 million titles through its deals.

This could really revolutionize the publishing industry. But the question is, for all those publishers that print 'Moby Dick' and other books in public domain and profit from the ongoing revenue, how threatening is this new competitor? The stakes will be raised as soon as Google signs on.

Questions?  Comments? 

© 2009 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Sectors:Media
Print
Email
Add This share icon
Text Size
ADD COMMENTS
Remaining characters


Current DateTime: 10:52:12 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778429

Current DateTime: 06:14:06 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 09:11:31 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 10:37:07 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779197

Current DateTime: 01:01:49 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779200

Current DateTime: 10:38:14 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 07:56:30 27 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
CNBCCNBC
  Data is a real-time snapshot  *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters