Google Books Launches in Canada

By Hannah Johnson

Following its initial launch in the United States almost a year ago, the Google Books platform recently launched in the UK in October, and in Canada on Tuesday.

As of the launch, Google Books Canada has partnerships with major Canadian publishers, including Random House, McClelland & Stewart, Douglas & McIntyre, House of Anansi and Dundurn.

The Winnipeg Free Press quoted Scott Dougal, director of Product Management for Google Books, as saying, “We have every major publisher in Canada and a lot of very small Canadian publishers.”

Google has also partnered with two independent Canadian bookstores, McNally Robinson in Winnipeg and Campus eBookstore in Ontario, to sell Google eBooks through the bookstores’ websites.

Google will now be competing with Canadian e-bookstore Kobo, as well as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which also sell e-books to Canadian readers.