Google eBooks UK is Four Weeks Away

In What's the Buzz by Hannah Johnson

Google eBookstore

By Hannah Johnson

The Bookseller reports that Google will announce the UK launch of its Google eBooks platform in the next four weeks.

According to the article, Google held a closed-door meeting at the Booksellers Association’s Independent Booksellers Forum in the UK on Sunday to discuss the coming launch.

As with Google eBooks in the US, the platform will allow independent booksellers to sell e-books either as an affiliate or by adding a Google e-bookstore to their own websites.

Bob Jackson, MD of UK wholesaler Gardners, was also at the meeting. Garders launched consumer-facing website and bookseller network called Hive earlier in 2011 to support online sales through independent bookstores across the UK.

Jackson said that booksellers who have already signed up with Hive will — after the UK launch of Google eBooks — will have access to both Hive’s and Google’s e-book catalogues through Hive’s e-commerce solution.

When Google eBooks launched in the USA in December 2010, Google entered a similar partnership with the American Booksellers Association’s bookselling platform, IndieBound.

>> Read the full article from The Bookseller here.

About the Author

Hannah Johnson

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Hannah Johnson is the publisher of international book industry magazine Publishing Perspectives, which provides daily information and news about book markets around the world. In addition to building partnerships with international cultural and trade organizations, she works with the Frankfurt Book Fair to organize and support a number of its overseas initiatives. Hannah has also worked as the managing editor for an online media company, The Hooch Life, focused on craft distillers and cocktail experts. Prior to that, she worked as a project manager for the Frankfurt Book Fair’s New York office, managing various business and marketing activities.