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.