Friday, March 16, 2007

g(b)oo(k)gle


I thought this was a particularly provocative section of Farhad Manjoo's article called Throwing Google at the Book. The whole article is about Google's proposed plan to create an online searchable archive of every single book printed since the invention of... well... the printing press. This quote just made a lot of sense to me, as I agree with the theory that more exposure to intellectual property will equate to more revenue for the creator as long as the exposure is done in a tasteful, fair use-y way.
Tim O'Reilly, a computer book publisher and sponsor of influential tech conferences, points out that in 2004 only 1.2 million different book titles were sold in the United States, according to Nielsen Bookscan. This means that while a significant number of library books are protected by copyright, they are also out of print -- 70 percent or more, O'Reilly estimates. These books, he says, represent the "twilight zone" of the publishing world; someone owns them, but since they're perceived to have no commercial value (because they're no longer sold in stores), publishers don't have any incentive to promote and market them, let alone to go through the expense of scanning them and making them searchable online.

If the material is not being used anyways, someone might as well do something with it. I think Google's initiative to do this is brilliant. It will bring light to material that otherwise could be commercially buried for the rest of time. I don't see how any author could be against something that gives new life to their work work. Isn't one of the main goals of publishing something to disseminate the work to the greatest extent possible (along with being handsomely compensated)? Google Books does this, and it does not jeopardize the ability of the work to make money either.


The article actually points out that authors would most likely see a new windfall from Google's efforts. I agree. Good work, Google.