Google speaks to the book world

To anyone who thinks digital content is a threat to the book-publishing market, Google wants to tell you two things: first, you're wrong; second, Google Book Search product is the solution, not the problem.

But in the 21st century's new-media culture, print publishing is going to have to evolve, according to those speaking at the Google-hosted "Unbound" event held yesterday at the New York Public Library. A crowd of more than 300 people, primarily involved in the publishing industry, came to the event to hear speakers ranging from Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing co-editor and science fiction author, to representatives from major publishing outlets such as Cambridge University Press and Harper Collins.

Jim Gerber, director of content partnerships at Google, whose presentation opened the day's events, said: "The goal is to stimulate thinking, both your thinking and ours, on how these challenges and opportunities are going to impact all of us." Gerber reminded the audience the opinions heard at "Unbound" would not necessarily be Google's own but, ultimately, the majority of viewpoints presented by the speakers and panels were more or less aligned with the search giant - including those expressed by members of the print-publishing industry.

The event was largely a response to Google's controversial Library Project and corresponding Book Search tool, which have met strong opposition from the publishing industry. At "Unbound", the tech-savvy authors, publishers and analysts more or less agreed that to grow and profit in an increasingly digital world, the publishing industry will have to expand its boundaries.

Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of technical manual publishing company O'Reilly Media, said: "We're in a period of tremendous change, and have to embrace that change. We as publishers have to become part of the new digital ecosystem that Google is working so hard to build."

Google had an even bigger stake in the event than just trying to improve the Library Project's image. The company has been trying to ink deals with publishers, in addition to libraries, that would make their content available through Book Search but publishers have been sceptical that it will hurt their profits. However, that's not the case, according to speakers at Thursday's event.

In a speech describing his experience as a profitable author who has always distributed his books for free online under a Creative Commons licence, in addition to selling them in bookstores and online marketplaces, Doctorow said: "No matter how you look at it, free e-books make commercial sense."

Fellow tech-savvy author and blogger Seth Godin, another speaker at the event, echoed Doctorow's opinion that making content available for free online and letting it spread virally is ultimately helpful to authors. "By putting something into the grapevine and having the word spread, people are going to respond and pay you with something really valuable: their attention," said Godin.

Caroline McCarthy writes for CNET News.com