The American Booksellers Association is encouraging everyone still selling digital content via Google eBooks to get ready for a change. January 7th is the final date current resellers need to bear in mind, so there is no interruption in the ability to sell ebooks.
Google officially announced it was suspending support for their digital book ecosystem on January 31st 2013. The company mentioned on its blog early in the year that “eBooks will continue to be a major content pillar alongside apps, music, and movies in the Google Play store,” the company cited disappointing results as evidence “that the reseller program has not met the needs of many readers or booksellers.”
IndieCommerce stores that still currently do business with Google are encouraged to switch to the Kobo system. There are no additional fees and many people are finding that it is way easier to do business with Kobo. One advantage indie bookstores have is that they earn better commissions on the sale of books then they did with Google. Kobo also has a hardware program that ABA members can take advantage of to sell the e-readers directly in their stores. With the Google program, customers had to get their devices from other sources, limiting the bookstores from developing added profit margins.
Customers can still read previous Google eBook purchases through the “My Google eBooks” link on their account profile. Stores can also create other links to this elsewhere on their sites. They also will still be accessible via customers’ Google Play accounts.
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and Verge.