The Google Book Settlement

I've had more than twenty people write to ask my opinion of the Google book settlement. Some thoughts...

1. In case you don't know, Google was taking out-of-print (oop) books and digitalizing them. They made a big hoopla out of this, as though they were doing all these authors a favor by making hard-to-find titles available for everyone. There's certainly benefit in making oop books available, but there was also a problem: those books weren't in the public domain yet. So one could argue (with good reason, in my opinion) that Google was intruding on the authors' rights by making those books available without a signed contract with the creator. The Author's Guild shared that sentiment, sued Google, and together the two sides worked out a resolution. 

2. I was not really a huge fan of the whole Google settlement. In my view, the United States has the greatest intellectual property rights laws in the history of the world, so why do a shortcut because one organization decides to sue? I mean, we already have a resolution method in place -- it's called "negotiation and contract," and we use it all the time in publishing. Still, it's a reasonable argument to suggest that this settlement moves a lot of author careers forward by making their work available again. Google will be doing two things... First, they'll make the title, table of contents, and a sample number of pages available online for anybody to check out. That should lead to a lot of digitalized or print-on-demand books being ordered by consumers in the near future. Second, they will simply offer the digital books to universities and libraries for free. That's the basics of the settlement.

3. This may come as a shock to you, but there's money involved. Imagine -- our cozy little corner of the world, people were trying to take advantage of authors. I'm stunned. (Yawn.) This was nothing more than a blatant power-grab by Google, and at least this settlement means authors have the potential to make something. It ain't much, but it's better than nothing (which is what you were going to get if Google had been allowed to do this unrestrained). The settlement sets up a book registry to resolve disputes and watchdog the process, but it basically looks like this -- if you own the rights to your book, you'll get 100% of the income, minus the Book Registry's fee; if the book is oop but the rights remain with the publisher, all monies will be split half and half; and if the book is long oop (published before 1987) but rights have never reverted,the income will be split 65% to the author and 35% to the publisher. 

4. So what do you do as an author? If your book is still in print, you don't have to do anything. Your publisher will complete the process, and the terms of your book contract will apply. If you have a book that's out of print, you have three choices... You can opt in to the settlement (and therefore relinquish your right to sue Google if they've already digitalized your book), or opt out (good luck suing Google), or you can do nothing, in which case the Justice Department will eventually treat you as though you opted in. To me, this is a no-brainer -- opt in. The only reason to opt out is to sue Google independently, and that looks like a Herculean task. 

5. What are the benefits of opting in? You'll share in all revenues your book earns. If people read a portion of your book and like it, they can purchase a digital (or, somewhere down the road, a POD copy), making you money. If people print out pages at the local library, they'll pay a rights fee and you'll get that money. If someone creates an ad that includes your book, you'll make some money. If your book is included in some library or university subscription service at some point, you'll make money. In other words, all those rights that currently earn you nothing could begin to earn you an income at some point. That's the big reason to opt in. 

6. What do I need to do? If you have a book that is oop, check to see if the rights have reverted to you. If so, you should go to the Google site (www.googlebooksettlement.com) and register your books. You want to make sure they know you own the rights -- that way if there is any revenue in the future, you'll get paid. If you have a book that is still under contract with a publisher, your publishing house will work out the details with Google for the future digitalizing of your work. And one important thing to note: If you own the rights to a book that Google has already digitalized without your permission, you're eligible to receive a cash payment from them. It's only about $60, but that'll buy you a decent dinner, and you probably weren't making anything on it anyway.

7. Can't my agent take care of this for me? Nope. The agent isn't the rights holder. You are. He or she helps you manage your rights, but the rights are yours. It's in your best interest to set up an account and manage your Book Registry information. 

8. Is the Google Book Settlement the same thing as the Google Book Search? No, it is not, and that seems to be confusing people. The "search" aspect is something your publisher may do with Google -- it allows them to make the text of your book searchable through Google. Not all the publishers are participating, since some simply don't want to be partnering with Google at this point. But these are two completely different initiatives that involve both "books" and "Google."

There's been a ton of debate over this, and we're not done. The Justice department is reviewing the whole schlamozzle, and has said it will issue a ruling in October. Again, this isn't a perfect resolution, but given the choices, I think authors should opt in. I want to quote my friend Steve Laube, a very good literary agent who wanted his authors to understand why he's supportive of the Google settlement. He noted that he was researching a topic and, through Google, found a book that spoke to his need: "It's not piracy but obscurity that is the danger to the writer. I looked up a nonfiction book recently, found the information I needed on a page, just like I would have done at a library... I was able to retype the quote and the appropriate citation and bibliographic info. I almost bought the book and may still do so. But I would not have been able to find the information I needed without Google Book Search." 

If you need more detailed information, you should talk it over with your agent. I'll try to answer some questions in my "comments" section below, but again, I think the best choice for an author in this situation is to opt in to the settlement. Hope this helps. 

Chip

Comments

[marion Jensen]

If I may offer up a differing opinion...

I am an author. I like what Google is doing, and I disagree with the Author's Guild suit. Any time somebody can find my work, it gives me a better chance of making a sale down the road. If I had it my way, I'd put complete digital copies of my book online. There is a better chance somebody will come across, and eventually buy, my book if it's online. It's the whole Jonathan Coulton/Cory Doctorow/Seth Harwood model.

[Judith Couchman]

Thanks for explaining this is language I can understand!

[Nicole O'Dell]

Thanks for clearing up the confusion. As a newly-published author going from zero to four books in the span of a year, I had no idea how this affected me. In short, it doesn't--at least not yet.

Thanks!

[lisa]

I'm thinking the negotiate and have a contract situation is in keeping with the main premise Google claims "Do No Evil." The power should be with the one who created the material, not with the corporation who stands to gain from digitizing it (out from under the author.)

While authors have more visibility this way than they do with an out of print book, why should Google have a strangle hold on those ideas that are not theirs to disseminate? Why shouldn't the author decide who gets that information for free as well? It seems power corrupts, and makes "evil" palatable.

I greatly enjoy Google, but they are getting creepy.