Chinese book publisher joins Google project to increase sales

Jessie Ho, Google teams up with publisher of Chinese books, Asia Media, January 19, 2007.  Excerpt:

US Internet search giant Google Inc yesterday announced that it has signed up Cite Publishing Holding Group as its first content provider of Chinese book titles for Google Book Search, a service that will be introduced to Taiwan in the near future.

"Google Book Search aims to help book lovers locate and explore more book resources, and generate more sales for publishers," Rebecca Kuei, head of sales and business development at Google Taiwan, told a press conference yesterday.

Through the service, readers can search for books and read part -- or up to 20 percent -- of the content online, instead of going "physically" to bookstores to flip through the books. And to ensure copyright protection, the system prevents users from printing or saving the content to a file.

Publishers in the US saw their sales increase after hooking up with Google Book Search, Kuei said.

Of the more than 10,000 Chinese book titles, in both traditional and simplified Chinese characters, about 1,000 will be put online during the initial stage, said Ho Fei-peng, executive director and CEO of the group.  By the end of the year, Cite, an associate of the Hong Kong-based Tom Group, hopes to have 2,000 to 3,000 titles in Google Book Search, Ho said....

With information access becoming easily available through the Internet, book sales in Taiwan have been sliding over the past few years, Ho said. The local publishing market last year shrunk 20 percent to 30 percent from the previous year, Ho added.  Making use of the Internet, such as working with Google, will help Cite to extend its marketing reach and enhance its presence, Ho said.