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Why New Authors Can’t Ignore What Google Play Books is Building
The company has all the resources to compete with Amazon. Now it has a reason to as well.
How much do most authors know about Google Play Books? I would guess that the majority of authors don’t even have an account. Given that Google Play Books makes up about 1% or potentially less of the market share in English-language book markets, most authors don’t think twice about trying to get their books to sell there. They ignore the platform.
But the one thing that we in publishing can’t forget about Google Play Books: they are owned by Google.
Is there anyone who can compete with Amazon in the publishing space to break up their hold over the publishing industry (both the traditional and independent sides)?
Well, yes. Other major big tech companies, like Google and Apple, that have a vested interest in digital content that authors might produce.
Google particularly has a vested interest in the publishing industry for two reasons:
