German publishers' Google challenge

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From the Chronicle of Higher Education,

     German publishers' Google challenge

By Doreen Carvajal International Herald Tribune

MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2005


When the online retailer Amazon.com came calling a year ago to sign up
German publishers for a digital indexing project, one book executive urged
a strategy of polite rebuffs.  Then this year, when Google started wooing
publishers to sign on for its own digital book project, that German
executive, Matthias Ulmer, decided the time was ripe to seize control with
a homegrown counterattack.  Now Ulmer and a five-member task force of the
German book trade association Boersenverein are organizing their own digital
indexing project, Volltextsuche Online. The effort of the 6,000-member
association of booksellers and publishers comes in reaction to Google's
plans, unveiled in December, to start digitizing books in the world, with
the first step being major university library collections in the United
States.

"We have to decide whether distribution is in the hands of a few global
distributors and global publishing houses," said Ulmer, who heads Eugen
Ulmer Verlag, a medium-size publishing house in Stuttgart. Publishers and
booksellers that are involved, he said, "feel that if they don't do this
today, they may no longer exist in some years."  The German project
includes some publishing industry heavyweights like Verlagsgruppe Georg
von Holtzbrinck, a Stuttgart-based media group. But it still faces a test
of membership reaction at a general assembly of the association on June 17
in Berlin. The trade association is not putting the idea to a vote but
will essentially gather feedback.

Publishers are well aware of the resources of their rival, Google Print,
which plans to offer free, searchable online copies of out-of-copyright
books. But they are most concerned about its plans to also offer limited
portions of newer books like the table of contents and excerpts. Amazon
has already expanded its basic keyword searching techniques so that
results display information from inside books.  Google's ambitious
undertaking has created unease in France over the hegemony of the English
language and has led to a European effort to organize an alternative
library scanning initiative. The Association of American University
Presses in the United States has also raised fears that the Google project
could lead to massive copyright infringement.

Stefan Keuchel, a spokesman for Google Germany in Hamburg, said the German
initiative and the French effort had turned into something of a political
debate.  "There's been some misunderstanding and misconceptions about what
Google is doing," he said, "so we are trying to be open for discussion
with publishers. And so far, we've been seeing very high interest from
German publishers who want to talk to us."  Ulmer, who is on the
Boersenverein board, said most people in his group did not share the
concerns about the Google project that emerged in France.

"Discussion is completely about titles still under copyright," Ulmer said,
noting that Google claimed the right to digitize books through contracts
with libraries and offered publishers and authors a chance to "opt out" of
the database.

Ulmer said it was possible to offer the beginnings of a searchable
database as early as this autumn by using existing decentralized servers
of publishers and converting digital material to lower resolution files.

Since the trade organization started organizing its initiative after the
Google project was announced, the reaction has varied among booksellers,
who were largely positive, and publishers, who harbored some doubts about
taking on such an ambitious project.

Rudiger Wischenbart, a Frankfurt-based cultural consultant and former
communications director for the Frankfurt Book Fair, said many booksellers
and publishers were simply frightened by the future.

"These publishers are just scared that they may lose control of their
stuff but hardly have any positive strategy so far," he said. "There are
no e-visionaries among them."

Christian Sprang, legal counsel for Boersenverein, conceded that members had
doubts about the new project because of potential costs and resources
needed to achieve it. "It's quite a huge matter, and Google and Amazon are
major players in the market," he said.

Sprang said the organization had invited Google and Amazon to participate
in the project and the general assembly to address booksellers and
publishers for a panel discussion on the future of digital publishing.

Keuchel of Google declined to comment on company plans for digitizing
books in Germany. But in response to the trade association's invitation,
he said Google already had plans under way in the United States for its
own project.

Boersenverein's project would begin with newer, front-list titles dating
back about five years, according to Ulmer. He also said he envisioned the
new system offering new ways of buying books in various forms.

For example, readers could buy a single chapter of a book, download a
title for a short period or buy a mixture of chapters from different
biographies of the same person.

"Of course, it's in the interest of Google and Amazon and the big
publishers that this platform doesn't exist," Ulmer said. "But we have the
power to make it happen."

 When the online retailer Amazon.com came calling a year ago to sign up
German publishers for a digital indexing project, one book executive urged
a strategy of polite rebuffs.

Then this year, when Google started wooing publishers to sign on for its
own digital book project, that German executive, Matthias Ulmer, decided
the time was ripe to seize control with a homegrown counterattack.

Now Ulmer and a five-member task force of the German book trade
association Boersenverein are organizing their own digital indexing project,
Volltextsuche Online. The effort of the 6,000-member association of
booksellers and publishers comes in reaction to Google's plans, unveiled
in December, to start digitizing books in the world, with the first step
being major university library collections in the United States.

"We have to decide whether distribution is in the hands of a few global
distributors and global publishing houses," said Ulmer, who heads Eugen
Ulmer Verlag, a medium-size publishing house in Stuttgart. Publishers and
booksellers that are involved, he said, "feel that if they don't do this
today, they may no longer exist in some years."

The German project includes some publishing industry heavyweights like
Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, a Stuttgart-based media group. But it
still faces a test of membership reaction at a general assembly of the
association on June 17 in Berlin. The trade association is not putting the
idea to a vote but will essentially gather feedback.

Publishers are well aware of the resources of their rival, Google Print,
which plans to offer free, searchable online copies of out-of-copyright
books. But they are most concerned about its plans to also offer limited
portions of newer books like the table of contents and excerpts. Amazon
has already expanded its basic keyword searching techniques so that
results display information from inside books.

Google's ambitious undertaking has created unease in France over the
hegemony of the English language and has led to a European effort to
organize an alternative library scanning initiative. The Association of
American University Presses in the United States has also raised fears
that the Google project could lead to massive copyright infringement.

Stefan Keuchel, a spokesman for Google Germany in Hamburg, said the German
initiative and the French effort had turned into something of a political
debate.

"There's been some misunderstanding and misconceptions about what Google
is doing," he said, "so we are trying to be open for discussion with
publishers. And so far, we've been seeing very high interest from German
publishers who want to talk to us."

Ulmer, who is on the Boersenverein board, said most people in his group did
not share the concerns about the Google project that emerged in France.

"Discussion is completely about titles still under copyright," Ulmer said,
noting that Google claimed the right to digitize books through contracts
with libraries and offered publishers and authors a chance to "opt out" of
the database.

Ulmer said it was possible to offer the beginnings of a searchable
database as early as this autumn by using existing decentralized servers
of publishers and converting digital material to lower resolution files.

Since the trade organization started organizing its initiative after the
Google project was announced, the reaction has varied among booksellers,
who were largely positive, and publishers, who harbored some doubts about
taking on such an ambitious project.

Rudiger Wischenbart, a Frankfurt-based cultural consultant and former
communications director for the Frankfurt Book Fair, said many booksellers
and publishers were simply frightened by the future.

"These publishers are just scared that they may lose control of their
stuff but hardly have any positive strategy so far," he said. "There are
no e-visionaries among them."

Christian Sprang, legal counsel for Boersenverein, conceded that members had
doubts about the new project because of potential costs and resources
needed to achieve it. "It's quite a huge matter, and Google and Amazon are
major players in the market," he said.

Sprang said the organization had invited Google and Amazon to participate
in the project and the general assembly to address booksellers and
publishers for a panel discussion on the future of digital publishing.

Keuchel of Google declined to comment on company plans for digitizing
books in Germany. But in response to the trade association's invitation,
he said Google already had plans under way in the United States for its
own project.

Boersenverein's project would begin with newer, front-list titles dating
back about five years, according to Ulmer. He also said he envisioned the
new system offering new ways of buying books in various forms.

For example, readers could buy a single chapter of a book, download a
title for a short period or buy a mixture of chapters from different
biographies of the same person.

"Of course, it's in the interest of Google and Amazon and the big
publishers that this platform doesn't exist," Ulmer said. "But we have the
power to make it happen."

 When the online retailer Amazon.com came calling a year ago to sign up
German publishers for a digital indexing project, one book executive urged
a strategy of polite rebuffs.

Then this year, when Google started wooing publishers to sign on for its
own digital book project, that German executive, Matthias Ulmer, decided
the time was ripe to seize control with a homegrown counterattack.

Now Ulmer and a five-member task force of the German book trade
association Boersenverein are organizing their own digital indexing project,
Volltextsuche Online. The effort of the 6,000-member association of
booksellers and publishers comes in reaction to Google's plans, unveiled
in December, to start digitizing books in the world, with the first step
being major university library collections in the United States.

"We have to decide whether distribution is in the hands of a few global
distributors and global publishing houses," said Ulmer, who heads Eugen
Ulmer Verlag, a medium-size publishing house in Stuttgart. Publishers and
booksellers that are involved, he said, "feel that if they don't do this
today, they may no longer exist in some years."

The German project includes some publishing industry heavyweights like
Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, a Stuttgart-based media group. But it
still faces a test of membership reaction at a general assembly of the
association on June 17 in Berlin. The trade association is not putting the
idea to a vote but will essentially gather feedback.

Publishers are well aware of the resources of their rival, Google Print,
which plans to offer free, searchable online copies of out-of-copyright
books. But they are most concerned about its plans to also offer limited
portions of newer books like the table of contents and excerpts. Amazon
has already expanded its basic keyword searching techniques so that
results display information from inside books.

Google's ambitious undertaking has created unease in France over the
hegemony of the English language and has led to a European effort to
organize an alternative library scanning initiative. The Association of
American University Presses in the United States has also raised fears
that the Google project could lead to massive copyright infringement.

Stefan Keuchel, a spokesman for Google Germany in Hamburg, said the German
initiative and the French effort had turned into something of a political
debate.

"There's been some misunderstanding and misconceptions about what Google
is doing," he said, "so we are trying to be open for discussion with
publishers. And so far, we've been seeing very high interest from German
publishers who want to talk to us."

Ulmer, who is on the Boersenverein board, said most people in his group did
not share the concerns about the Google project that emerged in France.

"Discussion is completely about titles still under copyright," Ulmer said,
noting that Google claimed the right to digitize books through contracts
with libraries and offered publishers and authors a chance to "opt out" of
the database.

Ulmer said it was possible to offer the beginnings of a searchable
database as early as this autumn by using existing decentralized servers
of publishers and converting digital material to lower resolution files.

Since the trade organization started organizing its initiative after the
Google project was announced, the reaction has varied among booksellers,
who were largely positive, and publishers, who harbored some doubts about
taking on such an ambitious project.

Rudiger Wischenbart, a Frankfurt-based cultural consultant and former
communications director for the Frankfurt Book Fair, said many booksellers
and publishers were simply frightened by the future.

"These publishers are just scared that they may lose control of their
stuff but hardly have any positive strategy so far," he said. "There are
no e-visionaries among them."

Christian Sprang, legal counsel for Boersenverein, conceded that members had
doubts about the new project because of potential costs and resources
needed to achieve it. "It's quite a huge matter, and Google and Amazon are
major players in the market," he said.

Sprang said the organization had invited Google and Amazon to participate
in the project and the general assembly to address booksellers and
publishers for a panel discussion on the future of digital publishing.

Keuchel of Google declined to comment on company plans for digitizing
books in Germany. But in response to the trade association's invitation,
he said Google already had plans under way in the United States for its
own project.

Boersenverein's project would begin with newer, front-list titles dating
back about five years, according to Ulmer. He also said he envisioned the
new system offering new ways of buying books in various forms.

For example, readers could buy a single chapter of a book, download a
title for a short period or buy a mixture of chapters from different
biographies of the same person.

"Of course, it's in the interest of Google and Amazon and the big
publishers that this platform doesn't exist," Ulmer said. "But we have the
power to make it happen."

 When the online retailer Amazon.com came calling a year ago to sign up
German publishers for a digital indexing project, one book executive urged
a strategy of polite rebuffs.

Then this year, when Google started wooing publishers to sign on for its
own digital book project, that German executive, Matthias Ulmer, decided
the time was ripe to seize control with a homegrown counterattack.

Now Ulmer and a five-member task force of the German book trade
association Boersenverein are organizing their own digital indexing project,
Volltextsuche Online. The effort of the 6,000-member association of
booksellers and publishers comes in reaction to Google's plans, unveiled
in December, to start digitizing books in the world, with the first step
being major university library collections in the United States.

"We have to decide whether distribution is in the hands of a few global
distributors and global publishing houses," said Ulmer, who heads Eugen
Ulmer Verlag, a medium-size publishing house in Stuttgart. Publishers and
booksellers that are involved, he said, "feel that if they don't do this
today, they may no longer exist in some years."

The German project includes some publishing industry heavyweights like
Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, a Stuttgart-based media group. But it
still faces a test of membership reaction at a general assembly of the
association on June 17 in Berlin. The trade association is not putting the
idea to a vote but will essentially gather feedback.

Publishers are well aware of the resources of their rival, Google Print,
which plans to offer free, searchable online copies of out-of-copyright
books. But they are most concerned about its plans to also offer limited
portions of newer books like the table of contents and excerpts. Amazon
has already expanded its basic keyword searching techniques so that
results display information from inside books.

Google's ambitious undertaking has created unease in France over the
hegemony of the English language and has led to a European effort to
organize an alternative library scanning initiative. The Association of
American University Presses in the United States has also raised fears
that the Google project could lead to massive copyright infringement.

Stefan Keuchel, a spokesman for Google Germany in Hamburg, said the German
initiative and the French effort had turned into something of a political
debate.

"There's been some misunderstanding and misconceptions about what Google
is doing," he said, "so we are trying to be open for discussion with
publishers. And so far, we've been seeing very high interest from German
publishers who want to talk to us."

Ulmer, who is on the Boersenverein board, said most people in his group did
not share the concerns about the Google project that emerged in France.

"Discussion is completely about titles still under copyright," Ulmer said,
noting that Google claimed the right to digitize books through contracts
with libraries and offered publishers and authors a chance to "opt out" of
the database.

Ulmer said it was possible to offer the beginnings of a searchable
database as early as this autumn by using existing decentralized servers
of publishers and converting digital material to lower resolution files.

Since the trade organization started organizing its initiative after the
Google project was announced, the reaction has varied among booksellers,
who were largely positive, and publishers, who harbored some doubts about
taking on such an ambitious project.

Rudiger Wischenbart, a Frankfurt-based cultural consultant and former
communications director for the Frankfurt Book Fair, said many booksellers
and publishers were simply frightened by the future.

"These publishers are just scared that they may lose control of their
stuff but hardly have any positive strategy so far," he said. "There are
no e-visionaries among them."

Christian Sprang, legal counsel for Boersenverein, conceded that members had
doubts about the new project because of potential costs and resources
needed to achieve it. "It's quite a huge matter, and Google and Amazon are
major players in the market," he said.

Sprang said the organization had invited Google and Amazon to participate
in the project and the general assembly to address booksellers and
publishers for a panel discussion on the future of digital publishing.

Keuchel of Google declined to comment on company plans for digitizing
books in Germany. But in response to the trade association's invitation,
he said Google already had plans under way in the United States for its
own project.

Boersenverein's project would begin with newer, front-list titles dating
back about five years, according to Ulmer. He also said he envisioned the
new system offering new ways of buying books in various forms.

For example, readers could buy a single chapter of a book, download a
title for a short period or buy a mixture of chapters from different
biographies of the same person.

"Of course, it's in the interest of Google and Amazon and the big
publishers that this platform doesn't exist," Ulmer said. "But we have the
power to make it happen."