As part of what it says is its ongoing effort to improve the quality of Google Book Search, Google began experimenting with a new continuous browsing feature in December. Unlike Google's traditional searches, which prohibit readers from seeing a string of consecutive pages, the new feature permits a user to scroll through a title page by page until the searchable limit (usually 20% of a book) is reached. According to a Google spokesperson, the goals of continuous browsing are to “better replicate a bookstore browse experience for users, and to increase buy clicks for the books and publishers.” The spokesperson added that Google has talked to “many publishers” about the experiment.
Several smaller presses interviewed by PW, however, said they learned about the change to continuous browsing on their own, and are unhappy about it. Felice Newman, publisher of Cleis Press, said she learned about the switch from an author who was concerned that the continuous browsing feature made it too easy for users to read complete sections of a book. Newman agrees, saying that the type of content now available for browsing “is enough to be a disincentive to buying the book.” Newman said she is thinking of canceling her participation in the Search program. “I have an obligation to my authors” to protect their work, Newman said.
One small press that has already stopped sending books to Google to be scanned is Ig Publishing. Like Cleis, Ig learned about continuous browsing on its own, and when the publisher asked Google to stop doing it, Google refused, so Ig chose to end its participation in Search. The Google spokesperson said that the continuous browsing experiment doesn't “conflict with any contractual or security obligations we have to publishers.” The spokesperson added that, according to Google's data, the better the browsing experience, the more likely a reader will buy the book.
The head of one large trade house agreed with that assessment and was willing to go ahead with the experiment. Newman questioned whether Google really knows if the continuous browsing feature in particular led to more sales since the program has been in existence for such a short time. She said she will monitor the buy-the-book click-throughs for a few months before deciding whether to pull out of Search. Newman said she would feel more comfortable with continuous browsing if publishers had the option to limit the search field to closer to 10% of the book rather than the current level of 20%. The Google spokesperson said continuous browsing is still an experiment, and that if it leads to a permanent program change, “we will let partners know in our regular communications to them.”
