I have been laboring with the Google Settlement for some days now, gathering the views of publishers and authors, hearing their fears about copyright, listening to authors talk about how to "claim" their books, etc., etc. It is a very complicated subject, but I think I've finally cracked it. The way I see it is like this:
Your last book out,
In, out, in, out, shake it all about
You do the Google Boogle
And you turn around.
That's what it's all about!
Chorus:
Oh, the Google Google Boogle
Oh, the Google Google Boogle
Oh, the Google Google Boogle
Pay low, rights lost ra! ra! ra!
You put your next book in,
Your next book out,
In, out, in, out, shake it all about
You do the Google Boogle
And you turn around
That's what it's all about!
Oh, the Google Google Boogle...'
....and continue for the next 27 verses until you've run out of money to pay the lawyers.
While visiting three of the other halls at the book fair; including, the Chinese exhibitions, it was a quick look at booths with a variety of products for sale; so, the hall where more electronic devices were being shown to produce e-books or the digital print of books became an objective to see.
There were also discussions with more tech representatives about new ways of presenting content on the internet via portable electronic devices.
China's web users are savvy, enthusiastic and organized. The internet provides one of the only means for truly national marketing and retail in a sprawling and geographically fragmented market.
Chinese technology has leapfrogged other parts of the world and a strong online presence is crucial to any print success.
The International Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, this year indicated that presentations of books is trending toward electronic devices, but so far it hasn't taken over the way we will be reading content.
One topic that showed up often in the local publications is the "Tools of Change" discussions and here are a couple of quotes about this TOC topic.
Within two years, some estimates are that mobile broadband will surpass fixed broadband as the means by which most people access the internet. Mobile devices are rapidly becoming the dominant means by which we are connected to media, and more importantly, to each other, and that will certainly extend to the kind of reading most of us think of when we think of books.
We've all been waiting for the fireworks to start, but so far no one has lit a fuse.
The [Frankfurt Book] Fair is, above all, about transacting business and the tens of thousands of (cash strapped) trade visitors don't want to be distracted from their work by protests, disruptions, or other mayhem; especially, since many of them are keeping their visits even shorter this year and are heading home by Saturday.