Pottermore and Google team up to enable Harry Potter ebooks push to Google Books libraries

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Posted by Larissa Fontaine, New Business Development, Google Books

(Cross-posted on the Google Commerce blog)

When JK Rowling’s new website Pottermore opens its doors this Fall, we’ll provide services to help fans make the most of their ebook purchasing experience.

Pottermore and Google are teaming up to integrate Pottermore with a number of Google products and APIs. So when the series of Harry Potter ebooks launches on Pottermore.com in early October, these bestsellers will be available in the U.S. via the open Google eBooks platform. When you buy a Harry Potter ebook from Pottermore, you will be able to choose to keep it in your Google Books library in-the-cloud, as well as on other e-reading platforms.

Google eBooks can be read on most devices with a modern browser, through the Google Books apps for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, and on more than 80 ereaders.

Pottermore will be the exclusive place to buy Harry Potter ebooks and digital audiobooks. You’ll be able to buy ebooks from the Pottermore Shop, push them to your Google Books library and store them alongside your other Google eBooks. Your other Google eBooks may be purchased from any of more than 250 independent booksellers or from Google directly.

Also under this agreement, Google Checkout will be the preferred third party payment platform for all purchases made on Pottermore.com. When you visit the Pottermore Shop, you’ll be able to pay for your purchases using Google Checkout, in addition to using a debit or credit card.

The Pottermore team also plans to use YouTube for global video broadcasts in the future, as they did for JK Rowling’s announcement of Pottermore in June.

Stay tuned for more Pottermore and Google wizardry on the web this summer, leading up to when Pottermore opens. Read the full post 0 comments

"Game of Thrones" Author George R. R. Martin Coming to Google

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 9:30 AM

Posted by Oliver Chiang, Google eBooks

George R. R. Martin, credit Karolina Webb

George R. R. Martin, the acclaimed author of the Game of Thrones novels -- also a recent hit HBO series -- is coming to Google for a live-streamed interview where he'll be taking your questions submitted online. The interview, part of the Authors@Google series as well as Martin's book tour promoting his latest novel A Dance with Dragons, will take place on July 28th at 12pm PDT.

Martin is a bestselling author most famous for his A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series of novels that has been adapted to the popular HBO drama Game of Thrones. Time magazine has dubbed him an "American Tolkien". In his series, Martin creates a rich world populated by a large cast of intriguing characters and interwoven storylines.

This is the first-ever live-streamed event for the Authors@Google series, where authors of all stripes visit the company for informal talks about their recently published books. It should come as no surprise that in addition to technology, Googlers love things like dragons and fantasy worlds, and we also love meeting talented writers like Martin.

This is your chance to get to know the author a little better too. In the live-streamed interview, Martin will be answering some online user-submitted questions.

Submit your questions for Martin on this page: Open from now until July 27, 12pm PDT.

Watch the live YouTube broadcast of Martin's interview: On July 28th, 12pm PDT, at the Authors@Google page, youtube.com/atgoogletalks. We'll also post the recorded interview on this page afterwards.

Meanwhile, make sure to get a digital copy of Martin's just released book from the Google eBookstore, A Dance with Dragons, for your smartphone, tablet or e-reader device (see a full list of supported devices).

If you're new to the series, catch up on the previous books:

Or grab the boxed set:
A Game of Thrones Boxed Set Read the full post 0 comments

The first Google eBooks-integrated e-reader: iriver Story HD

Monday, July 11, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Posted by Pratip Banerji, Product Manager, Google Books

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog and the Google Commerce blog)

Starting this coming Sunday, July 17, the iriver Story HD e-reader will be available for sale in Target stores nationwide and on Target.com. The iriver Story HD is the first e-reader integrated with the open Google eBooks platform, through which you can buy and read Google eBooks over Wi-Fi.

The iriver Story HD, which retails for $139.99, is slim and lightweight with a high-resolution E Ink screen and a QWERTY keyboard for easy searching. It includes over-the-air access to hundreds of thousands of Google eBooks for sale and more than 3 million for free. With the Story HD you can now browse, buy and read Google eBooks with your e-reader through Wi-Fi, rather than downloading and transferring them from computer to e-reader with a cord as you can already do with more than 80 compatible devices.

We built the Google eBooks platform to be open to all publishers, retailers and manufacturers. Manufacturers like iriver can use Google Books APIs and services to connect their devices to the full Google eBooks catalog for out-of-the-box access to a complete ebookstore. You can also store your personal ebooks library in the cloud—picking up where you left off in any ebook you’re reading as you move from laptop to smartphone to e-reader to tablet.

In December, Google eBooks launched with the ability to read Google eBooks on any device with a modern browser, on Android and iOS devices using the Google Books mobile apps, through our Chrome Web Store app and on compatible ereaders. Since then, we’ve added new retailers—growing to include more than 250 independent bookstores—and made Google eBooks available in Android Market. We’ve also extended our affiliate network and updated our family of Google Books APIs.

The Story HD is a new milestone for us, as iriver becomes the first manufacturer to launch an e-reader integrated with Google eBooks. You can learn more about the Story HD on the iriver website.

Stay tuned for more Google eBooks-integrated devices to come. If you’re a manufacturer interested in integrating your next device with the Google eBooks e-commerce platform, please contact us at books-devices-request@google.com.

Update 7/13: We've corrected the word "e-ink" to the more precise "E Ink" as that is the technology brand used in the device's high resolution screen. Read the full post 0 comments