Image representing Google Book Search as depic...

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Google makes about $16 billion in revenues each year. Today, the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google announced a settlement allowing certain activities around scanned books found via Google Book Search. The price for Google to settle this? $125 million, or 0.7% of one year’s revenues.

Smart move, and a win-win for everyone involved. Google will continue to dominate search results and easily win back the small amount it paid to publishers for their participation. Authors might get new revenues from their books. And scholars will have better access to more information.

Of course, the issue of more information will bring about new services and approaches for handling discovery, filtering, and customization. And the beat goes on.

October 30 UPDATE: Harvard says “No, thanks” to the settlement.

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Kent Anderson

Kent Anderson

Kent Anderson is the CEO of RedLink and RedLink Network, a past-President of SSP, and the founder of the Scholarly Kitchen. He has worked as Publisher at AAAS/Science, CEO/Publisher of JBJS, Inc., a publishing executive at the Massachusetts Medical Society, Publishing Director of the New England Journal of Medicine, and Director of Medical Journals at the American Academy of Pediatrics. Opinions on social media or blogs are his own.

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