6 Facts About Publishing on Google Play Books
Although ‘books’ are not the first thing that comes to mind when I hear ‘Google’, the numbers don’t lie. The tech giants’ bookstore is one of the largest worldwide for reading books. Google reaches 76 countries with a growing market share worldwide.
You want to sell your books on Google Play Books app? Great!
With 81% of phones bought last year, Android devices summed up to over 2.5 bn. Google Play Books comes preinstalled as an Android app and runs beautifully on Android and iOS. It is also accessible through browsers like Google's Chrome web browser. The Google Books library has millions of books in their catalog that's growing rapidly.
Google notably invested in their Google Books Advanced Search. Authors can enjoy the fact that their books might rank higher in search engines when publishing on Google Play. Also, they extended their service to for ebooks and audiobooks. The reader app is currently strictly focused on digital publishing. So unfortunately, you can not buy books in print yet.
Publishing on Google Play Books, however, is not as easy as it first seems. Knowing the pitfalls and tricks could save you time, headache and money. We go over six facts to know.
Note: If you're trying to find more information on how to publish ebooks on Google Play, read our step-by-step guide here.
1. You don’t need an ISBN to publish on Google Play
Yes, that’s correct.
If you upload your epub files and don’t have an ISBN (or other acceptable identifier), Google generates you a unique number. (You can also use PUI, PublishDrive’s identifier.)
Google has a strict policy about public domain books (meaning the book is out of copyright). If you’d like to publish one, make sure it is unique according to their standards.
2. You can offer free pdf previews on Google Books
When you sign up to Google Play, you automatically sign up to Google Books as well. The store listing will allow you to appear in search results on Google Books. Google Books is a giant library project aiming to scan every single book in the world and making them searchable. So, you can find the whole world's bibliographic information on the web.
This would obviously violate some copyright laws, but publishers in the Google Books Partner Program can choose the percentage they are happy to display as a preview. It can be as much as the whole book!
Why is this good for you? As Google is officially a verb now meaning ‘to search’, it is not surprising that Google will do everything in its power to get your books to the top of the search results. This includes keywords and full text searching. If you have characters with a special name or are writing about a niche topic, chances are that readers will find your book. Win-win.
P.S. If you distribute through PublishDrive, you can also send free samples or review copies of your books to readers! Learn more about free marketing options here.
Get Started With PublishDrive Free
3. Google might discount your books, but still pays you based on the listed price
Most retailers have the right to discount your book as they please, and Google is not an exception. As for everything, there are good and bad sides to this. Discounting your book may set off Amazon’s price matching system, which means your books will be discounted there as well. On the other hand, Google Play will still pay you based on the list price.
In order to avoid Google’s discount (that differs per currency, territory and per price range), many authors decide to choose PublishDrive to automatically optimize their book prices. In order to avoid price matching by Amazon, PublishDrive adjusts the price given by the publisher and regularly sends updates if the algorithm ever changes. And they do!
4. You can’t simply sign up
2019 Update: Earlier this year, Google updated its policies. Their updated policies require them to have a direct relationship with copyright holders. This has affected the way self-publishing aggregators handle distribution to Google on behalf of authors.
2020 Update: Google Play is now open for new authors and publishers from supported countries. For an always up-to-date list, heck the Google Play website.
Despite these changes, we're happy to report that distribution to Google Play through PublishDrive is still up and running! In fact, it got smoother than before. Our support team can take off the burden from your shoulder to handle support issues with Google. Learn how to publish on Google Play with our step-by-step guide here.
Also, you can track your sales in one dashboard with PublishDrive. Check book sales from Google Play Books coming in every few hours!
Sell Your Books on Google Play & Thousands
of Other Bookstores With One Dashboard
5. Changing aggregators
As of now you can sign up to Google directly. But you might raise the question, why should you use an aggregator? Services like PublishDrive make your life easier when it comes to:
- Uploading your books
- Optimizing your pricing to avoid price matching
- Analysing sales data
- Collecting revenues.
- And more
You can assign PublishDrive as the Service Provider to your current direct account on Google. PublishDrive's support team will take care of the rest.
Want to switch to PublishDrive from direct or another platform? Read our comprehensive guide here.
6. Creating a Google Books Author Page
Did you know that it is not only Amazon that curates Author Pages? Google supports them as well. Unlike at Amazon, Google authors can’t run a blog or provide their website for Google shoppers to see. Google, however, handily lists all books under the author’s name with a bio and a picture.
Here is an example of what Google Books Author Pages look like in reality:
Need a Google Author page?
We can request one for you! You may qualify for a Google Author page if:
- You distribute at least 10 books to Google Play through PublishDrive.
- You have at least 3 reviews on most of your books.
Learn how to request a Google Author page with our Help Center article here.
About the Author Section
PublishDrive users can also boost their online brand with an “About the Author” section on Google Play Books.
Follow the instructions in our Help Center article here to personalize your About the Author section.
Publish on Google Play Books today!
Now that you've learned about the benefits of publishing on Google Play, why not try it out for yourself?
When you distribute to Google Play through PublishDrive, you'll earn 100% royalties offered by Google. (This means 52-70% for you after the digital list price.) We'll automatically adjust your price to offset any random price discounting.
Whether you got romance or comic books,
sell in no time with PublishDrive.
“Honestly, the amount of time it takes to upload to each platform is ridiculous. There’s no way we can distribute to all the channels that PublishDrive distributes to...We wouldn’t even bother uploading to Google Play if we weren’t going through you guys. It’s just too much.”
— Bestselling Indie Author Quinn Loftis