This morning I decided to take Google Ebooks for a test drive and submit my 
latest title (Booked Up! How to Write, Publish and Promote a Book to Grow Your Business). Following are the steps involved.
1. Sign up for a free Google Partner account: https://books.google.com/partner/.
2. Add book details including ISBN (if you don’t have one, a unique identifier will be assigned for you, though it will delay the publishing process), book title, author name, territory rights (countries where you have the right to distribute the title), and an optional link to purchase the book (must be on your own site since Google doesn’t accept affiliate links to other vendors).
3. Upload books in PDF format using Google’s Uploader tool or via browser upload. There is also an option to mail the book directly to Google.
Google Uploader: I chose to use the Google Uploader since it doesn’t require renaming files. The installation took several minutes and then gave me an error: “The application’s digital signature has an error. Do you want to run this application?” I clicked “Run” and then got an “incorrect name or password” error. I entered my login information and the error came back—repeatedly. Moving on…
Browser Upload: In order to use the browser upload, I had to rename my files using Google’s naming conventions: <ISBN>_content.pdf (interior file), <ISBN>_frontcover.jpg and <ISBN>_backcover.jpg. Google provides details for file naming here.
6. After the upload was successful, a notice indicated that it may take several hours for my book to appear in my account.
How to Add Google Ebook Rights
7. After uploading book data, return to your Google Partner Account and click on the Google Editions tab. You will need to review and approve another Addendum (indicating that you have the right to distribute the ebook).
8. You will be taken to Default Settings for Google Editions. Click on the small “Edit” link next to your account name. These settings require some important decisions:
Pricing: You can choose to sell your book at 80% of the lowest available list price for the print edition (this is the default setting) or you can set an individual price for each title you upload to Google. Since ebook pricing parameters don’t yet have an industry standard, and demand will vary based on the nature of each ebook, pricing is something authors and publishers should test and monitor. I chose to set the price for my nonfiction book at $7.99.
Default Pricing Bundle: According to Google’s instructions here, other retailers may choose to bundle your ebook with the print edition. The default setting allows the ebook to be sold at 20% of the Google Editions price. So if your ebook is priced to sell for $7.99 via Google Ebooks, another retailer can bundle the ebook when selling your trade paperback version and pay $1.60 for the ebook (20% of $7.99). I went ahead and agreed to this since bundles may increase sales for paperbacks (though that remains to be seen!), and anything that increases sales is usually a good thing.
Allow Buyers to Download an Unrestricted, DRM-free Copy: Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a hot topic in the ebook publishing community. DRM is meant to protect ebooks from being copied or shared. However, I have mixed feelings about this. Some companies require special software to view their DRM-protected ebooks, which is a hassle for the reader.
Of course I’d prefer that readers didn’t share ebooks, but the reality is that it happens—and it’s not much different than borrowing a book from a library or a friend. As an author, I figure I’ve just landed a new fan. If the reader liked the borrowed ebook, odds are pretty good that they will want to check out what other books I’ve written. With this in mind, I personally chose NOT to turn on DRM for my books.
Allow Buyers to Copy/Paste and Print Without Restriction: Here is where I draw the line. I don’t want to increase the risk of copyright violation. I chose NOT to allow copying or printing of my ebooks.
9. After all of this, I returned to my book’s page in the Google Partner Account and in the “Needs Action/Issues” field I was instructed to “Send ePub.” After reading more about this, I learned that Google provides both PDF and ePub versions of ebooks since ePub provides improved text flow adjustment for different readers (such as iPhone screens). Apparently this isn’t a hard requirement, but it seems worthwhile to make it available so I’m having my designer set that up.
10. Be sure to go through your Google Partner account and fine tune additional settings, such as Payment Information, which is under your Account Settings. You need to have this set up in order to receive compensation for ebook sales.
Bottom Line on Google Ebooks: I’ve previously set up books on Kindle and the steps were extremely simple (provided the book has already been formatted for the Kindle). I had hoped that Google Ebooks would be just as simple, but it seemed a bit more tedious. I spent well over an hour setting this up, though I’m sure it will go faster next time now that I’ve read through all the materials and understand the process better.
Given that Google is boasting the largest ebook library available, making your books available there seems to make sense. Of course it’s hard to tell how many sales will actually be generated as a result, but this is true for all of the ebook publishing platforms. As the ebook market continues to shift and grow and change, time will tell who the leaders will be.
Something to think about. I’ve submitted to Kindle and only sold 3 copies. I’ll have to read your book!
http://www.amazon.com/Bienvenido-Miami-Welcome-ebook/dp/B005I7MGPW
I found this article very helpful. I have been searching the web for answers and this article gave me some that i was seeking, and in simple, understandable form. I became disillusioned when I went through Amazon’s Kindle material and their payment schedule to author’s so I started to search for other eBook outlets. The more I read about Google, the more positive I become, and it’s articles like this that help a lot. Since my time (like everyone else’s) is at a premium, I am going to go with Google who has helped me in countless other positive ways.
Grace Michael
Hi Grace, I’m glad the article helped, though you may want to reconsider your position with Amazon Kindle. Earlier this year Amazon announced that Kindle ebooks are outselling ALL books on the site. You’re missing a huge part of the reading market if you don’t list your ebook with Amazon! Good luck to you…
Stephanie, I agree 100% regarding publishing through Amazon Kindle. I’ve had a lot of success with my experience. If you’re a new author, you cannot afford to pass up any opportunity to publish your work. Thanks also for your advice regarding publishing through Google. After nearly two weeks of trying to work through the many steps mentioned above, getting my book set up through Google eBookstore has actually been more tasking and frustrating than it was to register it through Amazon’s Kindle. Still, I have not given up, and I would encourage anyone who is feeling my pain to not give up either! Thanks again!
This is interesting but if it took you so long – and it sounds like you have quite good computer skills – that is a warning. It would be good to know how many sales do result, after you have let it run for a while.
A thing that puzzles me, is how to format books for ePub. A lot of reviewers seem to want this, and I don’t know how. I see you have handed this over to your designer, which suggests it’s quite tricky. Is that right?
You can search Google for instructions on how to format for epub yourself, though I prefer to hire these things out to professionals!
not sure if it would work on any platform, but apple’s “pages” appl easily exports to epub, pdf, etc.
i’m not affiliated nor own stock in apple, it’s just what i happen to know
i also have the converse problem with places that prefer word format 😉 though pages will convert to that too, but it’s always wonky
best wishes
ps, you may also want to try calibre :
http://calibre-ebook.com/
it’s free and will convert to epub, mobi, etc – i’ve had real good luck with that program too, very easy to use for what i use it for anyways 😉
Does the Google partners program no longer allow you to submit a book unless it has an ISBN? Because even though their help section says it will fill that in if you don’t put one, every time I try to add a book without one the screen refreshes and that field is in red and it won’t allow me to continue. Help?
Not sure about that, Brent–sorry. You may need to contact their support team on that one.
Interesting post, since I hadn’t heard of Google eBooks! I started with Kindle then published on all platforms with Smashwords, who are amazingly helpful. I wonder whether I can take my pdf & epub versions from there to put through the Google mincer? I must go and read the Google T&Cs. After all, you can only sell books if your readers can find them.
Thanks Stephanie
Thanks for this. The first relevant result to show for my query on how to get a book on Google play. I’ve been experimenting with my poetry chapbook. Uploading it here and there, practicing for more serious works later.
For anyone who would like to try Kindle on Amazon, I found that it was extremely easy to set up on my first attempt, nervous as I was to do so, and I was surprised to start selling straight away, although not in the hundreds yet! I’ve just started in late March, and I have confidence that sales will pick up even more over time. However for the set up with Google I’ve gone through several cups of strong tea! I will leave it a day or two and go back with renewed vigour after having read your article here, thank you for this. It’s nice to know it wasn’t just me having this issue with google ebook application.
really nice comprehensive info
can you say what browser you used? and do a follow-up to say if your book showed up to be processed?
early this year, i had great success uploading books to them, stopped, then resumed recently and have had roadblocks and huge delays, might just be growing pains
google books presentation, of those books i have up now, looks and feels better than before, so i really do believe whatever problems there are, are growing pain problems
best wishes in your creative work 😉
This is a helpful article. Thanks. I plan to spend my time this morning attempting to get my three paperbacks on the Google site. I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to sell especially when I believe in my books and the message they contain: Jesus is the Son of God.
Hi Regina:
Yes, He is the Son of God. How nice to run into the Plain And Powerful Truth.
KindnessBooks.com may change domain name soon but, until it does, you may be intrigued to see who’s on the website and to know of The Great Awakening and what we need to do to be part of that transformation, in down-to-earth terms.
As for myself, I just need to feel secure enough to set my 592-page non-fiction book free and into the stratosphere, with Google ebooks, so that it can accomplish ‘His Word’ . . .
All the best for your books from another believer!
Re: formatting of epub book
On my first pass I used an HTML version of my novel and created the epub with Calibre. Since it looked fine in both Calibre and Adobe Digital Editions, including the chapter links, I assumed it was ready for uploading to Google Play.
Well, no. After a couple of weeks, during which my book showed as “no files” on the Google eBooks->Manage eBooks page, I wrote to Google and asked them to investigate (by the way, the support address I used has been discontinued). The helpful representative put my epub file through the file checker program they use, FlightCrew, and she gave me a long list of cryptic errors.
Next I downloaded the free Sigil program, fed it my web-filtered HTML file and created an epub. Sigil has a file checker (seems to be FlightCrew) right on their site; I clicked on it and the program gave me the same list of errors I’d received from Google. With the help of the internet, I deciphered the bizarre error messages, cleaned up the strange code that had somehow got embedded in my text and revalidated it. Clean file in hand, I uploaded it again to Google.
At this point I’d like to say my ebook is for sale on Google Play, but I’m still waiting. Google says they’ve received it and have given the file to a support specialist for investigation.
The PDF file I also gave Google appears on their Google Books site. The cover image is much too big, part of the description is truncated, there are no reviews (though many exist on Amazon and Goodreads), the bookstore links are wrong, and the thumbnail description begins “Davids convinced hell go through life with an empty heart.” Wrong beginning to the description, no apostrophes, really classy.
I just hope Google gets its book act together eventually.
Well that is disappointing to hear. Maybe they will see your post here? You never know. Best of luck!
Hi Stephanie, I started filling out the application for Google, and was asked questions that I didnt have answers for like the very top box about having permission from the writer or some to that effect. the question was in a box of its own. then it asked how many books I have had published and so on. I have nothing in print, or finished for that matter, but I was stymied that I couldnt continue on….. if there is help for the…..Help… thanks Mark klebba(new author.)
Hi Mark, They may have changed some of the guidelines since I originally wrote this post. Here’s a link to their Help pages–good luck! http://support.google.com/books/?hl=en
A very helpful discussion. The link to the overview of Google resources for authors/publishers is at http://books.google.com/googlebooks/publishers.html
It’s a little surprising that Google haven’t bedded this down already.
Hi…I posted earlier and right now, I just uploaded by book ‘Diary of a First-time Mother in the First Year of Motherhood’ in pdf form…I must admit that it was rather a breeze. Of course, while using the google uploader, it did say ‘ invalid user name password’ as Stephanie indicated, but entering it once again sorted out the error…One thing I may mention here is that I did not create a new account for books and continued with my existing google account.
In terms of payment, they say that checks will start only if revenue reaches $100…this is unfair for new authors; isn’t it…just hoping for the best…All the best to all of you as well.
Hi,
If I publish my book on amazon “Direct Publishing.” Can I publish same contents on googlebooks?
Only if you avoid participating in Amazon’s KDP Select program, which requires that you give Amazon exclusive distribution rights. But if you just sell your ebook through Amazon without that program, you can also sell it elsewhere.
Well! I didn’t read all the above comments, (not enough time) but the few that I read were very informative. I’m looking for other sources apart from amazon kindle to promote my book.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AGJKU5A
Hi Stephanie,
I’m a songwriter and novelist and my my experience with google via YouTube has left me shaking my head in disbelief. Out of the 18 completely original songs that we showcased on YouTube, around half were immediately suspended from monetization due to supposed copyright infringement. After more than a year we have finally managed to clear just one song, and as that is the latest posted, we have given up on ever clearing the rest. The concept ‘Contact Google’ is the issue here. Google are a collection of faceless men and women lodged, with a garrison attitude, behind a wall of tick boxes and push button responses. Quite obviously they do not want you to contact them. You are guilty until you can find some way to get to them and convince them that “it is original and you do own the rights”. So the person, organisation or computer filter, that claims against your legitimate rights, bears no onus to prove their claim.
So when one of my reader panelists suggested I expand my digital publishing to include Google Books you can imagine my horror. In principal, the system looks great. Unfortunately my experience has been identical to the YouTube fiasco, so here’s how it all went.
Your article was very helpful and we followed the links carefully, learning the steps and downloading their ‘Uploader’.
The Uploader whisked the 3 files away then returned 3 red failed messages. The uploader claims you don’t have to change your file names and our files were acceptable formats. So, using their instructions, we carefully renamed them anyway. The Uploader whisked the 3 files away, and again, returned 3 red failed messages. So we switched to the online upload. We chose our 3 files (content & covers) made sure they were correct format and correctly named etc. etc. We pushed the button and got a delightful message telling us the 3 files were successfully uploaded (and listed them right there for us), then sent us off to manage our book on our Partners Page. Well you can imagine our surprise when we found our Page displaying a book with a German title, written by a guy with a German name and a message telling us the book couldn’t be processed because we hadn’t uploaded any files?? Using the aforementioned and infinitely frustrating tick box method of contact we endeavoured to advise google of the problem… and hey presto, a few days later our actual book turned up with the ‘processing’ message. On the next day I noticed a new ‘needs action’ from google and discovered that, not only was the German book back on my partner page, they claim I am ‘infringing someone else’s copyright’. To my great surprise that message did not have a ‘no-reply’ tag, the staple of google communication. So I replied, re-iterating that I had no interest in the German book, no claim to it of any kind, and would they kindly remove it from my page. I also took the opportunity to point out that now I had found the ‘modify book settings’ area and I had discovered that my book was processing, wait for it, none of the three files I successfully uploaded, but 6, yes 6 other files with strange and different ISBN’s. Back into the breach and after three days attempting to contact them they finally got back and told me that they had checked and all was in order. Sometimes, they said, files alter and change their names (and ISBN’s apparently) when they ingest. They further advised that if the book hadn’t completed processing in 3 (yes 3) weeks time, to contact them again. So clearly… I surrendered and resolved to provide links on my site for free apps that will allow readers to purchase off Amazon and read on their tablets, iPads and android devices. So a few more days have gone by and I notice an email from google in my basket. Before I read it I take an overly optimistic look in my ‘modify book settings’ area and there’s my content file along with a meta.xml file with the correct ISBN and then 2 more content files with different ISBNs and a couple of front and back cover files again with different ISBNs. So I can only imagine what this book is going to look like. You know what’s wrong with all this Stephanie is how easy it could have been! If you asked me to send you a copy of a book, I could email it and you could be reading whatever format you required within about 10 minutes. This google books system is just too complicated and too fraught with potential for error.
But wait… there’s more. The aforementioned email that arrived this morning was a request to complete a survey about how satisfied I am with their service!
Hi Stephanie,
Just a quick update on my last post. Not good news I’m afraid. Stepped through the whole process with Google Books again on 28 December. I asked them to remove all the old mysterious files (from other authors) that had appeared in my upload folder, but they insisted that was not necessary, that my new upload would get rid of them… wrong! Two and a half weeks later the files are still processing. Not having much faith that I’ll ever get sorted on Google and seriously needing a site where I can satisfy my reader’s request for .epub format books, I tried Smashwords. We have made about 20 attempts to upload a validated .epub file through their upload system. We have used PC, Mac and 4 different browsers only to discover their .epub up load is still in ‘beta’ mode. If anybody can tell me a reliable site (doesn’t have to be big and famous, I’ll link from my own online store) I would be grateful.
Hi Chris, We use Smashwords here at Authority Publishing and haven’t had any trouble so I’m not sure what is going on for you–definitely a string of bad luck! You should be able to get the document formatted for epub by working with an experienced ebook designer directly. I’d recommend that you hire someone through http://elance.com. It shouldn’t be very expensive and will hopefully solve these issues for you. Hope that helps!
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for your reply. The .epub files are professionally formatted and validated by both Google & Smashwords. We have about 50 copies of this .epub file out already on readers. The problem with Google is that they admitted they somehow got another author’s files (6) into our folder and after 6 weeks asking them to remove them, they are still sitting there. Naturally anything we upload goes in the folder and just adds to the mess. The other issue with them is that we have to wait 3 weeks to be told the book won’t process AGAIN!
Smashword’s .epup upload is still beta and they simply don’t respond to requests for support.
Anyway… thanks for letting me blow off some steam.
Chris
Sorry for all of your struggles, Chris. I wish big companies like Google would read posts like this and learn a lesson from their users. They need customer service in their business model! I can’t imagine running my business without responding to customers… Anyway, best wishes to you!
Today I tried uploading to Google Play and came to the same conclusion as others here. The instructions provided by Google seem comprehensive but they don’t match the upload site. Google say if an ebook does not have an ISBN number then they will issue it with one – that doesn’t seem to work. I struggled on and eventually managed to upload a book I give away free. Nothing appeared in the Manage ebooks section though.
I got a cryptic email from Google asking me to verify that I was the copyright owner of a book but the only identification was a GGKEY which appears nowhere on their site. I’m unable to verify that it refers to the correct book but apparently I must declare I am the copyright owner to proceed.
After publishing 10 books at Amazon, Smashwords, iTunes, B&N and others, Google’s service comes as a breath of sewage stink! Their instructions do not instruct! I’ll soldier on but the process seems designed to put people off using it.
I was considering publishing my book to Google Books, but after studying the frustrating experiences of other authors, I have chosen to put Google on the back burner until they straighten out their internal problems. My experience has been it takes Google a minimum of 6 months to fix their foibles, as evidenced by my trials with Google Sites and Feedburner. I decided somewhere in the process that if after doing the best I can to troubleshoot errors, jumping through flaming hoops and bashing my head bloody against the proverbial brick wall, then it wasn’t me, but Google that was the problem. Sure enough, Google was the problem in every case. I’ve learned to have more confidence in my abilities, and move on sooner rather than battle Google. When they come around and things flow smoothly, then, I dip my toe in the water and ease on in. My patience has paid off. Thanks for the great information. I’ll dip my toe in to see if the water is fine later this fall. If not, I’ll wait another 6 months.
Thank you for the instructive article. A question has been bothering me for a while: I saw many books have abstract when you browse them on Google books. But I never figured out how to post my abstract when publishing a book. Google Books only ask for title, author and so on when you upload a book, but unlike Amazon, it never ask you to provide book abstract. Did not find any instruction about this from Google Books help.
I appreciate it if anyone can help.