I am crushed to discover my book, Elephant's Breath & London Smoke, on Google Books. Now when I first discovered the entry I was amused and pleased. So I clicked on the link.
This wasn't a snippet entry. Not even a real limited entry. At least 20% of my dictionary is available.
Perhaps 20% of a novel could be considered "Not too bad" - though personally I disagree. Perhaps 20% of a novel would make a reader want to buy the book.
But 20% of a non-fiction work is more than I generally read at any given time. I dip in, get what I want and leave. No need to buy it.
Mind you, I do not use books still in print in this fashion. I will use books out of copyright that way. I consider it fair use. If I plan to read a large portion of a book, I buy it.
20% is a large portion of a book. That is far beyond fair use.
My book is only a few months old. It is still in print. I feel that Google Books is giving away a year of hard work for free.
I am crushed to see my work on Google Books.
It was your publisher's decision to put your book up on Google Books, based upon considerable statistics that support proof of increased sales because of this sort of free access to at least a portion of the work.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with your publisher.