Shocking! News! Update!
Earlier today it was revealed that someone at Google actually Googled "independent bookstore", realized that independent bookstores aren't all run by 27-year-old billionaires, and immediately pulled the plug on the Google ebooks reselling program for its partner stores.
"Christ," said an unnamed source at the dot.com giant, "I sent my cleaning lady to dig out everything under the couch cushions at my house after my Superbowl party and made more money doing that than these assholes do selling dead trees. Did you know that sometimes independent bookstores get fewer than 75,000 hits, uh, I mean customers walking through their doors every day. And none of their signage is properly hyperlinked. And I've looked at their books. Some don't have spaceships on their covers. Is that allowed?"
Google remained confident that it would continue to be involved in the ebook business, "mostly just by scanning whatever we wan, whenever we want, without compensation. You can 'like' that on Facebo-, uh, +1 that on Google+ and take it to the bank, baby."
A spokesperson for the American Booksellers Association could not be reached for comment because their phone had been disconnected for non-payment.
"Christ," said an unnamed source at the dot.com giant, "I sent my cleaning lady to dig out everything under the couch cushions at my house after my Superbowl party and made more money doing that than these assholes do selling dead trees. Did you know that sometimes independent bookstores get fewer than 75,000 hits, uh, I mean customers walking through their doors every day. And none of their signage is properly hyperlinked. And I've looked at their books. Some don't have spaceships on their covers. Is that allowed?"
Google remained confident that it would continue to be involved in the ebook business, "mostly just by scanning whatever we wan, whenever we want, without compensation. You can 'like' that on Facebo-, uh, +1 that on Google+ and take it to the bank, baby."
A spokesperson for the American Booksellers Association could not be reached for comment because their phone had been disconnected for non-payment.