Thursday, September 6, 2007

Google Book Search allows users to share their bookshelves

Google Book Search offers users to catalog the books they have in their personal collections and organize them by category (which is a great way to keep track of what you’ve read and own!). Users can then share their collection pages with each other to see what their friends are reading.

According to Google’s Book Search page: You can now create personalized libraries on Google Book Search where you can label, review, rate, and of course, full-text search, a customized selection of books.

Google Book Search is also actively promoting its benefits for book publishers:

By matching the content in your books with user searches, Google Book Search connects your books with the users who are most interested in buying them.

Links to bookstores, online retailers, and your website make it easy for users to go from browsing to buying -- with new ways to buy and access your books coming soon.

A book link will also be featured that tells the reader where they can purchase the book online, which provides more traffic to online booksellers inspired by user-driven lists that can be searched and saved using RSS Feeds to your favorite list-makers.

Using Google Book Search can benefit PR professionals in the publishing industry by promoting its use to readers. Encouraging this book networking can lead readers to discover new books via lists made by friends, celebrities and featured users. Most importantly, it's already working to help authors and publishers based on their success stories.

MySpace also features a user-driven book search engine, but based off the top-rated books, it also seems to be more teen-centered - which would be significant to publishers in this market.

Learn more about Google Book Search here, and check out their blog to make your own book library to share with others.

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