In Search of a Publisher-Friendly Book Search

“We’re not quoting specific numbers, but we’ve certainly had a very positive response, both at BEA and after BEA,” says Cliff Guren, group product manager for eReading at Microsoft. “As we make the rounds to some of the larger publishing houses, we’re also getting a very positive response from them as well. They appreciate the efforts we’re making to respect their rights and give them flexibility and control over their content.”

In June, Microsoft debuted Windows Live Books Publisher Program, a portal that allows publishers to review the company’s terms and conditions and then enroll their copyrighted books into the project via the Internet.

“As a company with a long heritage as an intellectual property company, we certainly understand the concerns of intellectual property-rights holders, and we are trying to respect those rights in the world of publishing just as we advocate for people to respect our rights in the world of software,” says Guren.

By going to a Web site designed for all rights holders to create a list of the works they’d like Microsoft to include in Windows Live Book Search, they are asked to directly participate in the program. Authors or publishers can upload digital content or ship their books to Microsoft, where the books will then be scanned and indexed for eventual search.

If rights holders want to withdraw from the program, they can do so at any time, and their content will then be removed within 30 days.

Publishers will also be able to control the manner in which their content is displayed. Microsoft offers three preview rights models.

“Publishers are responding very positively to that because we’re giving them lots of control,” Guren says.

Microsoft is also giving publishers opportunities to promote their properties in the pages that show their books. Logo links, additional promotional tags and links to publisher commerce-related Web pages.