Google eBookstore Launches in Germany

Google continues to expand their ebookstore today with a low-key launch in Germany.

There isn't much in the way of details yet in the English language press, but German readers now have a new alternative to Kobo, Kindle, and Thalia. They can now choose from among hundreds of thousands of ebooks from international publishers in a catalog boasting nearly 2 million titles.

Google has also signed deals with a number of German publishers, including Random House (Del Rey, DVA, Goldmann, Heyne), Lübbe, CH Beck, Springer, Munich Publishing Group, epubli, GRIN, and Holtzbrinck. But one German source has noted that numerous German publishers are not yet in the Google eBookstore, including Piper, Rowohlt, S. Fischer, and Kiepenheuer & Witsch.

Google is boasting that they are providing hundred of thousands of locally published ebooks in their ebookstore, though the exact number has not been stated. The ebooks can of course be read on Android and iOS apps as well as on your computer. Most browsers are supported, and there's even a Chrome web app which supports reading the ebooks offline.

Early reports suggest that selection in the Goolge eBookstore is poorer than in the Kindle Store. Of the 20 novels and nonfiction books on the current top ten SPIEGEL bestseller list, only six titles are available from Google as ebooks. In comparison, Amazon sells 15 of 20 bestsellers and Apple reportedly sells 18 of the 20 titles on the list.

This launch was Google's 6th local ebookstore, f0llowing only a month after a launch in Italy, and launches in the UK, Canada, and Australia late last year.

via

About Nate Hoffelder (10891 Articles)
Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader:"I've been into reading ebooks since forever, but I only got my first ereader in July 2007. Everything quickly spiraled out of control from there. Before I started this blog in January 2010 I covered ebooks, ebook readers, and digital publishing for about 2 years as a part of MobileRead Forums. It's a great community, and being a member is a joy. But I thought I could make something out of how I covered the news for MobileRead, so I started this blog."

1 Comment on Google eBookstore Launches in Germany

  1. There are a few other bookstores for ebooks in Germany I know of and I certainly know not all of them:
    http://www.pubbles.de/
    http://www.libri.de/
    http://www.libreka.de/
    http://www.lulu.com/ (selfpublishing!)
    http://www.beam-ebooks.de
    These shops all sell mostly epub, some also PDF or other formats (rarely).
    I’ve bought at least 1 ebook at each of these shops.
    Beam is noteworthy as they sell ebooks without DRM in different formats (PDF and epub). I am not too sure if all ebooks there are without DRM but I made a point to buy there to support the offer with 2 books I could have bought everywhere else for the same price but with DRM. In Germany we have “Buchpreisbindung” (Book-price-is-binding) meaning the price of a german book is the same in every shop. Used and damaged german books are the only exception. And although there was no need, this is also true for ebooks in Germany.

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