Sorry for any errors but I was on the run and did a spell check as well.

By chance, this morning, I received this newsletter from the Canadian supplier of my business software. He also runs a bookshop and is, I would contend, up there with the sharpest at the cutting edge of technology. It's a long read but worth the effort as he raises some fundamental issues about indie-led e-book supply and the contentious problem of piracy (and what he says about that IS alarming!).

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Today, CBA announced that they have partnered with the Campus eBookstore and Google to make e-books available for sale at independent bookstore sites. In addition to owning the latest gadgets, I've also made the effort to actually purchase e-books from two Canadian independents partnering with Google. My Kobo e-reader has been on loan to the avid readers working at both BookManager and Mosaic. Here is what I have learned.

I purchased Steve Jobs biography from McNally Robinson for 17.99 + tax. One of my staff then delivered me the same epub file three minutes after I challenged them with the task. I now have two copies of Job's book on my reader; one for $20.15 and the other free (pirated).

While reading on my device (the smart phone in this example), I noticed the Google Books button. I clicked, searched for Steven King, and with two more clicks and $2.99, I was now reading Mile 81. That was just too easy, and certainly much less effort than using McNally's site.

Next, I loaned my Kobo out to staff. I had not yet linked to Kobo's online store to the device, so staff were left to read what I had loaded or found some e-books by some other means. After having three people give it a whirl, I found that my reader now had all 20 books written by Ray Bradbury, all 7 Harry Potters, and Keith Richard's new biography. No one spent a dime; and one staff member had their young teenager get what she wanted to read.

Last week, the Inside Story in Nova Scotia was my next experiment. I was not feeling as rich, so I looked for a backlist title. This being the Christmas season, I purchased John Grisham's Skipping Christmas for $6.79. The experience was a little more convoluted than McNally's because I ended up at the eCampus bookstore site to make the purchase (create my account and enter my credit card), which then took me to Google to get my book. I was also confused that I needed to link the eCampus store with my Google email address (fortunately I already had a gmail account) before I could obtain and read my book! With all of those steps complete, I was now reading Grisham's book on my laptop inside of a browser (what an awful experience that is).

Juts like I did with Steve Job's book, I then wanted to see if I could get Skipping Christmas for free. Personally, I don't have the experience to pirate movies or music, but I was alone at home, so I just "googled" 'free ebooks john grisham skipping christmas' and found pages of offerings. I was careful to see which sites were safe and then a few clicks later I had the pirated copy on my desktop. This copy was actually a little better than the purchased one because it had a proper picture of the cover rather than the Google edition just a cover with text.

With my Kobo now plugged into my laptop I was ready to get my new books onto the Kobo, where e-reading is more like p(rint)-reading. However, I soon discovered I needed the Adobe Digital Editions software installed on my laptop to make the steps to move my books onto the e-reader easier (I later learned to just use my laptop and open the reader and drag and drop whatever I wanted onto it). I unplug the reader from the computer and voila! I finally have all of my purchased and free reading ready, and it's time to hit the bed and read. {Actually, I didn't get the paid-for copy of Job's book on it because Kobo said it was already on another device (on my smart phone), and I haven't figured out if I can move it off that device. No matter, the "free" copy works everywhere, yikes!}

My final experiment will be to create a Kobo account using my reader's free wi-fi capability. Once this is done, I can eliminate all of the other steps. While in bed I'll be able to browse or search for another book, and with just a couple of clicks I will have completed the purchase (my credit card will be on file with Kobo) and begin reading.

In summary, I have learned that if you want to buy a legitimate copy, just use the reader's built-in bookstore. Otherwise, your computer or smart phone can probably get you a free copy in seconds. Then, all you have to do is plug in your reader and drop the file onto it's root folder. Either option makes more sense that using a store's website.

Finally, John Grisham's latest book, The Litigator is $23.95 at Read's Bookshop (the Google e-book version). But, if you access your Gmail and then click "books" you can see all of your purchased Google eBooks and also search for The Litigator. It's listed at $9.89 ($14 less), and because Google already has my credit card on file, it's just a couple of clicks and I'm done.

Now, as a consumer I have to ask myself an honest question. Unless I am obsessed with patronizing my local bookseller (no matter how expensive or complicated they are to deal with), why in the world would I not take the easier and lower-priced (or free) route? As a small bookseller (or even a big one), what can I do to get them to buy e-books from me?

Smart phone technology is advancing very rapidly. Some customers now come into the the store and simply point the built-in camera at the book. With Google's Shopper app it takes about two seconds for the book to appear. Amazon has just launched a similar app. You can then make the purchase right on the spot and either read it on the phone or sync it later with your e-reader.

Google is doing a fantastic job of getting booksellers to educate their customers about Google's fast, cheap and easy services. I remember a few years ago when Amazon was "partnering" with indie booksellers so that they could upload their inventory and then sell books from the Amazon site. In reality, consumers bought 99% of their books from Amazon (because they offered cheaper and faster delivery) and only bought the oddball titles where the store was the only source of supply (e.g. local authors). For booksellers, the idea was a flop, but for Amazon they now appeared as though they had any book you could ever want. Later, Amazon partnered with ABE books, touting that Amazon's huge audience would send ABE's sales through the roof. And it did just that. Then Amazon severed the arrangement but kept the email addresses of ABE's customers! ABE's sales tanked, and eventually Amazon made them an offer too good to be true and bought ABE Books. Apple has been encouraging people to develop software and games and such for the iPhone. All was just fine and dandy until early this year Apple made it so that anyone selling "services" for the iPhone device would have to hand over 30% of their sale to the Apple Store. It was another brilliant move by yet another corporate giant to use the little guy to build up their market base but cut them lose (or hold them ransom) as soon as possible.

So, Google is off my list of partners. Transcontinental is the other Canadian darling, expect they have very few titles. I am meeting with Login next week to learn about what they are working. But, even if either of these partners can work with booksellers to deliver e-books without stealing their customers, the issues of convenience and price (or piracy) still looms as a major disadvantage.

The CBA and Campus eBookstore Google deal sounds inexpensive (or free) to try. It appears that I will make about 12.5% net on sales. If I sell 25 - $10 e-books in a month, I will earn 31.25, and because this is below the $50 monthly service fee, I think I get to keep that. If I then sell 50 - $10 e-books in a month, I make $62.50 in commission but I need to deduct the $50 monthly fee from that, which leaves me with$ 12.50 profit ($150 per year income). If I manage to sell 500 $10 books a month I will earn $575. And when your customer phones, emails or comes into the store because they missed a step getting it onto their reader, well, there goes a few minutes of your precious time to provide technical assistance.

In the US, the independents and their ABA partnership with Google is now just over a year old. Their model is more like the McNally Robinson setup that eliminated the Campus eBookstore layer of complexity. Today, I spoke with the Poisoned Pen Bookstore located in Arizona (they use BookManager computer software). They recently spoke with a US bookseller who was recently awarded bookseller of the year. They have offered Google e-books for about five months and told the Poisoned Pen that it has been a disaster. Michele & I were in Spokane Washington earlier this year and the large and long-established indie there had been selling Google e-books for six months. They were not exactly sure how many e-books they sold, so I asked if it was over ten per month. "Oh gosh no! Maybe one or two?" In the US, the adoption of e-books is many multiples of what has been happening in Canada. Amazon (Kindle) owns the market there with Barnes and Noble (Nook) well behind in second place. Apple is just ramping up, and the Samsung Galaxy (and other tablets) is helping Google get in on the action, once the US bookstores educate their customers about the evils of Amazon and praise the good folks at Google.

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