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but Google eBookstore suddenly gives booksellers a reason to at least wade into SEO.

But what about new books and ebooks? How does Google determine which new titles, and the more than 15 million books that have been scanned, float to the top of its search results pages: in the web search box and in the ebookstore. The challenge, for Gray and other Google engineers on the Books project, is that the best known component of Google's algorithm for determining the the value of a web resource -- the number of links to it by others -- does not apply to books and ebooks. Although it is possible to link to a selection in certain books on Google Books (here's a hyperlink into the aforementioned Galbraith title) people don't generally create links to the contents of a book or ebook. So linking is not a reliable indicator of quality.

One strategy that Google employs is to tap into the book industry's "rich tradition of metadata.

I want to look at where printed books stand in respect to digital publishing, why we historically haven't read long-form text on screens and how the iPad is wedging itself in the middle of everything. In doing so I think we can find the line in the sand to define when content should be printed or digitized. This is a conversation for books-makers, web-heads, content-creators, authors and designers. For people who love beautifully made things. And for the storytellers who are willing to take risks and want to consider the most appropriate shape and media for their yarns

Now Laurence is 6 ½, and while he regularly tackles 80-page chapter books, he is still a “reluctant reader,” Ms. Gignac said. Sometimes, she said, he tries to go back to picture books. “He would still read picture books now if we let him, because he doesn’t want to work to read,” she said, adding that she and her husband have kept him reading chapter books.