Tories urged to embrace publishing revolution

Google representative claims e-book trend will be good for authors

Google's Sarah Hunter admits the company has been disruptive to the publishing industry

The Tories have been urged to embrace the publishing revolution, with e-books set to overtake hard copies in sales to online readers.

The call was delivered at a fringe meeting at the party's Birmingham conference, hosted by the Author's Licensing and Collecting Society.

Sarah Hunter, Google's head of UK public policy, was talking to delegates about Google's bid to become a significant player in online publishing.

She urged delegates: "Don't shoot - I come in peace, but went on to confess that Google has proved 'disruptive' to the publishing industry.

She said: "It can be quite disturbing for people to hear that change is coming, but it is definitely the case."

She also said it was futile to try to hold back this change and claimed it would be positive for authors and will provide more opportunities for others who create content.

Hunter added: "I am on the side of what is happening - it seems like a good thing."

However, she said negotiating licensing rights for Google in 27 countries across Europe was proving "a nightmare" and progress would be faster in the US market, with one nation to deal with.

Tory MP John Whittingdale, chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, forecast a "dramatic shift" to e-books following the wider availability of online reader Kindle raising "huge" issues about copyright, distribution and lending rights.

Richard Charkin, executive director of Bloomsbury Publishing, said the publishing revolution he had predicted for years "does seem to be happening right now".

Author Ray Cay Connolly said books in print would survive as Christmas presents alongside electronic versions of the same work, and that books of all sorts would survive because "people like to be told stories".