Whose merchandise? The rights-holder’s merchandise or Google’s merchandise? Authors who want exposure can opt-in, like they do at Amazon’s “search-inside-the-book” program. Google expects them to opt-out if they don’t want to help Google’s bottom line. Google has it backwards.

My guess is that this is really a form of legal extortion, to get Google to settle out of court for a few million dollars, of which the authors in the guild will see pennies (and the guild and its lawyers will get millions). If I were an author or publisher, I’d want the settlement to be something like:

1) An opt-out policy on a copyright owner basis, so that one could opt out if it appears that Google Library is adversely affecting one’s sales.
2) The ability to see the number of queries that found one’s work, and the number of hits to bring up the actual display page.
3) A free advertising link when one’s work is displayed.
4) Some sort of financial recompense.

And only #4 would be my negotiating point.

For someone whose works are currently out of print, Google could be best way to get one’s works back in print by proving interest, even if it’s POD by the author.

If the Author’s Guild had, they would realize that Google Print will likely provide a tremendous amount of newly-found interest and demand for obscure and out of print titles that are likely gathering dust on shelves. Many of these titles would offer readers very relevant and unique content and reference material.

Google Print would be a dream come true for readers who would find these long tail titles, and merchants like Alibris as well as the publishers and authors would all benefit. I would also venture a guess and predict that used book auctions on eBay and the like would increase in volume. Libraries and brick and mortar used & rare book merchants who listed their inventories online would also be likely beneficiaries as readers find more titles that would otherwise remain undiscovered.

Google Print would be a win-win for everyone who enjoys books.