Google plans to initially offer about a half-million books, Where readers will be able to purchase the books directly from Google or from online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Google plans to share the sales with both publishers and the online bookstores. For books sold directly from its Web site, the search giant said at the book fair that it would give publishers 63 percent of the sales and keep 37 percent itself.
For books sold through Amazon or other retailers, the publisher would get 45 percent, while the retailer would get almost 55 percent with a small share for Google.
The company said that consumers would be able to read the books on any connected device, including PCs, Netbooks, and smartphones. Apple iPhone users could access the e-books through their Gmail accounts.
In the first half of next year they will launch Google Editions, a new service that will deliver e-books to anyone with a Web browser.