Google, you kind of suck.

Now, like pretty much everyone in the world, I use Google as my main search engine. I have a GMail account. I use the Chrome browser. I am not anti-Google, but man, they need to brush up on the concept of user-friendliness.

A fellow member of the Kindle Authors Helping Authors Facebook page asked about the Google Books Partner Program, which allows indie authors to post excerpts of their book on Google Books, and links users to whatever site the writer uses to sell his or her work. Authors can also make their e-books available for sale via Google Play.

Since, apparently, none of the other members had tried it, I decided to be the guinea pig. One week ago, I set up my account, downloaded the files, and sat back to wait up to 24 hours for the system to process everything. To make a long story short, whenever some sort of issue arose, the system was frustratingly vague about how to fix it. There was a lot of searching the self-help section, only to find non-answers, and waiting for someone at the help desk to respond — very slowly — to my e-mails, again often to provide a less than helpful answer.

What should have taken a full day to accomplish instead took a week, and that could have been cut down a LOT if Google had simply provided more explicit and detailed instructions, maybe some direct links…maybe, in some cases, the button I needed to click to finish a given process (which the system withheld because I hadn’t fixed the issue in question, which I couldn’t fix until I got the button I needed to click…I suspect this will be Hades’ punishment for me should I go to the Greek underworld after I die).

But, the good news is: Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins is now listed on Google Play!

EDIT: I had originally planned to make the e-book available for sale through Google Play, which would have meant people with e-readers such as the Barnes & Noble Nook or the Sony eReader could finally grab the e-book version. However, the book is currently under an exclusivity agreement with Kindle Direct Publishing, which is necessary for me to do the free giveaway at the end of March. This means, at least for a while longer, Action Figures will remain available only on the Kindle (or readable on electronic devices with any of the free Kindle apps).

Sorry for jumping the gun on this, folks, but when the e-book does go fully live on Google, I’ll let you know.