Google to launch sale of e-books

Google Inc. is gearing up to launch its e-book venture Google Editions by the end of the year.

Scott Dougall, a Google product management director, said that the company expects to launch the project in the U.S. by the end of the year and internationally in the first quarter of next year.

Several publishers have said they were exchanging files with Google, which is a sign that a launch is coming soon.

"Because of the complexity of this project, we didn't want to come out with something that wasn't thorough," Dougall told The Wall Street Journal.

The new project is being billed as a "ready anywhere" model that is different from many competitors.

Users will be able to buy books directly from Google or other online retailers and add them to an online library tied to a Google account. They will be able to access their Google accounts on most devices with a Web browser, including personal computers, smartphones and tablets.

Amazon does things differently with its Kindle tablet because users can only purchase books from an Amazon store, although they can read them on dozens of different devices that run Kindle software.