The decision caps two years of painstaking negotiations between Google and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (who had sued Google in 2005 over the project).

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Scott Turow, a best-selling author and president of the Authors Guild, echoes publishing-house complaints.

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Michael Levin is an eight-time best-selling author, a former member of the Authors Guild Council and a business writer.

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"I once had an argument with one of my publishers when I said, 'I've been publishing with you for a long time and you still don't know who buys my books, ' and he said, 'Well, nobody in publishing knows that, ' " says Mr. Turow, president of the Authors Guild.

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The Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild disagreed.

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We especially need the larger organisations, like the Society of Authors (9, 000 members) and the Authors Guild (8, 000 members), to take a stance and demand that Amazon act.

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