The "Opt-Out" Myth

A couple of days back when I was looking disbelievingly through the books Google Print makes available online, I noticed that fantasy (and recently, suspense) writer Holly Lisle's books were also searchable. I thought this was weird, given Holly's opposition to the Print Library program; I'd imagined she'd have opted out of it ages ago. Turns out she did.

My agent and publishers are working vigorously to get them taken down. Google’s "opt-out" process doesn’t seem to actually exist, except in Google’s publicity literature.
If the author, the agent, and the publisher have all requested removal of the material, and the material is still there, define "opt-out." You know?

Here's a link to her post detailing her email exchanges with Google.

As for those of you who're still wondering why all the fuss, here's another piece of information that might make you think:

[B]y using [Google Print's] addititional search tool and a bit of thoughtful questioning, I was able to read directly through one [of my] book[s], page by page, by page. I went through more than a hundred pages without a pause or even backing up before I decided that my method gave much more of the book than the Google promotional literature claims, and probably all of it.