Google Reviews 10

Google Books discriminates against British author because the UK is no longer part of the European Union
I’ve published books in three languages, distributed globally through major digital platforms — Amazon, Draft2Digital, Apple, and more. I have an official author website, a public Amazon Author Page, and every detail publicly accessible and verifiable.

Still, Google Play Books took an entire month to review my account — only to reject it based on the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).

The issue?
I’m a British citizen. I live in the UK.
Which means they used a European Union law that no longer applies to my country to justify blocking my author account.

They ignored verified links, dismissed publicly available evidence of authorship, and rejected a well-established pen name used across all platforms. No clear explanation. No meaningful appeal. No respect.

This isn’t a misunderstanding. It’s institutional discrimination against authors outside the EU.
Either it’s a broken system — or they’re using outdated automated tools operated by underpaid staff who don’t actually review anything properly.

And the worst part?
This is coming from a platform with low sales, outdated tools, and little relevance in the publishing world — yet it acts as if it’s the literary gold standard.

If you're an independent author — especially one outside the European Union — save yourself the time and the frustration.
You’re not the problem. Their system is.

Rudy and Betty know how to deliver books...and amazing service. I live in London and didn't want to use online sellers to gift a book to my friend in CA. The whole process from start to finish was friendly, faff free and secure. The book was beautifully wrapped and personally delivered. I will buy from Reasonable Books again in the future. Rudy and Betty, thanks so much. Sue

Google Play Books is the most insulting platform for authors. Regardless of whether you price your e-books at $9.99, $3.99, $0.99, or even $0.10, they pay you within the exact same range, even after 10 years have passed and you’ve added dozens of new books. I get paid the same for nearly 15 years, despite adding dozens of new books. Their scam is very real! Someone from the US government should investigate this and put them all in jail.

I wrote an eBook, that I wanted to publish via Google. I uploaded the book, completed the form and for weeks nothing happened. I reached out to Google via their chat and was told that the issue would be forwarded to another team for reviewing. A few days later I got a rejection: "Based on the information that you provided, we are unable to confirm that you are authorised to offer the content that you uploaded to your account. As such, your account has been disapproved globally." No idea what these people are talking about. If they needed some extra info, they should specify this and have asked for it. Obviously I am unable to publish my own book on Google.

My mother wrote a children's book. The Program Director at Google Books, Brian Nadreau emailed her multiple times about purchasing copies of it for a charity program for children. Google Books agreed to purchase 500 copies. My mother had to pay for the printing. She was told in writing that it could take up to 90 days for her to receive payment for the books once Google Books received the copies. We have confirmation Google Books received the copies in October. As of the date of this review (well over 90 days) my 75-year-old mother has not been paid for her books and no one at Google Books will respond to her or me on her behalf. The Publisher of the book, Fleuron, has also stopped responding. It is extremely frustrating and just wrong. My mother deserves to be paid for her product. If I could give zero stars I would.

Purchased a book which contained the content for a different book. They refused a refund because I purchased it in a bundle and had downloaded more than 2 books. How are you supposed to know there is a problem with a books content unless you download it?

My experience with Booksy since the onset of COVID has been nothing short of a frustrating ordeal. From the outset, I've encountered a plethora of issues, not just with the platform itself but also with my customers, who have been unfairly charged repeatedly due to Booksy's glaring mistakes. The absurdity of being asked to reclaim funds for errors that are clearly not my fault is beyond comprehension.

More often than not, it feels as though I'm at the mercy of a flawed algorithm that inexplicably directs my clients to competing barbershops, all while Booksy profit from the 50% commission on myappointments. If anyone is considering using Booksy, my emphatic advice is to steer clear of this deeply unethical company.

Despite enduring three years of this nonsense, the only reason I've remained loyal is the meager local discount they provide, given my location in the East. Yet, even this has not alleviated the countless problems I've faced with bookings—clients frequently report that they are unable to schedule appointments, despite availability being apparent throughout the day. The only response I receive from Booksy is a vague assurance that they will "look into it," which has become a tiresome refrain.

In summary, if you're contemplating a partnership with Booksy, do yourself a favor and explore other options. This company is rife with issues, and the experience is anything but satisfactory. Keep well away!

Using unfamiliar mobile phone - it was in my pocket, and clearly not locked, somehow the AI Search function on my phone interacted with the Google Books app to buy an ebook I don't want. So when I spotted it I immediately asked for a refund giving the honest reason that it was accidentally bought. This has happened on other online providers all of whom simply check to see if the book has been downloaded or read (it has not), and then they reverse the transaction, but Google Books chose not to ... fair enough, no doubt by the letter of the law they're entitled to do that, but as a customer of other services who act in customers' interests (Amazon for example) this simply means I deleted the Google Books app on the device and plan to avoid using it in future - no surprise why most e-books are bought via Amazon not Google. Try to be a bit more customer-oriented.

Had an issue with e-books not uploading to Adobe Digital Editions. Emailed them, and first, they gave me a voucher as a gesture of goodwill, and then the issue was fixed in days.

Like a month later they emailed me apologizing and confirming the issue is resolved. Not even my own parents treat me that well. <3 much love.

Tried publishing a book on Google Books a while back, but it got disapproved for no reason and my account was immediately banned without a warning or prior account action, but I could still publish books. I came back to publish another book a while later, but it still showed the same red message on the header: "Your account has been deactivated by Google.
Please contact our support team if you have questions."
So that's what I did: I published the book and contacted customer support. A day later, I received this response:
"Hi,

Thank you for contacting us.

Your Google Play Books Partner Center account has been disapproved by the Policy Team in accordance with our content policy. You should have received an email notification in this regard with subject line "Notice: Your Google Play Books Partner Center Account was Disapproved". Please refer to that email for more details and reply on it, if you have any questions.
Also, these issues fall out of our support. Hence, we cannot assist you with this concern.
We appreciate your understanding."

If that banner told me to contact support, then THEY tell me that those issues "fall out of their support", why even tell customers to contact customer support at all?!
Also, I did receive an email about why my account was deactivated, and I tried sorting it out with customer support and asked them to appeal, but they just decided my account was deleted permanently, and refused to elaborate further and didn't reply to my emails since.

Until my issue is sorted out, I'll be publishing on Kindle instead. :)