For me, as the author: - Simplicity. It's fine for you to create an API via Google Docs, but I suspect it'd be tough for your (presumably) non-technical client

For me, as the author: - Simplicity. It's fine for you to create an API via Google Docs, but I suspect it'd be tough for your (presumably) non-technical clients. - Generated API docs - Granular control of who sees what data and APIs - Usage tracking (see who's using your APIs/data and how often) - Easy integration for API clients: example code, no messing around with authenticating their Google account I don't think you're wrong though: For publishers who already have their spreadsheets held in Google Docs and have setup an API, and are happy with that process, then there isn't a _huge_ benefit here. That said, I've had quite a few emails overnight from people asking to support importing spreadsheets from Google Docs, so clearly they're missing something - I'll have to ask to find out whether it's something from my list above or something else.