In the rush to announce the success of the Kindle, Jeff Bezos somehow failed to note that print-on-demand is sneaking around behind his back.
The Espresso Book Machine—which I’ve written about before—makes its debut in 50 stores across Britain soon:
Blackwell bookshop announced yesterday that it is to install an “Espresso Book Machine” that will allow customers to print out a novel in just seven minutes.
The self-service machine, which will eventually be installed in 50 stores across the country, offers a choice of around one million titles. The fully-bound books are printed to library quality, including a front cover.
A more sophisticated version of the machine is smaller and prints books in just three minutes. The older version has already been installed in 11 sites worldwide and Blackwell hopes to eventually have the faster machine in its stores.
Britain’s book industry has hailed the machine’s arrival as potentially revolutionary. It means high street bookshops can offer a range of books that will compete for the first time with online stores such as Amazon.
Blackwell is leasing the book-making machine from its American owner, On Demand Books, according to The Bookseller. Vince Gunn, chief executive of Blackwell, described the technology as “trailblazing”.
This is good news for those of us who like paper books, and a deep backlist of titles available at the press of a finger.
All hail Jason Epstein, the brains behind this innovation.
