Espresso Book Machine Prints and Binds on Demand
New EBM May Revolutionize Bookstores, Publishing and Book Selling
May 1, 2009 Victoria Anisman-Reiner
How often have you had the experience of walking into a bookstore only to discover that the book you wanted is out of print, out of stock, or that they didn't order it in the first place? It may never happen again, thanks to the newest technology in book publishing and printing: the Espresso Book Machine, which can print, trim and bind your book on demand within minutes.
How the Espresso Book Machine Works
The Espresso Book Machine or "EBM" has access to catalogues of millions of books, both in-copyright and public domain works. This includes new books that are still in print as well as old classics that are long out of print – and sometimes even original editions and author's manuscripts. Customers can browse the entire catalogue of a bookseller's EBM and select any book to print on demand.
The Espresso Book Machine prints a 300-page book in less than 4 minutes, including a cover and binding that can't be told apart from the books you'd see on shelves. With "minimum supervision," according to On Demand Books, the manufacturer, one of these printing machines can produce 60,000 books in year if it ran full time.
The EBM uses software called EspressNet to enable the machine to access books from a series of catalogues and through the internet. Users can also print and bind documents from their own PDF files. What's more, EspressNet tracks publisher and author royalties and maintains file security so publishers and writers will be fairly compensated for each book.
On Demand Book Printing Supports Small Businesses and the Environment
It may look like a photocopier, but the Espresso Book Machine is the latest in book printing technology and may revolutionize the book selling industry. Selected by Time Magazine as one of the "Inventions of the Year" in 2007, the speedy machine takes print on demand book publishing one quantum leap forward in a way that may challenge the big bookstores like Indigo and Barnes & Noble to keep up with smaller book sellers.
Everyone loves to support the neighborhood bookstore, but it's been impossible for smaller stores to compete with the giants in terms of selection and title availability. The Espresso Book Machine can change that, making it possible to pick up the book you want anywhere – whether or not your local store has the shelf space to house millions of volumes.
"This could change bookselling fundamentally," says Andrew Hutchings, chief executive at Blackwell Bookshop, which has just made an EBM available in its Charing Cross Road location in London, England. "It's giving the chance for smaller locations, independent booksellers, to have the opportunity to truly compete with big stock-holding shops and Amazon.... If you could walk into a local bookshop and have access to one million titles, that's pretty compelling."
The Espresso Book Machine also presents an environmental advantage over conventional book printing by preventing the wanton destruction of surplus book copies. And it saves publishers from transporting books across any distance - a book is practically spat out into the buyer's waiting hands.
The Espresso Book Machine is making its first appearances in stores in Australia, Canada, Egypt, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Sources
- Brownlee, John, "The Espresso Book Machine brings the Gutenberg press to the small brick-and-mortar," Geek.com, 28 April 2009.
- Flood, Alison, "Revolutionary Espresso Book Machine Launches in London," Guardian.co.uk, 24 April 2009.
- On Demand Books, "The EBM: FAQ," OnDemandBooks.com, 2009.
On Demand Books Espresso Book Printing Machine
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