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Expresso Book Machine- EBM by On Demand Books – a Red Box for books?

Yes, yes, I am sure many have already heard of this, but for those of you who haven’t, me for one, this is a pleasant surprise! When we say Print on Demand, it makes us think of Create Space, Lulu and many other companies available via the web, but a machine in your library or a book store? Really? Is that a reality? Yes really, it is, and here are a few of many who have this machine.

The Library of Alexandria

The Harvard Book Store

Books Sanseido (Tokyo)

Blackwell’s (Oxford)

McNally Jackson (New York)

The Brooklyn Public Library

Now what exactly is this machine? Espresso Book Machine is manufactured and sold by On Demand Books. This machine makes a paper back book for you in minutes. McNally’s (above) alone increased their book stock by 4 million titles by adding this machine in their place. For customers, all they have to do is walk over to this machine, scroll through the vast selection for a desired title, pick the novel they want, swipe their credit card and select one copy. Within minutes and for about a cent a page, a book then is printed and in with the same industry quality, bounded in a four-color cover and pops out into a tray for you to grab like doing photos with a Kodak machine!

It sounds crazy, but this is real. The future has arrived and this simple to use machine isn’t just beneficial for the readers. These droves of customers flowing into this New York store are not just readers, they are authors too. Self publishing via a EBM is simpler and convenient for authors. Anyone can publish their work quickly and cost-effective with these machines. Staff members that man the machine are also there to answer questions and happy to as well. How great is that for those authors?!

For the traditional print publishing industry, the number of new titles increased by 5 percent from 2009 to 2010, rising to 316,000. In contrast to that, print-on-demand and self-publishing boomed by 169 percent—hitting a stunning 2.8 million unique titles!

On Demand Books (ondemandbooks.com) - Through its EspressNet® digital catalog of content, books can be ordered online or onsite at bookstores, libraries, and non-bookstore retailers. Millions of books are now available to the consumers and in their native language. Being able to print in any langauge is a big benifit to libraries and other institutions where English isn’t the first language.

At their webpage, links above will direct you to locations, Publisher programs, Self-publishing, authors, and how to buy or lease one of these amazing machines.

Wanna learn about their technology? There’s a link for that too!

Have you already discovered this phenomenom? Please share your opinion and experience. Authors and readers!

Thanks for dropping in and happy printng on demand!