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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Instant Print Books!

This just in - a sneak preview from Lightning Source, book printer connected with Ingram's, The Majah Playah in book distribution for North America - will be revealed at this weekend's Book Expo America:

ESPRESSO BOOK MACHINE® CHANNEL NOW AVAILABLE
TO ALL LIGHTNING SOURCE CUSTOMERS


Lightning Source is pleased to announce the launch the Espresso Book Machine (EBM) Channel officially at BookExpo America starting this Friday. The EBM, an ATM for books, is located in bookstores, libraries and other sites. The Espresso Book Machine is the latest pioneering distribution channel to join the Lightning Source family of publisher-to-market pathways.

The Lightning Source Espresso Book Machine Channel will give publishers the option to make available the books they have stored in the Lightning Source digital library, and have those titles printed, bound, and delivered at point of sale, on demand, in minutes.

The compact size of the Espresso Book Machine® 2.0 (3.8 feet wide by 2.7 feet deep by 4.5 feet high) dramatically expands the opportunity to place machines in a variety of retail and library environments worldwide. More sites mean more opportunities for selling your books.

Reach regional localized markets. Streamline the import and export of books by avoiding costly fees and tariffs that are typically incurred when shipping physical copies internationally.


Why am I pumped about this? Aside from the obvious coolness of being able to walk up the gizmo, order the book of choice, and receive it - literally - hot off the press, this could help level the playing field for book stores struggling to compete against Amazon. What's Amazon's best feature? Variety, in my opinion. Espresso Book Machine gives readers the variety, plus NO WAITING. Oh yeah. That's big. Plus, think how many books even a big box store can "stock" using the EBM compared to what they currently have on their shelf space.

Very cool for Canada, where shipping costs make buying so many print on demand books just silly. Overseas? This should knock their socks off.

My only worry is how much the machine will cost the retailer and if it'll be equitable for small-timers to have one.

Are the printers starting to worry about how to compete with ebooks?

Purty nifty.

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh how cool!

Annie Monie said...

There is a wide range of variations that are available in the print industry of the modern days. Printing companies provide fast services coupled with other facilities like high quality standards and improved services. There are additional advantages that involve designing layout and color schemes for different kinds of items based on their nature of usage.

Quick Printing Magazine