Espresso Book Machine
The Espresso Book Machine (EBM) is a print on demand (POD) machine that prints, collates, covers, and binds a single book in a few minutes.
The EBM is small enough to fit in a retail book store or small library room, and as such it is targeted at retail and library markets.[1] The EBM can potentially allow readers to obtain any book title, even books that are out of print. The machine takes as input a PDF file and prints, binds, and trims the reader’s selection as a paperback book.[2][3]
History
Jason Epstein, veteran editor of such writers as Norman Mailer, Philip Roth and Gore Vidal, gave a series of lectures in 1999 in which he reflected on his experiences in publishing. Epstein mentioned in his speech that a future was possible in which customers would be able to print an out-of-stock title on the spot, if a book-printing machine could be made that would fit in a store. At the time, Jeff Marsh, a St Louis engineer and inventor, had already constructed a prototype book printer that could both photocopy and book-bind. A friend of Marsh, present on one of the lectures, informed Epstein. The editor together with Dane Neller, former President and CEO of Dean and Deluca, licensed Marsh's invention and founded On Demand Books.[3][4]
The first EBM
The first Espresso Book Machine was installed and demonstrated June 21 2007 at the New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library. For a month, the public was allowed to test the machine by printing free copies of such public domain classics as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, and "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake. The public domain titles were provided by the Open Content Alliance (OCA), a non-profit organization with a database of over 200,000 titles.[2]
Economic consequences
The direct-to-consumer model of the EBM eliminates shipping, warehousing, returns and pulping of unsold books, and allows simultaneous global availability[3] of millions of new and backlist titles. These characteristics may in the future lower prices to consumers and libraries, and allow greater royalties and profits to authors and publishers.[2]
Distribution
A book can be made available for distribution via the EBM network by placing it with Lightning Source, the world's largest POD printer and a subsidiary of Ingram Book Company, the largest distributor in the US. Once a book is uploaded into the Lightning Source system, the publisher need only check a single box (at the end of the set up pages) to add the book to the Espresso channel.
Locations
In Africa
Beta versions of the EBM are placed at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.[2]
In the Americas
In the United States
Beta versions of the EBM are placed at the World Bank Infoshop in Washington, DC .[2] Additional EBMs were made available to the public in the fall of 2007 at the New Orleans Public Library, the Boxcar and Caboose Bookstore in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont and the Open Content Alliance in San Francisco.[2] Other locations include the University of Missouri, the Harvard Book Store, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Washington Bookstore in Seattle, Third Place Books in Seattle, the University of Michigan Shapiro Undergraduate Library, the University of Arizona Bookstore, the Brigham Young University Bookstore and the Grace Mellman Community Library (part of the Riverside County Library System, Riverside County, California). Mizzou Media at the University of Missouri operates an Espresso Book Machine version 2.0.[5] There is a concession model of the Espresso Book Machine 2.2 located within the Darien Library in Darien, Connecticut.[6]
In Canada
An EBM has been installed at the University of Alberta, Titles McMaster University Bookstore, University of Waterloo Bookstore[7] McGill University Library[8] and the University of Toronto Bookstore.[9] Simon Fraser University Bookstore.[10]
University of Victoria Bookstore
Oscar's Art Books in Vancouver
In Australia
In September 2008, was installed at Angus & Robertson in Melbourne, Australia by the Central Book Services / DA Group. However, its success was short-lived and the machine was removed in late 2009.[11] A newer version of the Espresso Book Machine (2.0) has now been installed at the University of Melbourne.
In Europe
In the UK
In September 2008, the first Espresso Book Machine was installed in the UK. Newsstand, a London based company, uses the machinery to print single copy book runs for publishers and authors.
In April 2009, an Espresso Book Machine was installed with great fanfare in the Charing Cross Road branch of Blackwell's book store in London. Blackwell's also announced that they plan to install the machine across their 60 UK stores.[12]
In the Netherlands
In November 2010 the American Book Center in Amsterdam installed the first ever Espresso Book Machine in the Netherlands and continental Europe. A second machine was installed in The American Book Center in The Hague in March 2011.
In Japan
There is an Espresso Book Machine in the basement of Sanseido Publishing head office in Tokyo. Simple services are offered at this time. You cannot do full self publishing as is the case at some other EBM locations.
See also
References
- ^ Overview of the report on "Future of Books" CQ Researcher Blog. May 29 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ a b c d e f "First Espresso Book Machine Installed and Demonstrated at New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library". PR Web. June 21 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c "End of the line for books?". The Sydney Morning Herald. October 4 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ About ODB: History, OnDemandBooks.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-03.
- ^ About the Espresso Book Machine, Mizzou Media. University of Missouri. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
- ^ www.darienlibrary.org/espresso
- ^ "Bookstore Print on Demand". University of Waterloo. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "On Demand Services". McGill University. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Book POD". University of Toronto. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Book-on-Demand". Simon Fraser University. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Angus & Robertson winds down POD book machine Print21. January 18 2010. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ Flood, Alison (April 24 2009). "Blackwell's unveils Espresso Book Machine - any title printed while you wait". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
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