15/08/06

Espresso on demand

We haven’t talked much about print on demand [POD], mainly because we’ve been under all sorts of non-disclosure, and although these have now expired, I’m not going to go into too much detail at this stage.

But I am rather interested in the appearance of the Espresso Book Machine, which Printweek gives some details on. This came out about a week ago and was covered in the printing news media and a little in the broadsheets.

On Demand Books has created the Espresso Book Machine, which can automatically print, bind, trim and laminate a paperback book “in minutes”.

According to On Demand Books chief technical officer Thor Sigvaldason, the machine uses standard laser printers for printing the colour cover and the black and white book block.

He said: “The printers are integrated into the machine, paper goes through the printing mechanisms and into the book assembly process in a completely automated way.”

Its initial uses are spun towards international rural and educational uses, where books are scarce, as well as some fantastic partners,

Beta testing of the machine has begun at the World Bank InfoShop in Washington, with further installations to come in the New York Public Library and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt.

In the small print you’ll notice that it’s backed by Jason Epstein, whom I wrote about a few months ago, and who shares a vision of the future with HarperCollins’ Vicky Barnsley (detailed in the above link on Mr Epstein).

And that vision is of POD booths spitting out ready made books in an instant, taking over retail and - in a cruel irony given this week’s events airside - transforming the sale of books in aiports.

Of course, this represents a massive shift in potential. But will the main problems of book retailing be solved by a POD machine with access to all titles? Will it increase reading? Will it encourage reluctant readers to pick up a book?

I don’t have any figures to hand - despite the previous post - on whether lack of choice drives people out of bookshops, and therefore whether infinite choice will do the opposite. But my feeling is that people who go into book shops buy books from what is available, or if they are looking for something specialised, go to a specialist or range retailer. I also happen to think that, from what I know of POD technology, produciton values are not particularly high. As the quote above states, it is effectively a colour photocopy machine for the jacket and a black and white for the inside. Now I’ve seen some fantastic produciton quality on POD machines, but these are huge and far from cheap. Clearly, if people need a book (for research, or scarcity reasons) then quality is not an issue. But I also think that the digitisation / pod revolution when it comes will lead towards a fetishisation of production values for many readers.

What I do find interesting is the software / user interface that will be installed on these machines. As the Long Tail has shown us, one of the key ways of extracting value out of that tail (and by this we mean selling the books that are in the niches) is through recommendations. And that’s the nub of it. It’s the same problem as Napster used to be, or iTunes now - confronted with so much choice, what am I going to buy?

And the basis for this software is the really exciting bit.

Posted by Peter Collingridge in Future of the book, Publishing.