Now books on tap: Espresso Book Machine

NEW YORK: Books-A-Million, Inc. and On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), have entered into an agreement to install an EBM in Books-A-Million's store in Portland, Maine, and one other location to be announced at a later date.

The EBM, as stated, tried to bring a revolutionary book-publishing technology to one of the nation's premier book retailers, says the announcement

"We are excited to be utilizing the Espresso Book Machine. This offering means something special for BAM customers, who will now have access to a virtual inventory of seven million titles instantly available to them," said Terrance G. Finley, CEO of Books-A-Million, Inc. "Our customers will also be able to print their self-published works or any user generated content, photo books, recipes, etc. in a matter of minutes and pick it up in our store."

"ODB is delighted that the Espresso will be installed at Books-A-Million's Portland store and to partner with a premier leader in the industry," said Dane Neller, CEO of On Demand Books. "With the Espresso, Books-A-Million will be able to provide a self and custom publishing center, as well as add a catalogue of over seven million titles to its current book offering."

The EBM is tagged as the only digital-to-print at retail solution on the market. Within minutes, the EBM can produce a bookstore quality paperback with color cover, in any standard trim size, at point of sale. The content is fed to the machine via EspressNet, On Demand Books' growing digital network of titles. These titles are available through partnerships with Google, Lightning Source, Harper Collins, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan, McGraw Hill, and others, and includes content from publishers like Random House, W.W. Norton, and Simon & Schuster.

Like iTunes for books, EspressNet retrieves, encrypts, transmits, and catalogues books from a multitude of English and foreign language content providers (including public domain, in copyright, and self-published). Through the SelfEspress software, writers can format, design, edit, and upload their book for printing and inclusion on the EBM catalog, as well as convert the print file to an .epub format suitable for e-readers.

The EBM, as added, also provides a new sales channel for publishers and vastly increases the availability of titles for physical bookstores, significantly reducing loss of sales due to books being out-of-stock. And the EBM technology offers brick-and-mortar retailers the opportunity to become community self-publishing centers, providing a new distribution platform for self-published authors. The EBM is said to improve efficiency and sustainability by eliminating shipping, returns, and the pulping of unwanted books as well.

Xerox manages the worldwide service for the EBM.