Imagine if you could walk up to a machine, without walking out of your way, and buy any book you fancy with no cashiers, no lines and no need for the book to even be in stock. How would you like an ATM for books? Well, the revolution has begun. The EBM, also known as the Espresso Book Machine, does just that. It offers a brand new concept of print on demand, buying books hot off the press, literally. This “Johnny on the spot” wonder offers quality paperbacks–even extinct and hard-to-find ones–at cheap prices, just like factory-made books, but instead printed directly from online files within just minutes.
The Espresso Book Machine
The concept lies within the name itself–Espresso, which is something that is made to order, one at a time, at the time of sale and most importantly in a fast manner. It all started with a series of lectures back in 1999, when lecturer Jason Epstein. An experienced editor, who had worked with writers ranging from Phillip Roth to widely renowned Nabokov, mentioned that the future of the business was possible if readers could print an out-of-stock piece on the spot, especially if a book-printing machine could be made so it would fit in any ordinary store. At the same time Jeff Marsh, an inventor from Missouri, was already working on a device with many similar features. When one of his friends heard Epstein’s lecture and ideas, he immediately contacted him. In short time, Epstein (along with other partners) licensed Marsh’s invention and formed “On Demand Books“; you can guess the business logic behind the name.
The first EBM, a machine that can cost up to 75,000 dollars, was placed and demonstrated June 2007 in the Science, Industry and Business Library of the New York Public Library. For an entire month the public could test the machine by printing free copies of all-time best sellers such as “Moby Dick”, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “A Christmas Carol” (soon to be a Disney picture) and many more. It was a big success, drawing the mass audience and media attention it deserved. Ever since the heat began, beta EBMs were dispensed in many more locations in the US like Washington, New Orleans, San Francisco, Vermont, Michigan and other places throughout the world: The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and even Egypt (Bibliotheca Alexandrina). It is important to point out the phenomenal success in the UK where it was embraced by “Blackwell’s book store” which now plans to place EBMs in 60 more of its stores and has a catalogue of over one million books.
The machine measures 2.8 feet deep, 3.2 feet wide and 4.5 feet high, which indeed makes it small enough to fit in retail book stores or small library rooms. It consists of two modular parts, making it easy for transport. The EBM can print up to 105 pages in a minute in black and white or 35 pages a minute in color. This means that the EBM can print, collate, bind and cover a 300 page book in about three and a half minutes. In total the EBM can bind 830 pages, if that’s not satisfactory for you, then good luck. Moreover, it can also print four-color covers not at all different from factory-made books’ covers. There is hardly any room for human intervention, and aside from choosing the book and color settings, all you need to do is decide on the trim size of the book and maybe refill the paper. It is based on the EspressNet, a user-friendly virtual network which provides the content itself, content and rights managing tools, encryption and security and the ordering interface itself. Both cover and the book block are printed from PDF files.
So what is the Google connection? Lately Google signed an agreement with On Demand Books whereby Google will provide them the digitized files on more than two million books in the public domain for printing and selling. This unprecedented number of reading options will be added to the current 1.6 million titles already available via the Espresso Book Machine, thus creating a limitless digital inventory. According to the associated press, Google will get one buck for each book sold, but Google had already announced it will donate all profits to charities. The Harvard Book Store in Cambridge will be among the pioneers to be equipped with an EBM that has access to Google’s desired digital library.
What about economic consequences? The direct selling model that the EBM represents eliminates shipping, storing and the formation of tons of unsold books or books which are in a bad shape and allows concurrent world wide availability of new titles and golden oldies, which are out print. It basically screams decentralization. Moreover, it will allow self published authors to get instant distribution. All of these influences may in time cause prices to lower to consumers and libraries and allow greater profits for the publishers. Many feel that this innovation could actually help conventional bookshops to survive and even encourage literacy. So aside from the teamsters, everyone is pretty happy. Especially with a one cent a page tariff for some book categories, that will probably even lower later on.
With all that in mind, it’s no wonder it landed a spot on Time Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the year” list in 2007 and it’s no wonder why some proclaim that what Guttenberg’s printing press did for Europe six hundred years ago, digitization and the Espresso Book Machine will do for the world tomorrow.
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