On Demand Books Turns Google's eBook Archive Back Into Paperbacks
When you think about Google Books, chances are that you are thinking about eBooks and searching books on your desktop. Starting today, however, On Demand Books, the makers of the Espresso Book Machine, will have access to Google's vast library of public domain books. Bookstores that buy an Espresso Book Machine will now be able to provide on-demand printing services for any of the close to 2 million books in Google's repository.
The Espresso Book Machine can print out about 145 pages per minute at a cost of about 1 cent per page. The machine itself costs around $100,000. On Demand Books argues that this device can revolutionize the distribution of books by decentralizing the marketplace for the distribution of books and can give libraries and bookstores a potentially unlimited inventory in their shops. In its press release about today's agreement with Google, On Demand Books likens its machine to "an ATM for books."
For now, these printers are only available in a about a dozen locations, including the University of Michigan Shapiro Library in Ann Arbor, MI, and the Bibliotheca Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt. The Harvard Book Store will also soon get one of these machines as well. By early 2010, On Demand Books hopes to have sold about 35 to 40 machines and this new deal with Google will surely help the company to reach this goal.
It's good to see that Google acknowledges that not everybody wants to read everything on a screen. While you could always just print out the PDF versions of the public domain books on your own printer, the Espresso machine can quickly print library-quality books in minutes - a service that might just be worth a few dollars.
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One rather important correction: unless the price has dropped precipitately, the EBM costs about $100,000--you're missing a zero.
Oh wow, this is really quite exciting and potentially huge.
@zumayabooks - you're totally right - there was a '0' missing there. I've seen some sources that say the base model costs $75,000 now. $10,000 would've been too cheap.
I so want to go try this out. I see there's one at archive.org in SF
The deal will allow Google to choke off other book scanning projects from monetizing their efforts via the Espresso, thus increasing the power of Google's monopoly. So what that Google proposes to donate its $1 per book earning to charity? That's the power of a monopoly. You can do what you want and price your competitors out of the marketplace. Of course the Espresso is a good idea, but it has to be looked at in the context of monopoly and marketplace.
Publishers all over the world are just to slow to ever catch up with Google and Amazon. Whether you/we like it or not, Google has the ideas, and they don't wait for the others to make up their mind about what they're going to do. That's the power of a monopoly, of money and technical resources: Just do it!
This news from Google and On Demand books is a boost of adrenaline to the print on demand industry. Despite the headlines on the boom in electronic books, readers still generally prefer printed copies – after all, how can you pass on a book you love to your friend, if it is kept on an e-reader?
The problem has always been how to create a decent business case around producing more niche titles, for an important audience that is less interested in reading on a computer screen than in holding a printed and bound version in its hands. Print on demand solves this, as well as the waste issue around pulping books that go unsold from larger print runs. With Google taking the first big step in this direction, it’s likely many other well-known brands will follow suit.
If you're in London, on the long Charing Cross Road, which used to be famous for bookshops until rising rents forced most of the independents to close:(, opposite the Leicester Square tube, there is an Espresso Book Machine in the Blackwell's Books, and there is a rival print on demand service in the UK's biggest bookshop, Foyle's. I read these things on the internet, I have not been there, please do not blame me if it's not there! My dad has been to Foyle's cafe and heard live jazz and loved it, so you could console yourself with that if I'm wrong:)
I will definitely spread the word, my friends who are more into this thing would love this, thanks for the post.