Espresso Book Machine Catching On With Publishers

Posted on September 29, 2011

The Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Trachtenberg discusses the expansion of On Demand Books' Espresso Book Machine, a desk-sized device that quickly prints out black-and-white paperbacks with color covers. Jeffrey says he printed his own book in four minutes. The machine has been around since 2007, but it is just now starting to catch on.

The number of bookstores is declining and those that are still around have fewer copies of books on the shelves. With this machine, independent bookstorescan print any book the customer wants without having to invest in buying so many books. That saves money for small shop owners. Jeff thinks the devices may end up at your local Walgreens or drugstore. HarperCollins is going to make 5,000 backlist titles available for the Espresso in November. Take a look: