Print On Demand: Major Announcement Could Change How You Buy Books

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by Apache

And now they want to start printing books on demand? They still seem to be behind the curve to me, what with more people going to ebooks.

My PoD books look much cooler on my book shelf that my Kindle does.

Personally I know many people who read lots of books but will not buy an e-reader unless declining eyesight forces them to. The younger generation may grow up thinking print is quaint, but older generations will continue reading print books for decades yet.

And given the base cost of a Createspace book is three or four hours of your time for formatting and uploading, there's really no reason not to do a PoD.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Edward M. Grant

My PoD books look much cooler on my book shelf that my Kindle does.

Personally I know many people who read lots of books but will not buy an e-reader unless declining eyesight forces them to. The younger generation may grow up thinking print is quaint, but older generations will continue reading print books for decades yet.

And given the base cost of a Createspace book is three or four hours of your time for formatting and uploading, there's really no reason not to do a PoD.

I am part of the older generation now. Although I blows my mind when I realize it.
Apache

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by robko

Yes and no. Kodak holds a huge portfolio of patents on digital imaging that would have put them at the forefront of the technology if they had commercialized them. Instead they kept making buggy whips and let their competitors come up with other ways of doing digital so their patents aren't nearly as valuable now (OK, so that's a little oversimplified but they had the potential and played it safe with their known film products).

Unless they can make this change for free it's probably a bad overall decision as books are going to specialty for those who want hard copy or digital for the rest.

Originally Posted by kennyc

My thoughts exactly. Kodak had all the keys to the kingdom and squandered it away, exactly as the current big publishing houses seem to be doing with the book industry.

Originally Posted by kennyc

Of course they did, they could have chosen to invest in research and shifting the company in the new direction. Instead they dug in their heels and continued to focus on a dwindling market. ....

Kodak entered the digital market and was a presence for a long time. The problem is that they were not an electronics company, nor were they a higher end camera company. 95% of their business involved chemistry, and they didn't have the expertise - despite having some patents - to compete with Sony or Panasonic on the electronics side, or with Canon and Nikon on the high end camera side. They went out of business because their business - film - ceased to exist.

Book printing companies - the once who put the ink on the paper for paper books - are in a similar position due to e-books. They will be out of business if e-books become 95% of the market, which I'm sure they know. But there's not really anything they can do about it - they can't suddenly become an e-ink screen producer, or even a publisher, because that's too far outside what they actually know. It's not enough to know what's going to happen; you also have to have the ability to do something about it.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Apache

I am part of the older generation now. Although I blows my mind when I realize it.
Apache

Same here. And e-readers are quite popular with older readers. When I went to the local library's e-reader playday a while back, except for one person, everyone was older than I! The one person there who brought a tablet to show off as opposed to e-ink looked to be about 80.

[frahse]

I would be interested in a price list. Not speculation, but a real price list for a real product that is deliverable today.

I don't think it can be done in a practical manner inexpensively enough to matter.

Interestingly enough I went for an interview a long time ago at Kodak, or at their Chemical division "Eastman" or "Eastman Kodak." We just called it Kodak. The main thing I remember is that you could work your way up to 6 weeks vacation. I think after 30 years.

[Graham]

Hasn't this already been tried, years ago?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...chine-launches

"This could change bookselling fundamentally," said Blackwell chief executive Andrew Hutchings.

It didn't.

Graham

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by Graham

Hasn't this already been tried, years ago?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...chine-launches



It didn't.

Graham

I'm also a little confused at the excitement over this. A bookstore I frequent has one of the Expresso machines and I have yet to see it do anything except collect dust.

[elemenoP]

I'm baffled by this. Who goes to the drugstore and thinks, "oh, there is an old out-of-print book I'd like to read... oh I can print here!" or: "I would like to try self-publishing. I know, I will drop by the drugstore and upload and print my book!" Or: "I need to get some 4x6 prints for Grandma. I think I'll print out The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the same time." Who is the MARKET they are targeting?

eP

[usuallee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Of course they did, they could have chosen to invest in research and shifting the company in the new direction. Instead they dug in their heels and continued to focus on a dwindling market. ....

Heh heh, I see what you did there. The publishing industry. Too true.

[steven522]

From a parent standpoint, I can see this being useful for school reading lists. Although I may have the ebook, the school requires the student to bring their own paper copy for in-classroom reading. (Strange, seeing as how they have no problem with my daughter taking out an ereader for "silent reading" times in class.)

The required paper copy has led to many online searches, bookstore searches, and even used paperback swap digging in attempts to find some of these required reading editions. It would be nice to have the teacher merely hand over an ISBN and go to a nearby POD kiosk and be done with it.

[WillAdams]

This won't be used (much) for printing books filled w/ text --- instead, it will be used to print custom scrapbooks of photos on-demand.

William

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

This won't be used (much) for printing books filled w/ text --- instead, it will be used to print custom scrapbooks of photos on-demand.

It doesn't print in color. Do people want to print their custom scrapbooks in black and white?

eP

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by frahse

Interestingly enough I went for an interview a long time ago at Kodak, or at their Chemical division "Eastman" or "Eastman Kodak." We just called it Kodak. The main thing I remember is that you could work your way up to 6 weeks vacation. I think after 30 years.

My dad worked for Kodak for quite a number of years til he died in 1975. Started out in the old plant in Chicago then moved to Oakbrook, IL.

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

Carol

[Penforhire]

Kodak has been one of the greatest of cautionary tales in the modern day. Sad to see them clawing for a foothold in STILL the wrong place.

In terms of tragedies they rank right up there with Polaroid, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, and Xerox. HP and Moto may still have a future but only because of painful reinvention.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by sadievan

My dad worked for Kodak for quite a number of years til he died in 1975. Started out in the old plant in Chicago then moved to Oakbrook, IL.

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

Carol

The plant I interviewed at was Carolina Eastman. In S.C. Don't know if it is still there.

I still have my mom's old box Kodak, and my own first camera, a Baby Brownie, a neighbor sold to me for a dollar when I was a little kid. I had a number of other Kodak cameras over the years with the many failed technologies Kodak developed that are long gone now, and I gave a son who likes cameras and old things a nice Kodak 35mm, but they will have to pry those first two from my stiff fingers.