AP article on Espresso Book Machine

[GA Russell]

Here is a link to today's AP article about the Espresso Book Machine, and how it is helping an independent bookstore in Washington compete with Amazon.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...=all#pagebreak

[stonetools]

Cool ! I hope it really helps the indie bookstores. I like Politics & Prose Bookstore too.

[xg4bx]

if i had access to such a machine i'd go back to bookstores rather than buy from amazon. while amazon is convenient, you can't beat any book you want being printed in front of you in 5 minutes.

[teh603]

Y'know, I wonder why newspapers don't have a similar service. Set up something like a fax machine in someone's house, and have it print out custom-tailored pages for each customer's taste.

Me, I'd sign up for more science, less politics, and more comic strips.

[ATDrake]

I thought that looked familiar. We have one of these right downtown at an artbook store and I got to see it in action last year.

But what they use it for there is to encourage people to self-publish commercial-type stuff, and it was really weird being served by the guy who was working the cash register and seeing his author photo on the back of his fitness/motivational inspirational text thingy just as it was being printed and bound by the machine.

According to the Espresso BM website, Canada has a disproportionately high number of these things, with 1 out of 6 pages overall in their listings and 4 out of 13 EBM-hosting venues within approximately 150 km of where I live, if I'm remembering the diagonal distance to Vancouver Island correctly.

[ProfCrash]

Interesting. I was hoping for something that allowed you to buy ebooks in the store and put them on your e-reader instead of a printing machine for virtual books.

I only read paper books when I have to, or when people send me useful ones and I don't want to buy the e-book version. I would like to go to an independent store, talk to some one who has a clue, discover a new author, and buy the e-book from the store.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I would like to go to an independent store, talk to some one who has a clue, discover a new author, and buy the e-book from the store.

I never really thought about something like this, but I think that would be great. I'd definitely make more trips to an actual store if there were something like this. Doubly so if they had a nice little cafe in there that had some tasty teas.

[ProfCrash]

This is why DRM free books excite me. It would allow an independent bookstore to sell books that could be downloaded from the stores website. I would totally use a service like this. I prefer to talk to people about my interests and discover new authors. Amazon is pretty impersonal and I know that I missing on new authors or books. But Borders (before it went out of business) and Barnes and Noble tend to hire people who know little about literature. The books that are recommended by staff tend to be generic and there is no one to talk to about your interests.

I am not patient enough to browse shelves but like to talk to folks and get recommendations. So give me an indie bookstore that is selling ebooks from a website and let me buy the book from the website at the store. I'll be a happy camper and they get more sales.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by teh603

Y'know, I wonder why newspapers don't have a similar service. Set up something like a fax machine in someone's house, and have it print out custom-tailored pages for each customer's taste.

Cost. It would probably have to be an inkjet printer and the ink would cost a small fortune.

[WillAdams]

Time was I used a service on AOL to have news stories based on a particular criteria e-mailed to me each night, then I had a scheduled task on my computer which would download the e-mail from that AOL account to my Newton MessagePad so that I could read them during the day.

[ProfCrash]

You can do that with google and yahoo

[GA Russell]

This AP article is featured at the top of today's New & Observer website, with an addendum.

The only Espresso in the state is here in Raleigh, and the manager of the bookstore (NC State's) discusses it.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/...s-embrace.html

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Cost. It would probably have to be an inkjet printer and the ink would cost a small fortune.

If I were going to use such a service, and I probably wouldn't, I'd prefer a laser printer.

As far as the Espresso Book Machine goes...the article is hopelessly bungled. It doesn't mention caffeine levels. It doesn't even say whether or not one can get the books with whipped cream and sprinkles.

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

The only Espresso in the state is here in Raleigh, and the manager of the bookstore (NC State's) discusses it.

Interesting. The article says $0.08 per page up to a hundred pages (presumably cheaper beyond that?) plus a couple of dollars for the cover.

My PoD novel costs $4 plus shipping for author copies from Createspace, so for new books it doesn't look competitive unless it's something you must have right now or the shipping cost to where you live is high.

One thing I've noticed from the videos is that it seems to throw away about half the paper that it uses (printing each page on a much larger sheet than is required for a novel), which can't help the cost.