Publishers Participate in Espresso Book Machine Pilot Program
April 2009
Lightning Source has launched an Espresso Book Machine (EBM) title pilot with OnDemand Books, the proprietor of the EBM.
Participating publishers in the pilot include John Wiley & Sons, Hachette Book Group, McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster, Clements Publishing, Cosimo, E-Reads, Bibliolife, Information Age Publishing, Macmillan, University of California Press and W.W. Norton. The pilot initially was offered to a small group of publishers that currently work with Lightning Source to enable them to enhance the availability of their titles at point-of-sale EBM locations.
Approximately 85,000 titles from these publishers will be available for purchase at EBM locations throughout the United States in May. Upon the completion of a successful pilot, publishers that print and distribute books with Lightning Source will have the option to participate in the EBM channel. According to Lightning Source, complete channel automation is expected in the first half of this year, and rollout of the program to publishers globally is expected to follow shortly thereafter.
"We see the Espresso Book Machine as an innovative and exciting way for publishers to get their books out into the market," says David Taylor, president of Lightning Source. "There is clearly a place for the in-store, print-on-demand model in the emerging landscape of globally distributed print. … In the times in which we are living, publishers need to be looking at every option to ensure that their books can be immediately available to people who want to buy them."
"OnDemand Books is delighted that the Espresso Book Machine is playing such a central role in a program that is blazing a trail to the future of book publishing," says Dane Neller, CEO of OnDemand Books. "With the book business facing dramatic changes and challenges, we believe the timing of the EBM couldn't be better. Publishers, retailers and libraries alike see the appeal of the machine that collapses the supply chain, boosts backlist sales, matches supply with demand, eliminates returns and powers new, high-growth sales channels for publishers."
Participating publishers in the pilot include John Wiley & Sons, Hachette Book Group, McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster, Clements Publishing, Cosimo, E-Reads, Bibliolife, Information Age Publishing, Macmillan, University of California Press and W.W. Norton. The pilot initially was offered to a small group of publishers that currently work with Lightning Source to enable them to enhance the availability of their titles at point-of-sale EBM locations.
Approximately 85,000 titles from these publishers will be available for purchase at EBM locations throughout the United States in May. Upon the completion of a successful pilot, publishers that print and distribute books with Lightning Source will have the option to participate in the EBM channel. According to Lightning Source, complete channel automation is expected in the first half of this year, and rollout of the program to publishers globally is expected to follow shortly thereafter.
"We see the Espresso Book Machine as an innovative and exciting way for publishers to get their books out into the market," says David Taylor, president of Lightning Source. "There is clearly a place for the in-store, print-on-demand model in the emerging landscape of globally distributed print. … In the times in which we are living, publishers need to be looking at every option to ensure that their books can be immediately available to people who want to buy them."
"OnDemand Books is delighted that the Espresso Book Machine is playing such a central role in a program that is blazing a trail to the future of book publishing," says Dane Neller, CEO of OnDemand Books. "With the book business facing dramatic changes and challenges, we believe the timing of the EBM couldn't be better. Publishers, retailers and libraries alike see the appeal of the machine that collapses the supply chain, boosts backlist sales, matches supply with demand, eliminates returns and powers new, high-growth sales channels for publishers."
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I saw this machine at BEA. It had a lot of very precise moving parts. I have a hard time envisioning a part-time clerk in a bookstore clearing jams and keeping the thing running. It has to print a cover in color...print the pages in black and white...glue the pages to the cover and then trim the finished book and send it down a chute.
Most of us are familiar with copy machines in our office that only have to print out black and white collated pages and how often they require a skilled technician hours to keep running. Waiting days for a part is commonplace.