Espresso Book Machine

It was reported a while ago about the Espresso Book Machine--a machine where the consumer could print the book of their choosing. The machine would print and bind the book within about 15 minutes. No more "The book I want isn't on the shelf, can I special order it?" kind of thing. If the book's not on the shelf, you can print it using the Espresso.

This week, Publisher's Weekly reported the following:

On Demand Books Signs Agreement with Lightning Source

“It’s always been the holy grail of the book business to walk into a store and get any book,” said Kirby Best, president and CEO of Lightning Source. With the signing of today’s strategic agreement with On Demand Books, proprietor of the Espresso Book Machine, Best sees that goal coming a little bit closer.

“When we first got into this, we thought our technology would be ahead of the content. Now we have to catch up,” said Dane Neller, cofounder and CEO of On Demand Books.

The partnership with Lightning Source gives On Demand access to its scanning facilities, but it also gives the company access to copyrighted material through an opt in/opt out clause that Lightning Source will add to its publisher contracts. At present, the titles available through Espresso fall mainly in the public domain.


The publishing industry, she is a-changing...