Espresso Book Machine

Last updated
The Espresso Book Machine at the Salon du Livre de Paris in 2015. Xerox PUF, impression a la demande - Salon du Livre de Paris.jpg
The Espresso Book Machine at the Salon du Livre de Paris in 2015.

The Espresso Book Machine (EBM) was a print on demand (POD) machine created by On Demand Books. It printed, collated, covered, and bound a single book in a few minutes.

Contents

Introduced in 2007, EBM was small enough to fit in a retail bookstore or small library room, and as such was targeted at retail and library markets. [1] The machine took a PDF file for input and prints, then made the readers selection into a paperback book. [2] [3]

The manufacture of the machine has been discontinued as of January 2024 due to the closure of On Demand Books.

History

Jason Epstein gave a series of lectures in 1999 about his experiences in publishing. Epstein mentioned in his speech that a future was possible in which customers would be able to print an out-of-stock title on the spot, if a book-printing machine could be made that would fit in a store. He founded 3BillionBooks with Michael Smolens, an entrepreneur from Long Island living in Russia, and Thor Sigvaldason, a consultant at Price Waterhouse Coopers. At the time, Jeff Marsh, a St. Louis engineer and inventor, had already constructed a prototype book printer that could both photocopy and bind. Marsh was working on this project for Harvey Ross, who held U.S. Patent 5,465,213. [4] Peter Zelchenko, a Chicago-based technologist and a partner of Ross in a related patent effort, worked with Marsh to prove the concept and also helped bring Marsh and other players together with several venture interests. [5]

Ultimately Epstein, together with Dane Neller, former President and CEO of Dean and Deluca, licensed Marsh's invention and founded On Demand Books. [3] [6]

The first Espresso Book Machine was installed and demonstrated June 21, 2007, at the New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library. For a month, the public was allowed to test the machine by printing free copies of public domain titles provided by the Open Content Alliance (OCA), a non-profit organization with a database of over 200,000 titles. [2]

As of January 2024, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine has been closed. [7] However, some machines continue to remain in places that had purchased them prior to the closure of the company. [8]

Distribution

The direct-to-consumer model supported by Espresso Book Machine eliminated the need for shipping, warehousing, returns, and pulping of unsold books; it allowed simultaneous global availability [3] of millions of new and backlist titles.

EBM books were also available for distribution through Lightning Source, a subsidiary of Ingram Content Group.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Book</span> Medium for recording information in the form of writing or images

A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images. Books are typically composed of many pages, bound together and protected by a cover. Modern bound books were preceded by many other written mediums, such as the codex and the scroll. The book publishing process is the series of steps involved in their creation and dissemination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Print on demand</span> Printing business process

Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints in single or small quantities. While other industries established the build-to-order business model, POD could only develop after the beginning of digital printing because it was not economical to print single copies using traditional printing technologies such as letterpress and offset printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnes & Noble</span> American bookseller and retailer

Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across all 50 U.S. states.

EBM or Ebm may stand for:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powell's Books</span> Bookstore chain selling new and used books

Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in Portland, Oregon, and its surrounding metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Powell's City of Books is located in the Pearl District on the edge of downtown and occupies a full city block between NW 10th and 11th Avenues and between W. Burnside and NW Couch Streets. It contains over 68,000 square feet, about 1.6 acres of retail floor space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textbook</span> Type of academic study book

A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbooks and other books used in schools. Today, many textbooks are published in both print and digital formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookselling</span> Business of selling and dealing with books

Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard Book Store</span> Shopping mall in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard Book Store is an independent and locally owned seller of used, new, and bargain books in Cambridge's Harvard Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Víctor Celorio</span>

Víctor Manuel Celorio Celorio is a Mexican-American author, entrepreneur, inventor, and former union organizer. He is best known as the inventor of InstaBook, a digital printing technology. He lives and works in Gainesville, Florida.

Lightning Source is a printer and distributor of print-on-demand books. The company is a business unit of Ingram Content Group. Originally incorporated in 1996 as Lightning Print Inc., the company is headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee, United States. Its UK operations are based in Milton Keynes. They also have operations in Maurepas, France and Melbourne, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schuler Books & Music</span> Bookstore

Schuler Books is an independent bookseller with four locations across the U.S. state of Michigan. Along with new and used books, Schuler stores feature an extensive gift section, magazines, print on demand services, event spaces, and a café.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cody's Books</span> Bookstore based in Berkeley, California, US

Cody's Books (1956–2008) was an independent bookstore based in Berkeley, California. It "was a pioneer in bookselling, bringing the paperback revolution to Berkeley, fighting censorship, and providing a safe harbor from tear gas directed at anti-Vietnam War protesters throughout the 1960s and 1970s."

InstaBook Corporation manufactures book on demand equipment. It was founded in 1997, and is located in Gainesville, Florida.

Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using print on demand technology. It may also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, games, video content, artwork, and zines. Web fiction is also a major medium for self-publishing.

ebook Book-length publication in digital form

An ebook, also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as "an electronic version of a printed book", some e-books exist without a printed equivalent. E-books can be read on dedicated e-reader devices, also on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MPH Group</span> Malaysian bookshop and printing company

MPH Group Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian group of companies best known for its book retailing and online retailing services as well as being involved in the printing, publishing and distribution of books and library services in Malaysia and Singapore. Its bookstore chain, MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, headquartered in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, has been among the largest in Malaysia after Popular. In 2020 MPH closed many of its bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore and concentrated its efforts on selling books via its online bookstore.

Town Center at Lake Forest Park is a multi-purpose shopping center that also serves as the community hub for the city of Lake Forest Park, Washington. Built in 1964, the center is located on the eastern side of Lake Forest Park, on the western shore of Lake Washington in a suburb of Seattle on Bothell Way NE beside City Hall. The southeast side of the center abuts the Burke-Gilman Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Bank Infoshop</span> Defunct nonprofit bookstore in the U.S.

The InfoShop was a non-profit bookstore in Washington, D.C., run by the World Bank specializing in "economics and international development ... current events, history, banking and finance, plus travel guides, reference books and international fiction", including discounted and remaindered books. The shop offered discounts to students, and to customers who worked in government, NGOs, or the World Bank. The shop also sold children's books, world music CDs, books and audio for learning languages, gifts, and stationery supplies with the World Bank logo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dane Neller</span> American businessman

Dane Joseph Neller is an American businessman and entrepreneur. He is best known as former chief executive of Dean & DeLuca, On Demand Books, and Shakespeare & Co.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of bookselling</span>

The selling of books dates back to ancient times. The founding of libraries in c.300 BC stimulated the energies of the Athenian booksellers. In Rome, toward the end of the republic, it became the fashion to have a library, and Roman booksellers carried on a flourishing trade.

References

  1. ↑ Overview of the report on "Future of Books" CQ Researcher Blog. May 29, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  2. 1 2 "First Espresso Book Machine Installed and Demonstrated at New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library". PR Web. June 21, 2007. Retrieved October 16, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 "End of the line for books?". The Sydney Morning Herald. October 4, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  4. ↑ Ross, H.M. "System and Method of Manufacturing a Single Book Copy". U.S. Patent and Trademark Office . Retrieved September 18, 2013– via Google.com.
  5. ↑ Rose, M.J. (July 17, 2001). "Twelve-minute Book Delivery". Wired . Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  6. ↑ About ODB: History Archived 2010-11-27 at the Wayback Machine , On Demand Books. Retrieved on June 3, 2009.
  7. ↑ "ODB Network Closing". ondemandbooks.com. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  8. ↑ "Espresso Book Machine". Flintridge Bookstore. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.