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Anna Richardson

Anna Richardson is The Bookseller's media editor. Anna's media blog will provide a weekly insight into the big books featuring in the media.

Espresso time

20.06.08

So, Blackwell is getting on-demand printer the Espresso Book Machine--very exciting.

Blackwell c.e.o. Vince Gunn described the "ATM for books", which allows customers to print paperbacks on demand, as "trailblazing and pioneering", and it certainly promises an exciting future--a world where "no book will ever have to be out of print", as Gunn says.

At the moment, the printer can access around one million titles, and its US owner On Demand Books is in discussion with publishers about adding their content.

But as fascinating as questions about the future of this pioneering device are, there is a more immediately pressing matter: its looks.

With the enticing "Espresso" moniker conjuring images of gleaming steel perfection--from the retro-charm of stove-top moka pots to the futuristic DeLonghi BAR32 machine--you might expect a bit of a wow-factor.

But the image that will greet customers come the autumn is something more like this:





"That's the most boring picture ever--it looks like our photocopier!" came the cry from the Bookseller's production desk on press day, and the EBM is certainly no oil painting.

Gunn himself admits that it is "first generation", and in a Bookseller roundtable on the future said that "there are a hundred things wrong with it".

The first machine to make it onto the Blackwell shop floor this autumn is the 1.5 version, so it's indeed early days yet.

And the excitement when that freshly ground, printed, bound and trimmed paperback pops out--with four-colour cover to boot--will surely make up for a lack in its creator's looks department.

 

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By A Blackwell bookseller

It's tremendously exciting, but I take your point about its lack of sexiness. It depends on its surroundings. Most of my colleagues are pretty ugly - not in a Ugly Betty add-on-eyebrows-and-braces kind of ugly, but in a ten-rounds-with-the-Cloverfield-monster kind of ugly. This would look like Angelina Jolie next to them. I'm sure we could pimp it, though. Get me Tim Westwood...

21 Jun 08 10:17

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By Josie Henley-Einion

If it’s selling the book I want to buy then I don’t care what it looks like. I doubt that these will be used the customer anyway, so no need to have it on display. It could just be a ‘black box’ mechanism like the kitchens in a restaurant. Send the waiter with the order and a few minutes (or half an hour?) later, out s/he comes with the finished product. As an author with a small press, I’d be very pleased for my book to never be out of print and always available to the customer. But then again I’d be worried about the effect this system might have on the possibility of my small press book being stocked on the shelf.

24 Jun 08 11:04

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By Euphrosene Labon

About time too. It should put good quality self-publishing on a par with some more conventional authors. Naturally, both needs good marketing but at least the playing field should be levelled. Euphrosene

24 Jun 08 18:23

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By Euphrosene Labon

Whoops! In my eagerness I should have proofed with eagle eyes - something all good self-publishers should do! Of course, it is 'need'

24 Jun 08 18:25

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By Photocopier Repair Guy

As an operator in the 'large machines that use a lot of paper and ink' field, one of the most frequently asked questions I get is - "Will you come and fix my large machine that is essential to my business yet no-one in the business knows how to turn on, let alone fix?" To which I am of course very happy to answer, "Certainly. I will be there Tuesday, please have lots of money ready." One hopes that the customer patiently awaiting his or her copy of the latest blockbuster to emerge fully formed from the machine's belly will be patient enough to wait till then. Maybe they could buy a ready made book to read while they wait.

25 Jun 08 12:58

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