Publishers try out Espresso Book Machine pilot programme

Lightning Source, an Ingram Content company, has launched an Espresso Book Machine (EBM) title pilot with On Demand Books. The EBM is essentially an ATM for books. Placed primarily in bookstores and libraries, the machine automatically prints, binds and trims perfect bound paperback books on-demand, at the point of sale.

The pilot, which is being offered initially to a small group of publishers that currently work with Lightning Source, should enable these publishers to enhance the availability of their titles at point-of-sale EBM locations. Approximately 85,000 titles from these publishers are now available for purchase at EBM locations in the USA.

‘We see the Espresso Book Machine as an innovative and exciting way for publishers to get their books out into the market,’ said David Taylor, president of Lightning Source. ‘Working with On Demand Books allows the many thousands of publishers with whom we already work the chance to get their books into this new distribution channel with minimal effort. 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.’

The publishers participating 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.