twowaymonologue:

Is this the future bookstore?

Machine downloads books from a massive database while the customer waits

By D.C. Denison Globe Staff / June 29, 2009
(See article for video!)

The Northshire Bookstore, in quaint Manchester Center, Vt., has all the classic trappings: exposed beams, wood tables stacked with hardcover bestsellers, comfortable leather chairs nestled into alcoves.

And then there’s “Lurch,’’ a hulking jumble of machinery that is often groaning and shuddering in a corner behind the sales counter.

Officially known as the Espresso Book Machine, Lurch, as the employees call it, is a “print on demand’’ setup the size of a meat freezer that creates books for customers while they wait.

The publishing world is closely following the experiment at Northshire, the first independent bookstore in the United States to install the clattering book machine. If Northshire can make money printing books downloaded from massive online catalogs, it will show how small brick-and-mortar bookshops might be able to match the overwhelming variety of products offered by a giant online retailer like Amazon.com.

It could streamline the traditional book supply chain, with much less need for space in warehouses, inventory on hand, shipping expenses, or management of returns.

And no book ever has to go out of print.

Espresso’s print-on-demand technology could also change the dynamics of large bookstore chains. On Demand Books, the New York company that produces the book machine, has just launched a pilot program with a distributor, making 85,000 book titles from major publishers like Simon & Schuster and McGraw-Hill available to Espresso machines.

Espresso machines can also access thousands of titles that are in the public domain and available on the Internet.

To a publishing analyst like Brian F. O’Leary, a principal at Magellan Media Consulting Partners in New York, the deal between the machine’s makers and such big publishers “shows that the traditional book business is at least willing to test-drive the Espresso.’’

The next question is whether the big book retailers will adopt the machines.

“Chain stores have always been part of the business plan,’’ said Lauren Parker, a spokeswoman for On Demand Books, though she declined to name any chains. The company is “planning for dramatic growth in 2009,’’ she added.

Spokesmen for the giant chains Borders and Barnes & Nobles were aware of the Espresso, but declined to comment on whether they were considering placing the machine in any stores.

But Lurch already looks like a success at Northshire.

“This has added an entirely new element to the bookstore,’’ manager Chris Morrow said as the machine churned out a novel written by a local author.

When the machine is connected to an expanded online catalog of titles later this year, Morrow said, the bookstore will be able to offer customers an “ATM for books’’ that will provide access to millions of works.

“The idea is that soon we’ll be able to print out any book that’s ever been printed,’’ he said. “That could really change people’s image of the small bookstore.’’ Continued…