From: victor@LHPress.com
Subject: [ LHP/MHP titles available at Harvard Book Store, Boston
Because we are signed up with “On Demand” the Espresso book machine company, any place that installs the Espresso
> book-on-demand-printer can buy LHP/MHP books. The books are printed and ready for the customer in
> about 5 minutes time. The newest one was just installed at the Harvard Book Store in Boston, Mass.
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> “First book published in America inaugurates Espresso unit in Boston”
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> The independent Harvard Book Store inaugurated its new Espresso instant book machine, which can print a library-quality paperback book in just four minutes, on Sept. 29 by ordering it to spit out a copy of the first book published in America.
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> The book, now in public domain, is Facsimile of First Edition of The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre, commonly known as the Bay Psalm Book. It was the first book ever printed in the American colonies, in Cambridge in 1640.
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> Author E.L. Doctorow – who was doing a reading later in the evening at the store – was on hand to help celebrate the machine’s christening.
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> In a contest to name its new Espresso machine, Harvard Book Store selected the name Paige M. Gutenborg from a variety of entries. The store received more than 500 suggested names.
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> The Espresso machine addresses two of the problem areas of the publishing business. First, publishers have always had to print and ship books to stores, which is costly and time-consuming. With a machine like the Espresso, all that needs to be shipped is a digital file. And at the end of a book’s shelf lives, those that go unsold are returned to publishers, who, according to the traditional consignment business model, buy them back. Again, this is costly, and for years authors’ royalty statements will show the cost of returns deducted from the money earned from sales of their books. With an Espresso, the bookseller need only print a book when a customer is ready to buy it, and returns could become moot.
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> That’s still largely hypothetical, however. Only a few publishers have signed with On Demand Books, the company that makes the Espresso, to deliver digital files to its bookstore machines. But On Demand’s offerings expanded significantly – to the tune of two million public domain books – when it signed an agreement with Google earlier this month.
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> On Demand as this was written had 16 machines installed at various stores, libraries and universities, and planned to make another 64 available in 2010. The machines are priced at $75,000-$100,000 each and have the capacity to generate around 60,000 300-page books a year.
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> Confused: watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyNSap5XSv0
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