New at the library: On-demand publishing

Nov 14, 2007 (DelMio.com - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- BKS | charts | news | PowerRating -- Let's keep things straight: Public libraries across the country look more like Borders and Barnes & Noble stores as they add trendy cafes to their main entrances. And, if a recent display at the New York City library is an indicator, libraries may publish books on demand. In 15 minutes, no less.

Meanwhile, booksellers already do proprietary publishing, and if new technology makes the publishing process much easier, then why wouldn't bookstores just print up more books for their shelves?

And publishers? Well, they sell direct to consumers already, albeit quietly, so as to not upset relations with bookstores, which they still need.

One marketing executive, Michael Rockliff of Workman Publishing Co. in New York, called the shuffling of chairs a "graying of borders between outlets, as retailers turn to publishing proprietary titles, publishers sell to the ultimate consumer on their Web sites and some libraries begin to resemble book chains."

And consumers? They get more choices, which can be a good thing at times, except when choices become so overwhelming that it's difficult to make a choice.

In a recent survey of book industry representatives at the Frankfurt Book Fair, nearly a third of the 1,300 respondents considered over-publishing a threat to the industry. And that was before the arrival of instant, on-demand publishing, as demonstrated last summer with the Espresso Book Machine at the New York's Science, Industry and Business Library.

In recent years, nearly 300,000 new titles and editions have been published each year in the United States. And that was before instant publishing, which has yet to hit the mainstream.

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About the Espresso Book Machine: From digital files, it prints and binds titles in paperback in a matter of minutes. The machine looks like an over-size copier, and it is a product of a company called On Demand Books, co-founded by Jason Epstein, a former editorial director at Random House. The trade magazine Publishers Weekly recently reported that On Demand Books hopes to make the warehousing of books obsolete. Bookstores, for example, might print books for their shelves.

As Publishers Weekly also pointed out, this could mean that companies such as Kinko's can easily become mini-bookstores. On Demand Books estimates the machine will retail for less than $100,000.

For consumers, one advantage is that rare and out-of-print books may become more widely available, allowing for even greater dissemination of information.

In large part, the increased choices relate to delivery systems, both in where you buy your books and in what format. Maybe you shop for printed books online. Or for audiobooks at a store location.

Let's just say the pursuit of reading has taken on new dimensions, with the twist being the idea of technology driving more choices of books in print. Books with pages to touch and dog-ear and share in the same old ways.

Over-publishing in the industry? With all our sophisticated communication, surely the best works somehow will come to the forefront, and readers will manage just fine.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Diane Evans is a former Knight Ridder columnist and is now president of DelMio.com, a new interactive online magazine on books for writers and readers. Readers may send her e-mail at diane.evans@delmio.com.

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(c) 2007, DelMio.com

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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