My local bookstore is going to print books on demand!

[Kablooie]

My town has a small, independent bookstore and coffee house.
I've gone in several times but they never had the book I was looking for so I haven't bought one there.

Last year a big-rig crashed through their front wall and (possibly with the help of insurance money.) they
are building a much larger store on a nearby corner.

Along with a larger selection of books, they plan to install an Espresso Book Machine that will allow customers
to select from 1.5 million titles and print the book on site.

"It can print a 350-page book in 10 minutes, and bind it with a full cover like a regular book," said Sandy Willardson,
head of marketing at Flintridge Bookstore. "So all the books that you can't get that are out of print, or if you have a
book you want to publish yourself, you just put a disk in there and it prints your book in about 10 minutes and you
get a finished copy."

I haven't heard of this before but it sounds like a great idea.
I wish it had come out a few years ago before the iPad and Kindles became competition.

I will probably get an ebook reader before they open the new store but I'll certainly try out the book printer.
Reference books are often better in print and some books you want on paper so you can shuffle back through them
after you've finished reading.

[villager]

1. Ah yes -- that's a particularly good book store, that one!

haven't been in it though since "pre-crash," myself!

[JDPriestly]

2. I know that bookstore. Looks like I will be visiting it again before

too long. What a great idea.

[TheWraith]

3. Woot! Those things are awesome.

I've never gotten to play with one, but I'd like to. Hell, I'd like to own one just so I can store my massive library on computer, then produce loaner copies for friends. :D

[TreasonousBastard]

4. The technology has been around for years, and I remember...

maybe 10 years ago authors' groups talking about Print-on-Demand kiosks popping up all over the place. Although there were plenty of places you could send your manuscript for an inexpensive short run, those kiosks never showed up in any number.

Could just be that the time has come for them to be worthwhile.

[melm00se]

5. that's certainly a way

to differentiate yourself and compete against e-tailers and big box stores