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Blackwell Launches Print-On-Demand Trial In the UK

Posted by kdawson on from the watch-out-lulu dept.

krou writes "In Dec. 2006, we discussed the Espresso Book Machine. Well, on April 27 the bookseller Blackwell will launch a three-month trial of the machine in its Charing Cross Road branch in London as a 'print on demand' service for shoppers in an effort 'to consign to history the idea that you can walk into a bookshop and not find the book you want.' When the trial begins, it will be able to print any of some 400,000 titles; Blackwell's overall goal is to extend this to a million titles by the summer, and to spread out more machines to the rest of its sixty stores once it works out pricing. Currently, they charge shelf price for in-print books, and 10 pence per page for those out of print (about $55 for a 300-page book), but are analyzing customer behavior to get a better pricing model. Says Blackwell chief executive Andrew Hutchings: 'This could change bookselling fundamentally. It's giving the chance for smaller locations, independent booksellers, to have the opportunity to truly compete with big stock-holding shops and Amazon ... I like to think of it as the revitalization of the local bookshop industry.' Their website notes that in addition to getting books printed in-store, in future you will be able to order titles via their site. (They also mention that one of the titles you can print is the 1915 Oxford Poetry Book, which includes one of Tolkien's first poems, 'Goblin's Feet.')" You'll also be able to bring in your own book to print — two PDF files, one for the book block and one for the cover.

4 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Similar thing for independents by Meneguzzi · · Score: 3, Informative

    At least as far as independent publishing of books goes, there is something sort of similar. I found that out when I was trying to find a place to print my thesis. This service called Lulu www.lulu.com which would print your PDF file as a book and also put it up for sale on Amazon (ISBN and all). Now, when I get the corrections from my examiners I do plan to put my thesis at Amazon (just to see how many people would pay to get a hard copy of my research), even if I make the PDF freely available on my website.

    --
    www.meneguzzi.eu/felipe
    1. Re:Similar thing for independents by blackest_k · · Score: 3, Informative

      Lulu does a reasonable job, and it's pretty cheap too, unlike most vanity printing you can order as few or as many as you like. I've seen someones book full of old photo's and text while the photo quality wasn't perfect. It's nice to see you can get a minimum order of 1 at a competitive price.

      --
      Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
  2. $55? by hairykrishna · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's a crazy price. My uni's print shop will do it for less than that, hardback, and they have an actual human gluing it together. I know because I've done it with an out of print text book that the author was kind enough to provide me with a pdf of.

    --
    "Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
  3. Re:Cost by GKThursday · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are some sheetfed digital presses that can print out finished bookblocks at 150+ppm. The quality is pretty close to Offset Lithography for text, the only truly noticeable difference is the slightly raised text (toner sits on top of the page, ink goes into it.) The cost to the producer is probably about $0.009 per impression or less (not including paper, which I can't comment on.)
    I don't know what this company is using, but my company does some print on demand for clients, mainly manuals and training material.