According to Dane Neller, CEO, On Demand Books, the Espresso Book Machine® is the “most significant step in publishing in the last 500 years…” Neller said the Espresso will “keep paper books way ahead of electronic books, such as those available as the Amazon Kindle. Our technology now makes it possible for the printed page to move as rapidly as the electronic page.” While print will never move as fast as the electronic page, the Espresso actually could revolutionize the publishing of printed books. I expect that we will continue to see books in myriad forms – e-book, a-book (audio), and p-book (printed) – for a very long time. Each offers a different way to read and each has its place. Located in the Pacific Northwest – and up into mainland British Columbia – is a rather exclusive group of Espresso Book Machine owners. There are only 30 Espresso Book Machines in the field today and 25 are in the US and Canada. Three machines are within 85 miles of each other, two in Seattle and one in Bellingham WA. A fourth is located in Vancouver, only 60 miles north of Bellingham. Why such a concentration? It must be the weather that makes it so popular! A little drizzle makes reading the perfect escape.
(Click here for a virtual tour of Third Place Books.)
Third Place Books in Seattle is an ideal location to launch a book printing revolution. Founded by Third Place Company, an organization dedicated to strengthening a sense of community by developing great "third" places, Third Place Books is a community center that fosters a vibrant civic life by providing a place to meet, discuss ideas in an open forum, and build active, engaged networks. Historically book sellers, who also published and printed books themselves, provided a place for citizens to meet and discuss issues of the day. Today that place is Third Place Books. Our visit to Third Place Press, publishing arm of Third Place Books, lead us through a central courtyard where people gather, eat together, engage in discussion, and share ideas. We met Robert Sindelar (right in photo), managing partner, and Vladimir Verano (left in photo), in-house book printer, and Ginger, the Espresso Book Machine, to learn more about open access to inexpensive printing and publishing. From the beginning, On Demand Books’ strategy has been to locate their machines in libraries, independent bookstores and university bookstores; those places where like-minded people congregate. So why would Third Place Books buy an Espresso? Two things happened recently that made it practical for Sindelar to invest in the Espresso. First, the machine design was improved and it now takes up about one quarter the footprint of previous machines and the price fell to about half the original cost. Second, agreements made with Ingram Book Company, Google, and other aggregators expanded the catalog of books that can be printed to nearly 800,000 in-copyright titles from 8,000 publishers and millions of public-domain titles. Independent bookstores historically drew readers, browsers, and researchers to their shelves. Clerks – and owners – would help customers find exactly the book needed and if it was on the shelf, put it directly into their hands. If the book was not in stock, a search through vast catalogs of books in print would locate a publisher or distributor, an order would be placed, and in a few weeks the book would be delivered. The Internet put an end to that business model! Researchers can find the information they needed on the Internet, readers can shop Amazon’s massive catalog, and Google Books offers scanned versions of public domain books. Why print books on demand? Consider these two scenarios Robert offers:

Three days before Christmas, a customer came in to buy a couple of copies of Cooking with Spices for Dummies as a gift. Because he didn’t see it on the shelf, he asked if we had it or could get it. I looked it up, saw that it wasn’t on the shelf, so I went to my distributor’s list to see if I could get it. It was available from Ingram in Tennessee, but it would be 7 to 10 days for delivery.

In the past, at that point I would have lost the customer; he would have left in frustration. I was able to tell him about our new system and offer him the books in less than an hour. We printed two copies and he bought them that day.

In the second example, for readers and researchers with special interests, the list of public domain books makes it possible to print copies of books that may exist in only a few libraries around the world. A recent customer purchased a copy of D’orcy’s Airship Manual, printed in 1917. He downloaded a PDF copy and had been reading it online. For $10 we printed a copy that provides a thorough investigation of all the airships in the world in 1917, including pictures, diagrams, schematics, and other data that are not easily read online.

Another researcher was looking for books on panning for gold. I can sell you a new book on panning for gold, but in reality nothing has changed about the subject in 200 years! There are some really great books written at the turn of the 20th century that provide more – and better – detail than new books. Search our database for “panning for gold” and we’ll print your selections.

As part of the On Demand Book network, Third Place Books also had the opportunity to contribute critically needed books to the rescue effort in Haiti. The International Medical Volunteers Association, publisher of the "Haitian Creole-English Pocket Medical Translator," and Google teamed with On Demand Books to source 500 copies of the book through owners of the Espresso Book Machine. The book is a pronunciation guide and dictionary that translates Haitian Creole terms into English and is divided into sections such as orthopedics, anatomy, dental and medical history. “On Demand Books contacted us and asked us to print 50 copies. The book appeared in our print queue on Friday and by Monday we had finished production and shipped them,” said Sindelar. A great example of distribute and print - and coordinate - the project proved that the new technology is a creative solution to an urgent need. While generously donating books to medical volunteers in Haiti, Third Place Books is still in the business of selling books. Books printed on the Espresso fall into three categories: public domain books, “in copyright” books, and self-published books. Each has a different revenue and cost structure. Books in copyright have the highest cost of goods because the publisher can set the price; public domain books through Google have a much lower cost structure. The most profitable for Third Place Books are self-published books. Depending on the mix, Sindelar projects it will take between 10,000 and 12,000 books a year to be profitable. The University of Alberta, one of the first locations to install the original machine, also produces self-published books for local authors and printed around 15,000 books the first year they had the machine. Is Third Place Press competing with the printer down the street? “It hasn’t come up yet, but I expect that people will begin shopping prices,” says Sindelar. “While authors can self-publish with online services or, for larger volumes, with commercial printers, we will assist with the book production and design. We will be offering services like cover design, page layout, proper sizing, paper selection, and more. Because of our experience as booksellers, we can advise authors on how to make the book more appealing to retailers. That said, we do not offer book marketing services.” By expanding the personal service offered by an independent bookseller to independent book publishing, Third Place Books is proving that off-line “p-books” are still a strong competitor to e-books. While each has its place; there is nothing to replace the thrill of holding your own book after it comes “hot off the press.” For more information see these related articles and reports: