HarperCollins Publishers Making 5000 Titles Available Print on Demand

Friday, September 23, 2011

Press release from the issuing company

First Major Publisher to Offer In-Store Production and Promotion

New York, NY, – In a first from a major trade publisher, HarperCollins Publishers today announced "Comprehensive Backlist." This program will allow all physical bookstores, from the largest to the smallest, to promote and sell the HarperCollins backlist through in-store "Digital-to-Print at Retail" (DPR) using the Espresso Book Machine (EBM). The program will enable bookstores to offer thousands of trade paperback books from the HarperCollins catalog through a mix of traditionally printed books and DPR, as space and cash flow restrictions will no longer be a factor. DPR editions will be sold on an agency model. It is expected that the independent bookstores that already have the Espresso Book Machine in place will join the program.

At launch, HarperCollins will work with On Demand Books, LLC, the maker of the Espresso Book Machine, to enable instant distribution of books that are not currently stocked in stores. With the push of a button, books can be printed, bound, and trimmed to a bookstore-quality, perfect-bound paperback book, with a full-color cover, in minutes.

"Even as digital book sales grow, bookstores continue to be an important place for customers to shop for physical books. The goal of this initiative is to give the local bookseller the capability to provide customers with a greater selection of HarperCollins titles in a physical environment," said Brian Murray, President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers. "For authors this is a win; titles will be more broadly available, which increases sales with full print royalties. Depending on the size of the store, 25%-80% of our backlist titles are not stocked due to physical space limitations. DPR technology means the books will be there for the consumer at small and large bookshops."

"We are delighted to add HarperCollins to the Espresso Book Machine network," says Dane Neller, Chief Executive Officer of On Demand Books. "By committing thousands of titles to the program, HarperCollins is showing its clear support for bookstores and authors, and reaching more readers. Digital-to-Print at Retail is a powerful new sales channel for publishers. It eliminates lost sales due to out-of-stock inventory and provides a new marketing platform in partnership with bricks and mortar booksellers."
"The ability to have available any book that our customers could possibly ask for is key to our vision of how to thrive in this challenging environment," said Jeffrey Mayersohn, Owner of Harvard Bookstore. "The HarperCollins partnership with On Demand Books brings us much closer to realizing that vision. This is great news for independent bookstores everywhere."

"With HarperCollins making their titles available for the Espresso BookMachine, the original vision and full potential of the machine will begin to be realized. Thousands more titles will be directly available to my customers, and we will capture many, many sales which are currently lost," said Chris Morrow, Owner of Northshire Bookstore. "I hope other publishers see the potential of this sales channel and get on board. This can be a key element in the development of the bookstore of the future."

HarperCollins trade paperback books, including adult and children's titles, will be available on Espresso Book Machines starting in November. Titles from Zondervan and HarperCollins Canada will be available early next year. Booksellers who are interested in exploring HarperCollins "Comprehensive Backlist" offer should contact their HarperCollins sales representative to determine the optimal level of core print books that stores should carry, relevant incentives, and merchandise opportunities. The program will be available to any bricks-and-mortar book retailers. Book retailers can work directly with On Demand Books, or the vendor of their choosing, to install the machine in stores. Booksellers can contact their HarperCollins sales rep for more information.

For more information about the Espresso Book Machine visit www.ondemandbooks.com. Retailers interested in installing the technology can contact On Demand Books at 212-966-2222 or by email at [email protected]

Discussion

By Sue Dent on Sep 23, 2011

"Even as digital book sales grow, bookstores continue to be an important place for customers to shop for physical books. The goal of this initiative is to give the local bookseller the capability to provide customers with a greater selection of HarperCollins titles in a physical environment," said Brian Murray, President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers.

Large bookstores are only an important place for large publishers as no small publisher can operate under the "industry" standard return policy that "sinks" all small publishers should they sign on to it, (which they have to for large bookstores to carry their books) and now it's barely working for large publishers.

How HILARIOUS that Harper Collins (and I'm sure the others will follow suit if they've not done so already,)is considering that "great evil" POD publishing! Hysterical.

Here's an idea. Since large publishers are responsible for that insane "industry" standard return policy, why don't they ALL work with "their" bookstores to fix it so All publishers large and small can compete!

Too funny. That return policy was created to save bookstores during the depression, put in place by Simon & Schuster and then by the other few large publishers of the day. Now those SAME publishers are throwing "their" bookstores under the train! I guess they're beyond saving.

My thoughts: bookstores should stop pandering to large publishers and create an "industry" standard return policy that works for the "industry" today--before it's too late--if it's not too late already. I guess large publishers today lack the "perseverance" and moral fortitude they had back in the day. Borders is already gone because of this problem. Who will be next?