Trying something new... part II

The next retailer I really want to highlight for it's innovation has the capacity to revolutionize book stores of the future. Well aside from Amazon having taken over the retail book world I mean.
Blackwells in London has a unique installation in it's stores that could potentially change the face of bookstores in the future.

And it's name? The espresso book machine.

Frustrating 'out-of-print' and 'out-of-stock' books will become a thing of the past with a new machine that prints books on demand. In the future, any novel, manual, journal or academic title, no matter how old or new can be printed in just under five minutes. On, 24 April 09, Blackwell launched the Espresso Book Machine® (the "EBM") at its London flagship store in Charing Cross, which currently holds more than 400,000 publications. By summer there will be over a million titles available, the equivalent of 23.6 miles worth of shelving or over 50 bookshops rolled into one, in a machine the size of a photocopier.

The EBM is able to bring many rare texts back into production, Selections of rare books printed on the Espresso Book Machine such as The Oxford Poetry book, a title that Blackwell first published in 1915 that contains one of Tolkien's 1st poems "Goblins Feet", along with providing access to a huge range of current titles from all the major publishers. At the press of a button, people can now access paperback copies of their favourite classics, psychological thrillers, contemporary 'whodunnits' or previously hard to find books, whenever they want. This can all be done by selecting titles in-store or with the online catalogue which is to be added to www.blackwell.co.uk over the coming weeks.

Aspiring authors can also take advantage of the new EBM technology, uploading their work in person from a CD or flash drive, to see their written creations professionally printed, bound and trimmed into perfectly packaged library-quality paperback books indistinguishable from traditional published works.

Adding to an already impressive list of benefits, The EBM also boasts green credentials by removing the need to transport books great distances and saving on tons of CO2 emissions. It ensures that the number of books printed matches demand therefore eliminating the pulping of millions of unwanted books each year.

Phill Jamieson, Head of Marketing at Blackwell, comments: "The Espresso Book Machine will offer more choice to consumers and ultimately change the publishing and book retailing industry. For book lovers it is able to bring rare works back into production and aspiring authors will be able to see their own work in print. By helping to eliminate unwanted returns, this will also help to reduce a book's carbon footprint. For Blackwell, the EBM is the perfect complementary service for its customers, offering instant, flexible and easy access to a far greater number of books."



Browse content available for printing on the espresso book machine online at www.archive.org