Imagine having your book available ("in stock") at
every Barnes & Noble across the country. Imagine brick-and-mortar bookstores carrying virtually endless inventory. I'm
excited about the Expresso Book Machine and you should be too!
The Expresso Book Machine will literally allow people to walk into their local bookstore and, if they can't find
a specific title or a book on a specific topic on the bookstore shelves --- they can simply use this machine and print the
book they want.
What this may mean for customers (readers)
who go to their local bookstores and cannot find the book they want on the shelves...
This may mean the end of having to "special order" a book, waiting for it to arrive and
then having to go back to the bookstore to get it when it finally does arrive. Customers will now be able to visit their local
bookstore and browse the shelves. If the bookstore doesn't stock the book, the customer will still be able to walk out with
the book in hand...in the matter of a few minutes. The Expresso Book Machine will print, bind, and deliver a quality paperback
while the customer waits. This is the ultimate form of "on-demand" delivery of books. Not even Amazon can beat this
method of on-demand delivery.
What this may mean for
Amazon...
Until now, Amazon was the go-to place because
of its almost unlimited selection of books. Brick-and-mortar bookstores could only offer what they could fit on their shelves
and what they felt had a better chance of selling.
The tables
will definitely turn when a customer can walk into the local bookstore and have immediate access to any book they want, right
there and right now. Not even Amazon can promise right there and right now access to a printed book. I believe that if the
major bookstore chains place these machines in all (or at least most of their stores) Amazon is going to feel a serious pinch
in sales.
What this may mean for self-publishing
authors...
Brick-and-mortar bookstores were never financially
or physically equipped to carry more than a small percentage of the thousands upon thousands of books on the market and because
of this, lesser known authors and self-published authors rarely received coveted shelf placement throughout the bookstore
chain. The Expresso Book Machine can give virtual shelf-space to the books of lesser known and self-published authors. While
the book may not already printed and sitting on the shelves --- the book is still available, in the bookstore, and can be
delivered on-demand in less than 15 minutes.
Does this mean every
author's book will be made available through the Expresso Book Machine? No. As far as I can tell, the minimum requirements
will be that your book will need to have an ISBN and be available through Ingram.
Does this mean that authors will sell more books because their books are available through the Expresso Book Machine?
Possibly — but no more so than if their books were sitting on the shelves. Authors still have to promote their books
so that people know they are available. No one is going to look for or ask for a book if they don't know it exists.
Please click on the following links for Expresso Book Machine videos
and articles:
