Publishers Participate in Espresso Book Machine Pilot Program

(Book Business Magazine, 4/24/09)

Lightning Source has launched an Espresso Book Machine (EBM) title pilot with OnDemand Books, the proprietor of the EBM.

Participating publishers in the pilot include John Wiley & Sons, Hachette Book Group, McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster, Clements Publishing, Cosimo, E-Reads, Bibliolife, Information Age Publishing, Macmillan, University of California Press and W.W. Norton. The pilot initially was offered to a small group of publishers that currently work with Lightning Source to enable them to enhance the availability of their titles at point-of-sale EBM locations.

Approximately 85,000 titles from these publishers will be available for purchase at EBM locations throughout the United States in May. Upon the completion of a successful pilot, publishers that print and distribute books with Lightning Source will have the option to participate in the EBM channel. According to Lightning Source, complete channel automation is expected in the first half of this year, and rollout of the program to publishers globally is expected to follow shortly thereafter.

"We see the Espresso Book Machine as an innovative and exciting way for publishers to get their books out into the market," says David Taylor, president of Lightning Source. "There is clearly a place for the in-store, print-on-demand model in the emerging landscape of globally distributed print. … In the times in which we are living, publishers need to be looking at every option to ensure that their books can be immediately available to people who want to buy them."

"OnDemand Books is delighted that the Espresso Book Machine is playing such a central role in a program that is blazing a trail to the future of book publishing," says Dane Neller, CEO of OnDemand Books. "With the book business facing dramatic changes and challenges, we believe the timing of the EBM couldn't be better. Publishers, retailers and libraries alike see the appeal of the machine that collapses the supply chain, boosts backlist sales, matches supply with demand, eliminates returns and powers new, high-growth sales channels for publishers."