Forbes has a fun article called:

The Man Who Took on Amazon and Saved a Bookstore

It is this type of technology which will let the local bookstore compete against Amazon. The Expresso Book Machine can publish out-of-print titles and much more. Of course, Createspace can do this also. It will be interesting to see how Expresso develops. I’m checking it out to see if they will list my books.

For those not familiar, the Expresso Book Machine is an on-demand book printer showing up in libraries, bookstores and other venues. Here’s a quote from their Website with their links:

“The patented Espresso Book Machine^® (EBM) makes a paperback book in minutes, at point of need. Through its EspressNet^® digital catalog of content, books can be ordered online or onsite at bookstores, libraries, and non-bookstore retailers. Over seven million in-copyright and public-domain titles are available on the network. The technology is also ideal for self and custom publishing.

“The advantages?

“Consumers – Millions of books, multiple languages, made on demand for you.

“Bookstores, Libraries, and Other Retailers – Sell (or lend) more titles without the extra inventory; capture the growing self-publishing market.

“Publishers – The EBM should be a critical piece of your digital strategy. It offers an additional sales channel and greater visibility to your titles. Plus: avoid out-of-stocks and eliminate returns.

“Authors – Earn additional income otherwise lost through the used-book market.

“And we’re Green, since we eliminate shipping, returns, and the pulping of unwanted books. Ultimately, our technology is intended to distribute virtually every book ever published, in any language, anywhere on earth, as easily, quickly, and cheaply as e-mail.

“On Demand Books, LLC is the company behind it all. One of our co-founders is Jason Epstein, the former Editorial Director of Random House and the co-founder of the New York Review of Books, the Library of America, and the Readers Catalog. You can read more about us here.

I am not endorsing them because I haven’t used one yet. But I increasingly hear good things about them.