Books on Demand for Impatient Readers

LONDON, June 11, 2009 — -- The Espresso -- currently on trial in the U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia, and Egypt -- is an ATM for books. Whether you are looking for something out of print, the book you want is out of stock, or, if you want to publish your own work, the Espresso reels out books at a rate of 100 pages a minute.

Its promoters say it's the biggest revolution in publishing since the invention of the mechanical printer in 1440, but why the big fuss about what amounts to an enormous office printer hooked up to a giant database?

"We've had a lot of customers who have found books that they've been looking for for a long time and haven't been able to track down, and we've had them walk away with them ten or fifteen minutes later," Marcus Gipps, Sales Manager at Blackwell's Bookstore, told ABC News.

With a virtual inventory of 400,000 titles (soon to increase to one million), the Espresso is like a library and rare books store rolled into one, coupled with the ability to print on demand. You can order your very own copy of Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code or perhaps something for the more specialized taste.

"Today I'm printing Darwin's Treatise on Earthworms," said Constance Rinaldo, a librarian from Harvard University. "I'm in London for a conference but I wanted to come and try out the Espresso book machine while I was here, I knew it was available and I knew I'd be staying nearby."

There are at least 15 machines in the U.S. and the manufacturer, On Demand Books, plans to have 25 around the world by the end of the year. London is the first stop in the UK, with the Espresso taking root in Blackwell's bookstore, a 130-year-old chain.

By manufacturing at the point of sale, the Espresso cuts out the cost of storage and stocking for the bookstore. "It is not economically viable to have books on the shelf or in the warehouse that are not selling, so we have a virtual inventory instead of a physical one," Andrew Pate, senior vice president of business development at On Demand Books told ABC News.