Espresso Book Machine
Jun. 20th, 2012 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutNate Hoffelder at the excellent blog The Digital Reader has posted about the Espresso Book Machine several times, twice recently.
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/06/16/the-future-pod-redux/
He concludes that the EBM is a more natural fit for a copy shop than for a book store. He had some difficulty finding data to do his analysis for whether a book store (or copy shop) could make money on an EBM, and relied on some elderly data that was then refreshed when the source had a chat with the OnDemand, the makers of EBM.
http://borderlands-books.blogspot.com/2012/06/print-on-demand-might-come-to-store.html
However, Alan Beatts and Nate Hoffelder remain skeptical of the Espresso Book Machine as a good fit for a bookstore, and think it would be a better fit for a copy shop. Beatts in particular notes that a bunch of services are probably needed to support the self-publishing authors who are apparently the primary users of the EBM, at least in its book store form.
"Consequently, I suspect that the stores offering this service charge a basic set-up charge and then an additional hourly design rate to get the customer's files into shape."
Here is what one bookstore offers in the way of such services, and their prices for same:
www.schulerbooks.com/files/schulers/Self_Publishing_Services.pdf
_That_ is enlightening. That bookstore is making money off of every step of that process, right down to keying a handwritten manuscript in for you. I'm mildly curious as to who they've lined up to do the work (I'm betting some staff but mostly contract/referrals) -- but only mildly.
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/06/16/the-future-pod-redux/
He concludes that the EBM is a more natural fit for a copy shop than for a book store. He had some difficulty finding data to do his analysis for whether a book store (or copy shop) could make money on an EBM, and relied on some elderly data that was then refreshed when the source had a chat with the OnDemand, the makers of EBM.
http://borderlands-books.blogspot.com/2012/06/print-on-demand-might-come-to-store.html
However, Alan Beatts and Nate Hoffelder remain skeptical of the Espresso Book Machine as a good fit for a bookstore, and think it would be a better fit for a copy shop. Beatts in particular notes that a bunch of services are probably needed to support the self-publishing authors who are apparently the primary users of the EBM, at least in its book store form.
"Consequently, I suspect that the stores offering this service charge a basic set-up charge and then an additional hourly design rate to get the customer's files into shape."
Here is what one bookstore offers in the way of such services, and their prices for same:
www.schulerbooks.com/files/schulers/Self_Publishing_Services.pdf
_That_ is enlightening. That bookstore is making money off of every step of that process, right down to keying a handwritten manuscript in for you. I'm mildly curious as to who they've lined up to do the work (I'm betting some staff but mostly contract/referrals) -- but only mildly.