Magical Manga Machine? (of the future!)
Image by gruntzooki via Flickr
I was reading an article on ICv2 that introduced me to a magical device call the Espresso Book Machine. It’s a kiosk that will print on demand a library quality paperback book in less then 2 minutes. (300 pages they claim, in less then 4 minutes) There’s a video on the website that shows it in action. The ICv2 alludes to how it may change the book market, but seeing as my obsession is manga my mind immediately went to how it could effect the manga market. Most of what follows is speculation on how this could be used in the future, since the technology isn’t quite there yet. (Though the machine is already being deployed and in use in some places.)
One of the major hurdles for current niche publishers is making the cost of printing and distributing small market title affordable. The costs are high to a small return. But what if you didn’t have to front the costs print or distribute your book?
Sure, you could go digital. But readers have been resistant, even with devices like the Kindle and and the Sony E-reader. It’s just not the same as holding a book in your hand.
The Espresso Book Machine meets the problem in the middle. Secure digital PDF versions of the book that are printed out on demand to anyone using the kiosk. Imagine being a small book publisher and your book is on a device in your local grocery store, next to the DVD rental machine. Imagine in fact that it is in EVERY grocery store, and anyone can print it out right when they want it. No shipping costs or delays! They don’t have to track it down in some specialty shop, or special order it at the book store, or order it online. Just choose your book, print, and go. You, the publisher, get your royalties and I’m sure a portion goes to the kiosk holder to pay for the production of that book.
As a small book publisher you now don’t have to pre-pay to print books, or ship them to stores…if you can even get someone to agree to put them on the shelves. You don’t have to find a place to store the unsold copies, hoping for a buyer or disposal if there is no hope. If you’re in a niche market like Manga, now you can sell any title in your catalog without any of these expenses. You don’t even have to be involved, other then uploading your PDF to the main catalogue and then you can focus on marketing and getting the people who want it that it’s available to buy. (Just go pick it up next time your picking up some milk!)
It wouldn't work right now. They’re not close to being everywhere (at over $100,000 for the machine and printer it doesn’t seem cost effective yet.) They aren’t stand-alone and have to be manned by an employee and have an unbreakable connection to the internet. I can’t imagine how often you’d have to change the paper on one of these things. But even as they are I can see the benefits to a small time publisher. A one time cost of $100,000, while sizable might be worth it if you can have a machine that can print off any book in your catalogue in minutes, ready to be shipped to anywhere. They say it costs a .01 to print a page on this, so your typical manga (of generous 200 pages) would cost $2.00 to print.
I know there are other costs besides printing the book. And in manga there is even more expenses, like the licensing costs, translation, adaptation (both the text and artwork), pre-press costs, royalties, lawyers, employees, marketing… I’m sure the list is longer then I can imagine. But right now all those costs can be contained in cover price between 9.99-15.99, with this device you could charge the same but cut out whatever portion goes to all that managing of the physical book. Print out some copies for Amazon to sell, and the rest are fufilled right out of your offices…one at a time as they are ordered.
Personally, I would love a chance to get on the ground floor for a franchise on this. Imagine being able to place these in places with long wait times, like the DMV, airports, doctor’s offices. Or open a kiosk in the mall, next to the lady trying to sell you hand cream and the guy with the kiosk with the cellphone accessories. Right now these have to be manned by an employee, but imagine in the future when they eliminate that step and you could put these on their own, any place a person might walk by. Great for a coffee shop, or a hair salon… maybe one next to those chairs the guys sit on when their significant others are shopping? (Or conversely, one in the sporting goods store next to the golf equipment or at a boat show?)
In the manga world… imagine having one of these things at a con stocked with every manga ever published in English, French, Italian or Japanese?
If I was manga publisher here in the west, I’d so be advocating that the companies come together with the makers of this thing for a “Manga Kiosk” that could be placed in bookstores, comic book stores, game shops and any other place it could fit and be manned. Stocked with every title they have a license for, all across the board. Someone wants a copy of the latest Naruto, it’s theirs in less then 5 minutes. They want a copy of The Swan volume 14? Equally easy to find. The licensers get their cut, the stores where the kiosks are placed get a paid a rental fee for giving the space (like most vending machines do, usually a percentage of it’s intake so they’re invested in it’s sucess), and the customers have someplace to go where they can get their fix. Instantly.
An in the distant future, people would have old models set up in their game rooms rigged to give free books, just like people have old coke machines now. Okay…maybe that’s a little out there. But it would be cool!
