A Model for Book Publication, and Not in the Future, Either
I’ve been looking into my crystal ball. It’s just back from the shop after having that crack repaired, and I’m going to make a prognostication about book publishing and distribution in the near future.
Some say the future is in e-books, but until someone comes up with an inexpensive reader that you can run over with your car and put through the wash and spin cycle, most people are just going to love the look and feel - and, yes, the smell - of a real book printed on paper.
Imagine a network of bookstores, including your local Barnes & Noble and Borders, but also including Kinko’s, indie bookshops, and even coffee shops. But now, as a customer, instead of a vast field of choices to pick up and browse, you’ll find a few shelves of best sellers, common reference books, and coffee table books - and rows of terminals. You may browse the shelves, but your real destination is the terminals, where you can sit and browse books the way you might browse Amazon.com today. In fact, you’ll make your selections and pay via the terminal, same as you would with an online store.
After placing your order, you get up and have a coffee or browse the books and gift shop for ten minutes, until your name is called. You go to the output window and pick up your purchases, freshly printed and bound for you. Behind the counter are one, two, three, or more POD printing machines, depending on the size of the store. And you’re on your way.
There will also be the option of choosing your book from home, driving to the store, and picking up your book, which will be finished by the time you get there. In other words, it will be much like getting a prescription filled today.
Like every new technology, POD printers have fallen rapidly in price. Some models are selling for as little as $100K, less than the cost of inventory in a modest-sized bookstore. Look for prices near $30K before long. Even a little indie bookshop will have one or two. The University of Michigan is already Johnny On The Spot, having installed a machine in their library.
http://dltj.org/article/espresso-print-on-demand/
Not everyone will be thrilled with the new business model. Traditional publishers and mega-distributors like Amazon.com are accustomed to controlling the channels of distribution, but the economic imperatives to on-site printing are too strong. Smart publishers will attempt to co-opt POD based distribution, but ultimately, you should be able to dial up almost anything in Books In Print or outside of it, and get your own personal copy, complete with bookplate, printed up while-U-wait.
Price breakdown for a $15 trade book of 300 pages would look something like this:
$ 6.00 - The bookstore’s traditional 40% vigorish
$ 1.50 - Author royalty
$ 4.00 - Cost of production, also remitted to the bookstore or third party machine owner
$ 3.50 - Publisher’s gross income.
Here are the reasons I think this model is inevitable:
1. There will be no flushing of new books from the shelves after 60 or 90 days. All books will remain in print as long as the publisher wishes.
2. You will be able to send your own books to be printed, much like the service lulu.com provides.
3. Copyright concerns will make sure that the purchasing software tracks sales and remits payments to the publisher for each book printed. Auditing will be straightforward.
4. Zero shipping costs.
5. It creates an environment resembling the present model of book shopping. In fact, bookstores may print up copies of selected books for instant sale during idle machine time if they know sales are likely, in the case of a known best seller. Casual browsers will still be attracted.
6. The used-book market will still thrive.
7. Since the publisher still sets the book prices, treasured sinecures like $200 college textbooks will still sell for $200. On the other hand, teachers fed up with high textbook prices will be better positioned to issue their own textbooks.
EDIT: No sooner said than done. Tiremaker Bridgestone is preparing for market an ebook reader that is flexible and that you can drive over (if you have Bridgestone tires, of course).
Some say the future is in e-books, but until someone comes up with an inexpensive reader that you can run over with your car and put through the wash and spin cycle, most people are just going to love the look and feel - and, yes, the smell - of a real book printed on paper.
Imagine a network of bookstores, including your local Barnes & Noble and Borders, but also including Kinko’s, indie bookshops, and even coffee shops. But now, as a customer, instead of a vast field of choices to pick up and browse, you’ll find a few shelves of best sellers, common reference books, and coffee table books - and rows of terminals. You may browse the shelves, but your real destination is the terminals, where you can sit and browse books the way you might browse Amazon.com today. In fact, you’ll make your selections and pay via the terminal, same as you would with an online store.
After placing your order, you get up and have a coffee or browse the books and gift shop for ten minutes, until your name is called. You go to the output window and pick up your purchases, freshly printed and bound for you. Behind the counter are one, two, three, or more POD printing machines, depending on the size of the store. And you’re on your way.
There will also be the option of choosing your book from home, driving to the store, and picking up your book, which will be finished by the time you get there. In other words, it will be much like getting a prescription filled today.
Like every new technology, POD printers have fallen rapidly in price. Some models are selling for as little as $100K, less than the cost of inventory in a modest-sized bookstore. Look for prices near $30K before long. Even a little indie bookshop will have one or two. The University of Michigan is already Johnny On The Spot, having installed a machine in their library.
http://dltj.org/article/espresso-print-on-demand/
Not everyone will be thrilled with the new business model. Traditional publishers and mega-distributors like Amazon.com are accustomed to controlling the channels of distribution, but the economic imperatives to on-site printing are too strong. Smart publishers will attempt to co-opt POD based distribution, but ultimately, you should be able to dial up almost anything in Books In Print or outside of it, and get your own personal copy, complete with bookplate, printed up while-U-wait.
Price breakdown for a $15 trade book of 300 pages would look something like this:
$ 6.00 - The bookstore’s traditional 40% vigorish
$ 1.50 - Author royalty
$ 4.00 - Cost of production, also remitted to the bookstore or third party machine owner
$ 3.50 - Publisher’s gross income.
Here are the reasons I think this model is inevitable:
1. There will be no flushing of new books from the shelves after 60 or 90 days. All books will remain in print as long as the publisher wishes.
2. You will be able to send your own books to be printed, much like the service lulu.com provides.
3. Copyright concerns will make sure that the purchasing software tracks sales and remits payments to the publisher for each book printed. Auditing will be straightforward.
4. Zero shipping costs.
5. It creates an environment resembling the present model of book shopping. In fact, bookstores may print up copies of selected books for instant sale during idle machine time if they know sales are likely, in the case of a known best seller. Casual browsers will still be attracted.
6. The used-book market will still thrive.
7. Since the publisher still sets the book prices, treasured sinecures like $200 college textbooks will still sell for $200. On the other hand, teachers fed up with high textbook prices will be better positioned to issue their own textbooks.
EDIT: No sooner said than done. Tiremaker Bridgestone is preparing for market an ebook reader that is flexible and that you can drive over (if you have Bridgestone tires, of course).