Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Is This The Future Bookstore?

Imagine, if you will, a bookstore without shelves of books. Rather than a sprawling layout of assorted books, think sofas and chairs and laptops. When you find a book you want, you walk to the counter, order it, and within minutes, it is printed, bound, and handed to you.

It's happening now. And to see the process, watch this video:




The Northshire Bookstore, in quaint Manchester Center, Vermont, is using the Espresso Book Machine. You can read more about it here.

2 comments:

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

This new technology is so interesting. One of my publishers sent the authors a little blurb about our books being available in the POD right in the store. Think no reserves against returns and it could be a very good thing for everyone. So much paper will be saved as well and won't publishers keep a book in print longer?

Cate Masters said...

I wonder how authors will fare, though. When an ebook goes to print, the author's cut drops precipitously low. Hopefully things will even out in the future.