Print-on-demand in the bookstore gets closer

[GeorgeA]

On March 24 at a New York publishing conference, the co-founder of On Demand Books (maker of the Espresso Book Machine) disclosed a few more details about the company’s plans.

Among the highlights:

• The Espresso machine will be leased (on a click-charge basis), primarily to bookstores
• Maintenance and support will be handled by a “large printer vendor” with an existing world-wide service network
• Hundreds of thousands of titles will be available, initially from two sources: LightningSource (which already provides print-on-demand services for most major publishers) and Google Books (which has scanned between 7 and 8 million printed books so far)

More details are at:
The Espresso Book Machine: major announcements coming soon.

 

[Al Ferrari]

Why is Google scanning? If this is being done with the participation of the book publishers, why isn't Google being provided with the original files? I would think the scanning route is not only time consuming, but also produces inferior text and photos.

Al

 

[GeorgeA]

Why Google scans

Why Google scans

You’re right: scanning is not ideal. But Google can’t get its hands on digital files in most cases, so it has to create them by scanning.

Google has the goal of making all the world’s books, new and old, searchable on line. The problem is, most books (with the exception of those published in the last 15-20 years) aren’t available in electronic format, even from the publishers. So scanning is the only possibility.

Google has been working on its Google Book Search program for several years, and generating a lot of controversy. It gets books in two ways: through its Partner Program (publishers sign up and provide Google with files or hard copies) and through its Library Project (several huge research libraries – for example, the University of Michigan – have joined in a project to have Google scan every book they contain).

There is presumably no problem with Google making public-domain books available this way, but disputes about so-called “orphan” books (not old enough to be public domain, but there is no known contact information for the rights owner) have stirred up a huge controversy, leading to lawsuits by several organizations representing authors and publishers. A settlement of that lawsuit has been proposed and will be decided upon by a judge this summer.

Information on the program and settlement from Google:
Google Book Search

My editorial views on the settlement (strongly opposed):
Starting next summer, Google might get the legal right to steal your copyrighted text