News

Books-A-Million installs Espresso Book Machine in Maine

July 18, 2013

Books-A-Million Inc. and On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine, have entered into an agreement to install an EBM in Books-A-Million's store in Portland, Maine, and in one other location that has not yet been disclosed, according to a news release.

The EBM, which is managed worldwide by Xerox, boasts the ability to produce a bookstore quality paperback with a color cover in minutes. The content is fed to the machine via EspressNet, On Demand Books' digital network of titles, available through partnerships with Google, Lightning Source, Harper Collins, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan and McGraw Hill, and includes content from publishers like Random House, W.W. Norton and Simon & Schuster.

According to the release, the EBM technology offers brick-and-mortar retailers the opportunity to become community self-publishing centers, providing a new distribution platform for self-published authors. The EBM also improves efficiency and sustainability by eliminating shipping, returns and the pulping of unwanted books, the release said.

"We are excited to be utilizing the Espresso Book Machine. This offering means something special for BAM customers, who will now have access to a virtual inventory of seven million titles instantly available to them," said Terrance G. Finley, CEO of Books-A-Million. "Our customers will also be able to print their self-published works or any user-generated content, photo books, recipes, etc. in a matter of minutes and pick it up in our store."

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