A report by Laura Hazard Owen (@laurahazardowen) for paidContent (@paidContent) says, “On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine (@espressobook), and Kodak (@kodakCB) are partnering to add print-on-demand technology to Kodak Picture Kiosks (@KodakKiosks) [of which there are 105,000 nationwide]. That means consumers will be able to print paperback photo books, self-published books, and the seven million backlist and public domain titles in On Demand’s catalog from retail chains such as CVS (@CVSCaremarkFYI).”
About 30 Espresso Book Machines are installed in stores around the US, with 30 more being readied for installation.
HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins) says it will make about 5,000 current paperbacks available through the Espresso Book Machine.
Read The Wall Street Journal article.
On Demand also announced a partnership with ReaderLink (@Readerlink), which distributes books to grocery stores, drugstores, mass market and club stores, to make more titles available through the Kodak Picture Kiosks.
“We envision an integrated solution that can substantially redefine the publishing industry and bring exciting new solutions to customers," says Dane Neller, CEO of On Demand Books.
But according to USA TODAY (@usatodaytech), "this all comes with one huge catch — Kodak is in the midst of selling its photo kiosk business as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy."
Neller said the Kodak agreement, though announced [Sept. 12], was signed before the Rochester printing and imaging company announced last month it had decided to sell a set of businesses that include its photo kiosks, document scanners and still camera film operations. He said On Demand's hope is that whatever company buys Kodak's kiosk operations would also continue the Espresso arrangement.
See our previous blogposts “Mardel Acquires Espresso Book Machine” and “3D Printing a Gun.”
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