<nettime> FW: Barnes & Noble set to print books on demand: Joe Wilcox

[John Armitage <john.armitage@unn.ac.uk>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Cyber Society [mailto:CyberSociety-owner@listbot.com] 
Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 8:59 AM
To: Cyber Society
Subject: Barnes & Noble set to print books on demand: Joe Wilcox


Cyber Society - http://www.unn.ac.uk/cybersociety

Barnes & Noble set to print books on
     demand 
     By Joe Wilcox
     Staff Writer, CNET News.com
     December 9, 1999, 1:00 p.m. PT 

     update Barnes & Noble will begin offering print-on-demand books
online and
     at brick-and-mortar stores starting early next year. 

     IBM will provide the technology and manufacturing components for the
operation,
     which will eventually be available at all Barnes & Noble distribution
centers, starting
     at the Jamesburg, N.J., facility before spring. 

     New York-based Barnes & Noble and Barnesandnoble.com will use the
technology
     to print books to order, as the company looks to cut costs and better
manage
     inventory. The book retailer expects the service to be a boon for
specialty titles that
     are out of print because of small press runs. 

     "It's going to open up the market to an enormous amount of content
that hasn't been
     able to reach the marketplace," Barnes & Noble vice chairman Stephen
Riggio said,
     adding that the cost of traditional publishing has prohibited many
authors from getting
     their books distributed. 

     "Many publishers consider that a book sells a few hundred copies a
year a liability.
     We see that as an opportunity," Riggio said "Publishers don't just
turn books down
     because they think the editorial quality isn't up to stuff, they just
don't see a big
     enough market for it so they can't justify the cost." 

     Print-on-demand services also will be available to iUniverse, a
portal serving new and
     out-of-print books. Barnes & Noble owns a 49 percent stake in the
operation. 

     Barnes & Noble and IBM next month plan to make the digital services
available to
                            the entire publishing community following a
test run of
                            select publishers. The publishers, which
neither IBM
                            or Barnes & Noble would name, digitize books so
                            they can be printed on demand. 

                            "We plan to go to all of the publishers we do
business
                            with and say, 'Look, you've got an enormous
amount
                            titles that aren't even on your shelves that
we're
                            getting calls for, we'll convert that to
digital format and
                            output it electronically or print on demand,'
" Riggio
                            said. 

                            Besides print-on-demand services, Barnes &
Noble
                            also plans to offer electronic versions of
books in a
                            variety of formats, including Rocket eBook,
Microsoft
                            Reader and Adobe Acrobat Reader. Barnes & Noble
                            in September started offering NuvoMedia's Rock
     eBook in its brick-and-mortar stores. 

     "The book publishing industry is starting to go digital, and in the
process of starting
     to go digital we've made some books available, both online and print
on demand,"
     said Bill McCracken, general manager of IBM printing systems. 

     Customers will be able to order books in two ways: at Barnes & Noble
in-store
     kiosks and online from Barnesandnoble.com. Books will then be printed
at one of
     three Barnes & Noble facilities and drop-shipped direct to the
customer. 

     Barnes & Noble plans eventually to offer print-on-demand services
inside stores,
     allowing the customers to place orders and pick up books within about
an hour. But
     that is still about two years away, Riggio said. 

     The printing services deal is its first, but it is the largest. Three
smaller booksellers
     also use Big Blue's print-on-demand services. 

     "The important thing here is this: Once a book is digitized, it will
never be out of print.
     You simply go in, say you want a copy, and they print one out
tonight," said Rich
     Troksa, customer segment manger for IBM printing systems. 

     Barnes & Nobles estimates there are more than 1 million titles out of
print, with
     90,000 titles disappearing each year. "This is an enormous
opportunity to make the
     words 'out of print' obsolete, and that's what we plan to do," Riggio
said.


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