Have you seen the Espresso Book Machine is now live at the independent bookstore Northshire? So now a self-published author can sell their books at the Point of Sale in that bookstore. Not that you can just buy self-pub books this way, but that you can buy many traditionally published books this way. Although the self-published local authors are doing quite well with this store, an unanticipated market according to the machine’s creators.
I tell you what, if I can walk into my local bookstore and use this machine to buy any book I can order on Amazon, Amazon is history. Seriously. I don’t need to pay extra for having my books delivered to my doorstep. I retain the community involvement of a local bookstore and I get it now, not a week or two from now. This would also free up shelf space at the bookstore for books that can not be created on this machine.
I have no idea how much this beast costs to install and operate, but this is the future, here and now.
Ken McConnell
Matt Mitchell
Stephen Buchheit
bandraiocht
A Smith
sallyfogel
stefwithnf
ladybriony
[begin rant]Amazon’s lengthy delivery times seem more a function of suckering people into more expensive express mail options.
Many times I see that package via UPS tracking sitting around the distribution center a few miles up the road for several days (in transit, preparing for delivery) to pad out that 7-10 delivery window.[end rant]
Now with Espresso, I could see Amazon outsourcing the printing of a book to a store that is geographically close to the buyer. Or perhaps the Northshire type store sets up a ’store’ within Amazon. Either way I could see Amazon getting a cut of the action.
Todd, perhaps you’re right about Amazon still getting a slice of the publishing pie. I was voicing my own decision to buy local as often as possible. I will admit to using Amazon for some things, but as much as possible, I order from my local independent bookstores. That’s just my personal, consumer mindset.
It will be interesting to see how the Espresso machine changes things.
As an addendum, I must eat crow. I ordered a couple books from Amazon on Monday and three days later they are here on my doorstep.
Strange. It’s almost as if Amazon is … listening. Perhaps it has become self-aware.