Books & Review Updated: Jun 11, 2012 11:43 AM EDT

Amidst all the news of electronic books upstaging print books and what many believe to be the eminent death of paper books, one overlooked fact remains. Printed books have fetched publishers a recent average of $336 million in sales while e-books just $21.5.

Numbers don't lie. People still hunger for print books.

Enter the Espresso Book Machine, a print on demand machine developed to print, collate and bind a paperback book in a couple of minutes. Since its debut at the New York Public Library in 2007, the machine is now in 70 bookstores and libraries in the world.

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The Associated Press reports that some independent bookstores and authors have been able to turn a profit with books published via the machine. Clare Dickens, the author of "A Dangerous Gift," a memoir on her son's bipolar disorder was interviewed for the article. She explained how although she was able to secure a small publisher in Iceland for her book, she yearned to have it read by more people. The Espresso Machine made it possible for her to reach more readers through her local bookstore. Her book is now the best-selling self-published title at the bookstore.

"I didn't expect to sell any at all," she said. "I didn't want to be a best-seller. It's really about getting my son's story out there and helping other people." It cost her $10.38 to print the book and the store sells it for $16.

The chief technology officer of the company that created Espresso Book machine say it can be an asset to booksellers. He told The Associated Press, "It can, potentially, give them a huge virtual inventory so they can have as many books as Amazon, all in a little bookstore," he said. It turns independent bookstores into places to get books published. It's a new thing for the bookstore to do: not just sell books, but actually create books."

Most of the books printed on the machine are self-published titles but a small fraction are out-of-print books as well as those available through Google Books and digital formats licensed by publishers.




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