Autumn Adventures
My retreat from the post-Amazon-apocalypse-GoodReads. My shelves and my reviews, I hope, will find a safe haven here.
I like to read epic fantasy (the bigger, thicker and longer, the better) and science fiction (perfer space operas). I also enjoy the occasional biography or history non-fiction.
Out in the real world, I'm an IT professional in the Legal industry. Tech doesn't scare me or phase me.
Can't find a title at your bookstore? No problem, have them print it out for you.
Books-A-Million, the book chain based in Birmingham, AL, with stores throughout the south, will offer print-on-demand books using the Espresso Book Machine built by On Demand Books. The machine looks and functions like a large copy machine and can output any of thousands of titles as a perfect-bound book in just minutes.
BAM is trying it out at two of their primary locations as a joint marketing effort with ODB. Machines will be serviced by Xerox. Book content will come through the EspressNet system. There are many advantages to the concept of e-book meets print edition at a store, including the ability to offer far more titles and keeping costs down (no shipping or warehouse).
Pricing is based on length of the book. The machine can handle any paperback edition up to 600 pages long in sizes from 5x5 to 8x5 with a full-color cover. Major publishers involved include Penguin, Harper, McGraw Hill, Random House, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster. Hopefully this will help independent bookstores and publishers as well.
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