The American Booksellers Association (ABA) has teamed up with Applewood Books to provide print on demand services for independent bookstores. The deal was brokered by Ingram’s Lightning Source.
The new program will provide participating booksellers the ability to publish any title that is in the public domain or any book whose rights have reverted to the author. Though technically the program is open to all books in the public domain the focus seems to be on producing titles of local interest.
How it works:
Booksellers will sign a letter of agreement for each work and pay an advance fee of $250 for each title they choose to publish.
Applewood will digitize the work.
Create a cover design; booksellers can choose one of three templated designs at no extra charge or provide their own custom, production-ready art.
assign an ISBN.
provide bibliographic data and approve the title for manufacture.
They will also provide distribution if need be.
Highlights:
-The option to for the bookseller to create their own packaging and branding. I can see for instance The Elliott Bay Book Company, here in Seattle, publishing the Elliot Bay Edition of Pioneer Days on Puget Sound with the cover art and design created by a local artist.
-Potential to significantly increase the range of offerings.
-The ABA’s willingness to incorporate new technologies.
Lowlights:
-The program seems more like publishing on demand than printing on demand. It doesn’t provide the choice to the customer but to the bookseller. The goal needs to be to provide the customer with more choices and opportunities.
-The $250 per book fee will limit the program’s effectiveness by forcing bookstores to print only titles that they believe they can sell in quantity. There are no returns.
-Is Applewood Books is the right partner for the program?
At best, this program will have minimal impact and does little to increase the competitiveness of independent bookstores.
The time will come when the independent bookstore can afford to install a pod machine on site allowing their customers to choose from a huge pod inventory and have the book ready for them by the time they are done browsing. Then we will have print on demand.
Story at Bookselling This Week, New ABA Partnership to Provide Booksellers Access to POD