Comments on: The Espresso Book Machine: TeleRead Q&A with Northshire Bookstore’s Chris Morrow http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:47:48 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/comment-page-1/#comment-1146529 David Rothman Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:31:04 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/#comment-1146529 Pond: Chris did say that the first machine was an experiment, a beta gizmo. It may well have been a freebie or sharply discounted. As he said, let's see what the new version does. Thanks. David Pond: Chris did say that the first machine was an experiment, a beta gizmo. It may well have been a freebie or sharply discounted. As he said, let’s see what the new version does. Thanks. David

]]> By: pond http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/comment-page-1/#comment-1146527 pond Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:17:30 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/#comment-1146527 Actually, Morrow's evasions and dodges of pretty simple, straightforward questions about how often the EBM breaks down, worry me more than any FUD from the WSJ 'journalist.' He does sound more like somebody who has drunk the Kool-Aid than a good businessman. And, of course, even if Morrow had answered in straightforward manner, it still would only have been telling us about one machine in one store, and (maybe) a 'beta' machine at that. So I guess we'll have to wait. But the EBM and its brethren do represent the future ... they have to ... don't they? Actually, Morrow’s evasions and dodges of pretty simple, straightforward questions about how often the EBM breaks down, worry me more than any FUD from the WSJ ‘journalist.’ He does sound more like somebody who has drunk the Kool-Aid than a good businessman.

And, of course, even if Morrow had answered in straightforward manner, it still would only have been telling us about one machine in one store, and (maybe) a ‘beta’ machine at that.

So I guess we’ll have to wait. But the EBM and its brethren do represent the future … they have to … don’t they?

]]> By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/comment-page-1/#comment-1146519 David Rothman Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:41:55 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/#comment-1146519 Hi, Michael. Good questions. I've called Northshire's attention to the above piece, and ideally Chris Morrow can respond to you directly in this comments area. If he doesn't, please jog me, and I'll pass your questions to him. Thanks, David Hi, Michael. Good questions. I’ve called Northshire’s attention to the above piece, and ideally Chris Morrow can respond to you directly in this comments area. If he doesn’t, please jog me, and I’ll pass your questions to him.

Thanks,
David

]]> By: Michael Pastore http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/comment-page-1/#comment-1146517 Michael Pastore Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:33:32 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/10/06/the-espresso-book-machine-teleread-qa-with-northshire-bookshire-bookstores-chris-morrow/#comment-1146517 Thanks, David, for answering some questions about the EBM that we were eager to learn about. I never worried about the machine breakdown problem. The EBM company couldn't run a business if the machine, like me, stops working and needs serious repair after finishing a book. I'd like to know just a bit more: 1) What would it cost to for a publisher to use this bookstore's EBM to print a 200-page paperback? 2) Will they ship the freshly-printed book to a customer? One curious aspect of their submission guidelines, a downloadable PDF file, is this sentence: <blockquote> Once you have all the pages laid out correctly and consistently, with page numbers if applicable, then convert your Word document file(s) to PDF using Adobe Acrobat PDF conversion software <strong>you can download free from the Internet.</strong> </blockquote> A free Adobe Acrobat? ... Sounds too good to be true. Maybe they are talking about a free copy via Pirate Bay, which features software as well as ebooks. :-) Michael Pastore 50 Benefits of Ebooks Thanks, David, for answering some questions about the EBM that we were eager to learn about. I never worried about the machine breakdown problem. The EBM company couldn’t run a business if the machine, like me, stops working and needs serious repair after finishing a book.

I’d like to know just a bit more:

1) What would it cost to for a publisher to use this bookstore’s EBM to print a 200-page paperback?

2) Will they ship the freshly-printed book to a customer?

One curious aspect of their submission guidelines, a downloadable PDF file, is this sentence:

Once you have all the pages laid out correctly and consistently, with page numbers if applicable, then convert your Word document file(s) to PDF using Adobe Acrobat PDF conversion software you can download free from the Internet.

A free Adobe Acrobat? … Sounds too good to be true.

Maybe they are talking about a free copy via Pirate Bay, which features software as well as ebooks. :-)

Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks

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