The Future of Print-On-Demand

What does the future hold for independent authors? How about access to the same unlimited shelf space—the kind of space that online booksellers like Amazon currently make available to all—only inside physical "bricks-and-mortar" bookstores, instead?

The day hasn't arrived yet, but all signs point to this happening over the next several years. How will this be achieved?

Basically, by installing print-on-demand printers inside bookstores. Then, if a customer wants a book that a store hasn't got in stock—presto! they'll just print out a copy for you.

Currently, print-on-demand printers take up a lot of space (think "the whole room") but engineers are hard at work "miniaturizing" the machines for retail space.

That means that one day in the relatively near future, any book ever published will be available to any bookstore visitor instantly—or at least, in the time it takes to drink a cappuccino while they're waiting for it to be printed.

The ramifications of this are enormous for independent authors and small presses competing with big publishing houses for retail space.

For more on these ramifications, check out the article at the following link by clicking here.