1DollarScan will scan and digitize your book for $1

1DollarScan will scan and digitize your book for $1

Is that the dandiest thing?  Another way to reduce clutter or the beautiful images of perfectly stacked books--depending on how you look at it.

"Having old media digitized to get more space in the house, preserve them or simply make them portable isn’t exactly a new trend. But some startups, like Peggybank in the case of videos and photos, still find ways to stand out. And now a new company called 1DollarScan tries to do the same for books, documents, pictures and just about anything that’s printed on paper – through pricing.

1DollarScan is the US equivalent of a service in Japan called Bookscan, which is the largest of its kind in that country and hit several millions of US dollars in revenue within a year, according to the namesake company (in fact, the service is so successful that some customers in Japan currently have to wait for months to get their material digitized)."

Read more on TechCrunch

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Library of Alexandria Collection now available on Espresso Book Machine Network

The Library of Alexandria and On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine® (EBM), today announced that 19,000 titles from the collection of the Library are now available on the
worldwide network of EBMs, and a further 150,000 Arabic titles, also from the Library, will be available soon.

Essentially an ATM for books, the patented EBM and its EspressNet® software system links to a vast network of content, enabling the instant distribution of books, on demand, at point of sale. With the push of a button, the technology prints, binds, and trims a paperback book, in any language, with a full-color cover, in minutes. It is an environmentally friendly technology since it eliminates shipping, returns, and the pulping of unwanted books. The Library of Alexandria installed one of the first early-generation EBMs and has since installed two additional EBMs.

“The Library of Alexandria is the place for the largest Arabic Digital Library worldwide.” says Dr Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria. “And availing the collection on the global network of EBMs, comes in accordance with the Library’s mission in the dissemination of knowledge to all people at all times, and in bridging the Arabic culture with the rest of the world.” He added, “EBMs and their EspressNet software system represent a cutting-edge business model for delivering all flavors of knowledge anywhere around the world. And we are keen here at the Library of Alexandria to take part in this remarkable endeavor.”

“We are delighted to offer titles from the collection of the Library of Alexandria, one of the world’s great cultural institutions,” says Dane Neller, the CEO of On Demand Books. “Our technology is ideal for distributing books across borders, since it eliminates shipping and uses encrypted digital files to produce physical books at point of need in minutes. Our technology dramatically expands access to these remarkable titles, which include many Arabic-language classics, making them available to readers and scholars around the world.”




On Demand Books was cofounded in 2003 by Jason Epstein, former Editorial Director of  Random House; Dane Neller, former CEO of Dean & DeLuca; and Thor Sigvaldason, former technology consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Espresso Book Machines have been placed in bookstores, libraries, universities, and other locations in the USA, Canada, the UK, the Middle  East, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean.  In September 2010, On Demand Books and Xerox announced a partnership whereby Xerox will market, sell or lease, and service the Espresso Book Machine worldwide. Made in the USA, Espresso Book Machines are environmentally friendly green machines. For more information go to www.ondemandbooks.com.


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Digital book sales jumped 147% in May, for traditional publishers

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) reports that ebook sales rose 146.9% in May, which is even more dramatic when compared to the drops that all major adult print segments experienced. This continues the trend from April, when ebook sales rose by 157.5% while print segments declined.

I’d be curious to see sales numbers for self-published ebooks, which I don’t think are included in these monthly reports put out by the AAP. Although all I have to go on right now are anecdotes, Joe Konrath admitted that he and at least a few other self-pubbed authors saw sales of their ebooks drop in June.

Via Tele-Read

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