Edited by author 06-21-2004 05:58 AM
Well then, the technology is here, it's just not perfected yet.

These printing/binding machines might cost quite a bundle, but with the greatly decreased inventory management (how Wal-Mart got rich, from what I recall) and the lack of a middleman (books would no longer have to be shipped half-way across a continent [ink and paper could be ordered from local sources]), I'd expect the profits to quickly offset any immediate expenses.

As for not being able to flip through the books, well, what I had envisioned was a terminal system hooked up to the printing/binding machine. People would use it to "virtually" browse the insides of the available novels, read magazine/newspaper/public reviews, get referred to similar titles, etc. Simply put, they'd be able to use an internal Amazon.com. Sure, it'd cost an additional couple of bucks, but it would also potentially shrink the number of necessary staff members. Of course the stores themselves would probably end up looking a bit less personal, but they'd still contain non-POD books plus cool, high-techy machines and perhaps those delicious café lattes as well. A good marketing campaign--and there would definitely be room for one--could also give POD bookstores a nice jump-start, and over time the printing/binding machines would become cheaper and more efficient.

Now my info on such currently available gizmos is strictly third-hand, but they just don't seem that far off in the future. From where I stand, the POD-books' major obstacle is/would be side-stepping the current system. Bookstore chains would have to deal with worker unions, delivery contracts, publisher deals, lots of inner re-structuring, etc.

It also might be a more logical distribution system to implement in North America than Europe, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone out there will eventually make it happen.