Inkjet & Digital Printing

Kodak, On Demand Books and ReaderLink Join Forces for In-Store Book Printing at Retail

Monday 31. December 2012 - Eastman Kodak Company, the worldwide leader in retail imaging solutions, with a global footprint of 105,000 KODAK Picture Kiosks, On Demand Books, and ReaderLink today announced they have partnered to revolutionize the way all types of printed books will be marketed, sold and produced at point of sale.

The venture brings together On Demand Books’ innovative, in-store Espresso Book Machine to national retailers integrated with KODAK Picture Kiosks, giving consumers a full-service digital-to-print media center for all their custom print needs: from photo books, custom/local self-published titles, to educational supplements, and more.
On Demand Books is also working with ReaderLink to bring in-copyright titles to non-trade bookseller channels, allowing customers to have immediate access to a vast array of non-stocked and backlist titles at point of sale.ReaderLink is the largest full-service distributor of books in North America, distributing thousands of books to over 24,000 retail outlets across virtually all substantial mass market, club, drug and grocery chains in the United States.
The Espresso Book Machine, the only digital-to-print at retail solution on the market today, has begun to dramatically change the book industry by giving consumers the ability to produce a self-published book, or print on demand a book from more than seven million in-copyright or public domain titles, in less than four minutes. By integrating this solution with the KODAK Picture Kiosk, this capability will be expanded to produce perfect bound, high-quality Kodak Photo Books in minutes for in-store pick up.
“Our partnership with On Demand Books delivers exciting new capabilities to consumers and retailers, and is a great example of Kodak’s focus on bringing innovation to market.” said Laura Quatela, President of Kodak. “Consumers will enjoy getting from our valued retail partners immediate delivery of a whole new offering of high-quality photo books as well as a broad library of book titles. In addition, our retail partners will have new avenues for increased revenue as they expand their photo book sales in-store and deliver a massive list of book titles to their customers instantly.”
Dane Neller, CEO of On Demand Books adds, “We are thrilled to be able to work with ReaderLink and our publisher partners to bring a broad list of book titles to Kodak’s vast, worldwide retail footprint and expand the capabilities of the Espresso Book Machine to produce photo books. We envision an integrated solution that can substantially redefine the publishing industry and bring exciting new solutions to customers.”
The partnership will involve North American retailers during 2012 and then expand internationally in 2013. The integrated KODAK Picture Kiosk and On Demand Books solution will include the following features and functionality:
Integration of the Espresso Book Machine and EspressNet with the KODAK Picture Kiosk
Ability to print and bind paperback photo books using KODAK Printers in just minutes
Access to more than 7 million in-copyright or public domain books via On Demand’s digital database
Assistance with creation and ability to print self-published books of all types
Reporting of transactions and customer analytics to both retailers and publishers
Kodak has a market leadership position in the photo category with worldwide installations of kiosks with national retailers such as CVS/pharmacy in the US, DM in Germany and Officeworks in Australia, among many others.