Books-A-Million to Install ESPRESSO BOOK MACHINE®

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. & NEW YORK--()--Books-A-Million, Inc. and On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine (“EBM”), have entered into an agreement to install an EBM in Books-A-Million’s store in Portland, Maine, and one other location to be announced at a later date. The EBM brings a revolutionary book-publishing technology to one of the nation’s premier book retailers.

“We are excited to be utilizing the Espresso Book Machine. This offering means something special for BAM customers, who will now have access to a virtual inventory of seven million titles instantly available to them,” said Terrance G. Finley, CEO of Books-A-Million, Inc. “Our customers will also be able to print their self-published works or any user generated content, photo books, recipes, etc. in a matter of minutes and pick it up in our store.”

“ODB is delighted that the Espresso will be installed at Books-A-Million’s Portland store and to partner with a premier leader in the industry,” said Dane Neller, CEO of On Demand Books. “With the Espresso, Books-A-Million will be able to provide a self and custom publishing center, as well as add a catalogue of over seven million titles to its current book offering.”

The EBM is the only digital-to-print at retail solution on the market. Within minutes, the EBM can produce a bookstore quality paperback with color cover, in any standard trim size, at point of sale. The content is fed to the machine via EspressNet, On Demand Books’ growing digital network of titles. These titles are available through partnerships with Google, Lightning Source, Harper Collins, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan, McGraw Hill, and others, and includes content from publishers like Random House, W.W. Norton, and Simon & Schuster.

Like iTunes for books, EspressNet retrieves, encrypts, transmits, and catalogues books from a multitude of English and foreign language content providers (including public domain, in copyright, and self-published). Through the SelfEspress software, writers can format, design, edit, and upload their book for printing and inclusion on the EBM catalog, as well as convert the print file to an .epub format suitable for e-readers. The EBM provides a new sales channel for publishers and vastly increases the availability of titles for physical bookstores, significantly reducing loss of sales due to books being out-of-stock. And the EBM technology offers brick-and-mortar retailers the opportunity to become community self-publishing centers, providing a new distribution platform for self-published authors. The EBM also improves efficiency and sustainability by eliminating shipping, returns, and the pulping of unwanted books.

Xerox manages the worldwide service for the EBM.

ABOUT BOOKS-A-MILLION, INC.

Books-A-Million, Inc. is one of the nation’s leading book retailers and sells on the Internet at www.booksamillion.com. The Company presently operates 253 stores in 33 states and the District of Columbia. The Company operates large superstores under the names Books-A-Million (BAM!), Books & Co. and 2nd & Charles and traditional bookstores operating under the names Bookland and Books-A-Million. The common stock of Books-A-Million, Inc. is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol BAMM. For more information, visit the Company’s corporate website at www.booksamillioninc.com.

About On Demand Books, LLC

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, South Africa and the Caribbean. In September 2010, On Demand Books and Xerox announced a partnership whereby Xerox will service the Espresso Book Machine globally. Made in the USA, Espresso Book Machines are environmentally friendly green machines. For more information go to www.ondemandbooks.com.

Espresso Book Machine® and EspressNet® are trademarks of On Demand Books, LLC in the United States and/or other countries.

Contacts

Books-A-Million
Jeff Skipper, 205-942-3737
skipperj@booksamillion.com
or
On Demand Books
Lauren Lung, 212-966-2222
lauren@ondemandbooks.com

Contacts

Books-A-Million
Jeff Skipper, 205-942-3737
skipperj@booksamillion.com
or
On Demand Books
Lauren Lung, 212-966-2222
lauren@ondemandbooks.com