Google to sell paperbacks from its book collection

The Google paperbacks will be printed on the Espresso Book Machine

Google has announced plans to sell some of the books it has archived as paperbacks in partnership with print-on-demand specialist On Demand Books (ODB).

The search giant has around two million books in its digital repository, mainly titles published before 1923. Under the deal, ODB will print the books as soon as they are ordered using its Espresso Book Machine, which can print a paperback in five minutes.

"ODB, in effect an ATM for books, will radically decentralise direct-to-consumer distribution," said Jason Epstein, chairman and co-founder of ODB.

"With the Google inventory the Espresso Book Machine will make it possible for readers everywhere to have access to millions of digital titles in multiple languages, including rare and out of print public domain titles."

The books will have a recommended price of $8 (£4.90). ODB and Google will take $1 (61p) each, and the rest will go to the retailer. Google has said that it will give its share to charities and non-profit concerns.

Key to the current scheme is the Espresso machines. ODB charges around $100,000 (£61,300) for the hardware but also leases them out.

"This is a revolutionary product. Instead of the traditional Gutenberg model of centrally producing, shipping and selling, we sell first then produce," explained Dane Neller, chief executive and co-founder of ODB.

"In a matter of minutes you can get a paperback book identical to one you can get in a store at point of sale. It has the potential to change the publishing industry."

The machines are already installed in bookstores, libraries and trade and campus bookstores around the world, including at the Blackwell Bookshop in London, University of Michigan Shapiro Library Building in Ann Arbor and Angus & Robertson bookstore in Melbourne.

If the US Department of Justice investigation into Google's book operations allows it to continue, the search firm may be able to expand its collection by digitising books that are no longer in print but are still covered by copyright.