What are the advantages of this?

• It is a possibility to preserve the ordinary bookstores - to bring them on into the future of book selling. If they get left behind in the technological development, they will seize to exist.
• The printing costs can be kept at a minimum. No longer will books be printed for which there are no buyers. Besides: The costs for storing copies will almost disappear, since computer diskettes do not take up much space.
• Books which are not profitable to reprint for normal publishers and therefore hard to get a hold of, may be ordered via print on demand. This includes, for instance, classics, collections of poetry and plays.
• It offers the writers a possibility to print their own books, without being accepted by any publisher. To get registered with an On demand publisher will cost no more than 40-50 dollars.
• It offers an opportunity to break the demand of the bestsellers.

The conference delegates asked mostly about the practical effects of this future development. For instance:

How are the writers going to get paid?

How will the customers pay?

Is it OK to publish in the usual manner AND be registered at an On demand publisher?

Sara Hultman, project manager of Podium, a Swedish On demand-publishing project, answered: The writers will be paid every three months according to the number of books sold. The customers pay as usual in the bookstore, in cash or by credit card. If a writer wants to register with an On demand publisher as well with an ordinary publisher - he or she has to check if it is OK with the latter.

Writer Peter Curman, Sweden, told about a contact in Florida, USA, who is trying to produce a book machine, which will work like a instant coffee machine: put in your coins, wait a few minutes while your order is being processed - and whoops - out comes a book printed especially for you.

The man in Florida is still trying to get his prototype into serial production.

As a critical comment to the debate Ture Sjölander, Australia, asked "But who is going to read all these books? Is it not time to discuss other ways of mediating - such as oral presentation?

Nobody commented on this, many being writers themselves!

Podium: http://www.swepod.com