Beyond Numbers: Gatekeeper Effects and Just-in-Time Publishing

Just-in-time publishing is often thought of as a way for big warehouses to satisfy the “long tail” of demand for small numbers of a great variety of items. But while that’s one of its applications, its potential goes far beyond that.

We start by examining the numbers behind just-in-time publishing, then take a fresh look at some business models implied by those numbers.

• How much floorspace (i.e., real estate) does an on-demand printing machine require? How expensive is it, and what are the maintenance and training requirements?

• How many pages (books) can it produce in a given amount of time?

Using this quantitative data and some projection, we will look at reasons why Kinkos might be in a position to do as much publishing as Barnes & Noble, and do a better job of it. We’ll also examine some of the non-monetary results of such developments: how they can lead to richer and more participatory experience for readers and booksellers, and fundamentally change the way authors and readers relate to each other.

• What can you offer for walk-in customers to do while they’re waiting for their book to print?

• What new forms of interaction can you offer a customer who has just printed text from an electronic network? Would the author like a way to be notified, or to receive feedback directly?

• If you know what customers want (as opposed to what a mass print run predicted they’ll want), how can you use this knowledge to discover what else they might want, or to put them in contact with other customers who are interested in the same things?

• What would in-store surface area look like if it reflected reality? If a customer prints a book, why not print two and shelve one, so that the shop reflects what people in that community are interested in? Or perhaps print two of just the cover, and post one?

• What is a book? Does it have to be done before it’s published? What if the readers could choose formats, or alternate covers? What if they could assemble their own anthologies, and share them with other customers?