Dai Nippon Printing and Kodansha, two other Japanese firms that plan to supply publishingondemand, both reckon the best niche is no more than 500 copies at a time.
On a recent afternoon there, Bronwen Blaney, manager of retail services and custom publishing for OnDemand Books, put the new machine through its paces.
The first to do so in Japan is Fuji Xerox, which in May started a publishing-on-demand venture that lets customers browse through publications on its website and pick the material they want.
In a way that moves the publishing industry closer to meeting our immediate demand for content, the book is set to be released on April 21, only two months after the revolution concluded.