On-demand publishing has created new low-cost alternatives for people to get their manuscripts published.

WSJ: On the Web, Amateurs Rivaling Professionals

Dai Nippon Printing and Kodansha, two other Japanese firms that plan to supply publishing on demand, both reckon the best niche is no more than 500 copies at a time.

ECONOMIST: Electronic books

On a recent afternoon there, Bronwen Blaney, manager of retail services and custom publishing for On Demand Books, put the new machine through its paces.

WSJ: Brooklyn Library Gets On-Demand Printing

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.

ECONOMIST: Electronic books

Barbara Meredith, vice-president of professional and scholarly publishing at the Association of American Publishers, a trade group, has said that a demand for open access to research findings could undermine the sustainability of the publishing industry, and has promised to lobby vigorously against this happening.

ECONOMIST: Scientific publishing

The publishing industry, not always wisely but well, met the demand.

FORBES: Magazine Article

When licensing images for books, posters or trading cards, she insists on large, nonrefundable advances against royalties--a demand few illustrators can get away with, says Russell Cochran of Gemstone Publishing, who has dealt with the artist for 30 years.

FORBES: Collecting