This not only sweeps up the long tail, but potentially creates a market “upload” publishing through Amazon. That’s a much bigger market than it was. Look at all the bloggers…

Online retail giant Amazon.com has acquired US-based print-on-demand company BookSurge LLC.

The privately owned inventory-free book printing and fulfilment company based in South Carolina already provides a print-on demand service for out-of-print or hard-to-find books, available for sale on Amazon.com or as a service to other publishers and authors.

And other retailers, wholesalers and distributors use its wholesale platform, called BookSurge Direct.

But Amazon hopes the deal will primarily allow it to offer more a wider range of more rare titles, including foreign language translations, to its readers.

‘Print-on-demand has changed the economics of small-quantity printing, making it possible for books with low and uncertain demand to be profitably produced,’ said Greg Geeley, Amazon.com media products vice president. ‘Thanks to print-on-demand, “out of print” is out of date.’

Link: vnunet.com.