Is an On-site Print-on-demand Giclee Printer in your Future?

Living in the future, none of this has happened yet - Bruce Springsteen

Lightning Source International is the printer of my book, How to Profit from the Art Print Market. The company does a great job of making it widely available to booksellers both online and traditional with its print-on-demand technology. I can order one or 100 at great prices, but I don't bother with fulfillment. It's easier to let retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble handle it for me. Today, I got what could be a glimpse of the future for the art print market. It's the Expresso Book Machine.

Brick and mortar retailers of all kinds are now going to be able to offer high-quality books delivered immediately on site. This development has interesting and potentially widespread implications for retailers. Can you imagine buying your favorite book while waiting for your Caffe Latte at your favorite coffee shop? I can.

Can Giclee prints delivered on demand be available in retail stores be far off?

With the constant evolution of digital printmaking capabilities, I imagine it is only time before Epson or HP, or one of their many competitors comes along with a plan to put on-site on-demand digital fine art prints in local retail stores. If a company such as Allposters.com, which along with its sister site, Art.com are the largest retailers of art prints worldwide decide this is a market it wants to be in, it could bring yet another game changing development to the art print market. Granted, the print speed for making digital prints, aka giclees, is nowhere near the speed of making a book as shown in the video here. But, quality and speed continue increase dramatically.

Should such technology come along for the art print market, it wouldn't necessarily be just to the advantage of the big retailers like Art.com. I think it could be a way for local artists, perhaps art guilds, to level the playing field. As threatening such a development could be to established fine art giclee printers, it could also be an opportunity for them to create new markets for themselves as well. This is high concept thinking. There would be a multitude of details before an idea like would come to fruition.

Nevertheless, as much as things have changed in the business over the past decade, I think we are just beginning to understand the dramatic developments of the way visual artists will get their work to market in years to come. Stay tuned, the future is just around the corner. It's only promise is it will not be as we know things now and opportunities will abound for those who embrace the changes.

P.S. The deadline to register to win a Milton Glaser signed poster is May 31. Here is the scoop:

Milton Glaser Documentary Premiers May 22: You can win a signed poster promoting it or his book! ' http://bit.ly/bBxor