It finally happened: The print on demand “ATM for books” device people like Jason Epstein and Ben Vershbow have been talking about forever launched last week in the UK. Some say the Espresso machine is the greatest change in book publishing since the printing press. The device is said to be the equivalent of 23.6 miles of shelf space, or over 50 bookstores rolled into one. I vividly remember an agent I respect sitting in my office a couple of years ago saying “if the Espresso takes off, publishers and editors will be dead men walking.” I am curious to hear what others think of that statement. Of course, since I had that conversation a couple of years ago, the conversation about the future of book publishing has turned sharply towards E-books. (Yesterday we felt the earth move, as Debbie would say, when we read about Amazon’s most recent acquisition). Apparently it takes five minutes to print a book on the Espresso machine. Is five minutes a long time in our digital world?