Lightning Source, Ingram Content Group’s POD unit, has entered into an agreement with PediaPress, a web-to-print service that enables consumers to create customized books using the content in Wikipedia, the popular free online reference site. Lightning Source will provide POD book manufacturing and international distribution for the customized books created using PediaPress technology.
The agreement will provide support for PediaPress’s Create A Book platform, an easy-to-use application available on the English language Wikipedia, which allows reader to create a customized book by a simple process of picking a selection of Wikipedia articles and arranging them in book layout. The application lets the user pick articles, images for the interior and cover, designate the title, the editor and more. The Create A Book application then provides the consumer with a 30-page preview of the final book layout before it is printed via POD and shipped anywhere in the world. The book can be stored in the users online account and shared via the usual social networking platforms.
Heiko Hees, PediaPress managing director, said that PediaPress’s mission is to, “capitalize upon best-of-class technology to bring affordable books and textbooks to the corners of the world, where books and education in some geographic areas is still a luxury.” He called Lightning Source an ideal partner that offers, “professional and reliable organization with high quality one-off book manufacturing and a globally distributed print network.” PediaPress is based in Mainz, Germany, the town where Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type.
Skip Prichard, president and CEO Ingram Content Group, said “The content-driven model from PediaPress and Wikipedia is part of the forward-thinking method of book supply we envision as the future of print-on-demand, and we are delighted to work with the PediaPress team on this innovative web-to-print model.”
