An article in the Wall Street Journal (Sept 23, 2011) describes the impact of a decision by the publisher HarperCollins to make 5,000 paperbacks available through OnDemand Books LLC Espresso print Machine. The small printer enables a book to be printed in a few minutes.  The goal is to decrease the 25 to 80 % of paperbacks not available in bookstores due to space limits, the revenue will be split 70 % to the publisher and 30 % to the bookstore.  Will such a strategy enable local bookstores to compete with Amazon.com or will it be subsumed by e-books ? Should the publisher own the printer and recover costs based on book sales or should this remain the bookstore owner’s decision ? Will such a decision decrease the incentive for the bookstore to carry books by HarperCollins ? How can the publisher use this strategy to increase competitiveness of his books?