So this is more of a message to potential upstart businesses rather than our customers, but the very machine we made books on for the past four years is now for sale. Here is my posting from craigslist, http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/ele/933842979.html
We've found we are better serving our customers by working with Amazon to print our titles, and with this they are enabled greater self-distribution and visibility on the net.
Book Binding System - Instabook Publishing - $2890 (Cortelyou and Stratford)
We have an Instabook Publishing System for bidding that perfect-binds paperbacks in one step. This system uses custom engineering to produce books and is a useful set of tools. Through a one-step binding program activated from your computer console, the printed and cut text pages are lowered into glue, brought to a pre-printed cover and bound. With the four cuts a trade quality paperback is ready. The machine is set up for the 5.5x8.5 novel-sized book. A legal-sized sheet of paper at 8.5x14 is laid on the cover platform for this configuration.
Included in the package are the Instabook machine, an Ideal "Triumph" industrial cutting machine with 2 extra blades and a box of wax cutting sticks, Kyocera high-volume monochrome printer, Instabook publishing software CD, two 5 pound bags of glue and all associated cables and extension cords for the system.
This really is a unique setup that enables you to open a print-on-demand shop in a very limited space. It is built to last under constant production and is versatile and rugged. Over the past years we've helped hundreds of authors print thousands of books. We used linen paper, glossy stock and card stock to customize the books printed.
From Instabook.net: "this design includes quick disassembly construction, special clearances under bases and feet, and a totally enclosed, vented electronics and control box[...]every step and every operation can be adjusted through [Instabook's] proprietary on-screen software: you can control the depth of the gluing, the timing of the steps, the pressure on the binding, the positioning of the covers to + or - 1 degree, etc. Everything that you can think of may be controlled by the operator[...]" Despite the sophistication of the engineering, the user-friendly aspects of the Instabook require only a basic understanding of computers to print a book.
The included software has information on the system, programs such as one that generates ISBN number images for your book covers and a whole array of inventory and calculation programs.
This equipment is sold as is, though I have recently tested it and it works 100 percent.
Local pick-up only. Each component is heavy, but the main unit can be dissembled. The cutter is about 250lbs, the Instabook unit itself about the same weight but is on wheels, and the printer is about 175lbs.
I'm able to answer many questions about the system - just inquire
