Borders Branches Out Into Demand Field With Sprout Stake

Before long, readers who can’t find the book they want on the shelves at their local Borders bookstore may be able to get a custom-printed paperback copy in a matter of minutes.

Borders Group Inc. said Tuesday that it had acquired a 19.9% stake in Atlanta-based Sprout Inc., a first step toward providing books on demand. Terms were not disclosed.

The deal will give Borders--and the reading public--access to older and out-of-print titles that the store wouldn’t ordinarily carry, and may give the nation’s second-largest bookstore chain new life as it tackles rivals Barnes & Noble Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

Other bookstores, including small independent retailers, are considering the technology as well, seeing it as another way to broaden their appeal to readers.

“It sounds like a winner for everyone--publishers, retailers and consumers,” said Jerrold Jenkins, publisher of Independent Publisher magazine.

Sprout, founded in 1997, will provide Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders with books in digital form that it licenses from publishers. The company has about 1,300 titles on a wide variety of topics and expects to acquire thousands more, spokeswoman Ashley Gordon said.

As envisioned, the system would enable Borders workers to download digital versions of books.

Each store would have two digital printers, one for the cover and the other for the pages. Employees could assemble the books in a binding machine that uses the same adhesive process normally used for making paperbacks.

“You can deliver a book to the customer in 15 minutes,” Gordon said.

The average reader will see no difference in print and binding quality between the instant books and ordinary paperbacks, she said, although the machines can print color only for covers. The books’ pages will be black and white.

“It won’t be a great idea for some children’s books, for coffee table books,” Gordon said. “But for most paperbacks, it’s going to be almost identical.”

The price for books will vary, but will be similar to prices for books now on sale in bookstores, said Borders spokeswoman Ann Binkley. Officials are not sure when they will begin making the books widely available.

Sprout does not sell the printing and binding machines, which stores would have to buy on their own for about $40,000.

Sprout is courting other bookstores in addition to Borders, contending that its system would help them clear their shelves of little-requested titles and reduce the number of books returned to publishers when anticipated sales fall short.