It might be a bit surprising to see me sharing a video about Amazon on Book Judgement, but as a technologist I found this exercise in automation fascinating. Make on Demand books (MOD) are becoming a big business, and expand the way that smaller press and relatively unknown authors can get their work in the hands of people who still prefer the feel of the book, and reading off paper.

I’ve bought a fair number of MOD books over the last few years, and while they’ll likely never going to win bookbinding awards, they’re typically paper glued into the cardboard spine of a paperback, I do appreciate having some of these defacto rarities on my bookshelves.