NEW YORK—With a few clicks, the transparent, steel-framed machine whirs to life. After clanking busily for a few minutes, with a final hum and whir, out pops a brand new book. A book that looks and feels exactly the same as any other paperback displayed on bookstore shelves.

A HarperCollins paperback printed by the Espresso Book Machine on March 6, 2019. Keng Onn Wong, The Epoch Times