Who on Earth Needs Wikis in Print?

An interview with Heiko Hees, Managing Director of PediaPress

Mr. Hees, PediaPress offers users to order books with a collection of Wikipedia 
articles they have selected personally. Who needs a book you have to pay for, if 
you can get the information for free on your screen?

People enjoy reading books. For longer texts it is still the preferred medium – and for 
a good reason: Scientific studies have found, that people read up to 30 percent faster 
on paper than on a screen. For that reason alone, reading books is not old-fashioned 
at all. We also asked our customers in Germany, where the service has been running 
successfully since February 2009. People seem to cherish their offline moments more 
and more. In front of a computer they are constantly distracted, by facebook, by twitter, 
by skype. They love to read a good book, maybe on the train or at the beach. Many 
of us are staring at screens much longer than we want to. Now you can get the 
knowledge and skip the screen.

Putting a book together - how does it work?

It‘s very simple. There‘s a new "create a book" button in Wikipedia‘s left navigation 
bar. Clicking enables you to add articles to your book simply by browsing Wikipedia. 
Collecting these articles is actually a lot of fun, our customers enjoy it. And we have this 
useful feature that analyzes your choice and recommends pages to you. It helps people 
to get excellent new ideas. Once you have collected the content, you can choose a title, 
add a name as the editor and pick a cover photo from one of the pictures in the articles, 
which are of course also featured in the book. Finally, you can preview the first 30 pages 
to get an impression. If you like it, you can order the book. We produce books in several 
countries, including the US. We have them ready for shipment within two business 
days. You even have the choice between different mail options.

What do the books look like?

Wikipedia in print is more than the online version. The books come as paperbacks. They 
have a cover in color, a table of contents, the usual endnotes and an index. You would 
expect the layout of a computer printout, but it looks nice, pictures on top, you won‘t 
find any awkward endings that slipped onto the next page. You get the most up-to-date 
knowledge on the planet in a perfect bound version you‘ll enjoy to read and store on 
your bookshelf.

Which are the favorite topics of your customers?

That was one of the most interesting things for us, too. We‘re just a small internet 
start-up and are still enthusiastic about the imagination of our customers. It‘s fantastic!
Many books seem to be presents. They have a very personal selection of articles, 
concerning hobbies, favorite tv series, universities or cities. The big part of the books 
contains a selection, you would never be able to buy in a bookstore and much of it 
is very special interest. We like this, because we think our service is a great tool for 
people, who couldn‘t get the books they wanted. Current books on very small towns 
for example, or regional historic events. Now they just put them together and they 
share them! Many people order more than one copy to give them to a friend with 
the same interest, or to colleagues. And some of the stuff is so off the map, we are 
surprised that it even is on Wikipedia: Villages, that only exist on Google Earth, the art 
of pen spinning or "things exploding", including some grown up whales.

What do you expect from the American market?

The English speaking community of Wikipedia is the largest, with more than 3 million 
articles. The users have a wealth of trusted information to choose from, which was 

believed to be impossible just a few years ago. I think Americans will jump at the 
opportunity our service offers and create the books they always wanted.

Any plans for the future of “wikis in print”?

We will soon be able to offer hardcovers with images in color, which are especially 
suitable for being used and re-used as reference books. A personal project of ours is 
to bring affordable quality textbooks to the developing world. We are working on that.