Transforming Publishing
The evolution of book production shapes the future of publishing
"One thing that drives booksellers nuts
is to have someone standing in a book shop requesting a specific book,
and you cant get it because it is out of print, out of stock, in the
reprinting process or needs to be shipped from another country and will
take weeks. That amounts to a lost sale and a disappointed customer,"
said David Taylor, President of Lightning Source in a recent interview
on WhatTheyThink.com.
Print-on-demand book manufacturing keeps
titles alive and ensures they can be ordered and delivered quickly.
Moreover, it holds out the promise that every book that has ever been
published can be purchased. This is an amazingly exciting prospect for
anyone selling books because the potential is enormous.
"I've
been to more book warehouses than I care to remember," says Taylor. You
often see piles of books with dust on them. The trend is to change the
business model from a speculative one to selling first and then
printing. The only way you can do that is with print-on-demand."
Publishers
have been encumbered by a business model that required them to guess
how many books they needed to print --and they nearly always guessed
wrong. That error tied up capital tied in unsold books, and gave way to
the often tough decision of whether or not or reprint. More often than
not, a title wound up going out of print indefinitely, which had a
further economic impact on the publisher because they couldn't sell
books to which they had rights because demand was insufficient to
justify the cost of reprinting several thousand copies. Even as the
number of titles published actually expanded, this model caused a
downward spiral in publishing revenues.
Print on demand turns
that model on its head and enables books to be printed based on demand.
To get the orders out --about 1.8 copies per order for the average
title-- Lightning Source relies on some 20 Océ VarioStream 9210
continuous feed printers to produce books. Publishers and booksellers
(both bricks-and-mortar and virtual) can now sell a book first and then
print it, reducing risk and keeping customers satisfied --and coming
back for more. As a result, many books are produced that would
otherwise never see the light of day under the old model. This model,
as it becomes increasingly business as usual for the publishers, is
reshaping the future of the industry. At the same time, it makes great
sense from an environmental perspective because it drastically reduces
waste in the book supply chain.
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Océ helps the people who make
our world. Companies everywhere use Océ technical documentation systems
in manufacturing, architecture, engineering and construction. Each
week, high-speed Océ printing systems produce millions of transaction
documents such as bank statements and utility bills. And in offices
around the world, people use Océ professional document systems to keep
the wheels of business and government turning. Océ is also at work in
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go 'Beyond the Ordinary' in printing and document management.
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