Book on demand: a boon for the book publishing industry

Imagine a situation where no book going out of print, authors can publish themselves just one book to start with, publishers can print books as and when the orders are received…yes this is fast becoming a reality, due to the print on demand with matching book binding technologies. Digital printing has changed the way we print. Even short run is feasible now! This technology is gaining recognition and use in the book publishing industry greatly. Now, no book can be pit of print. A publisher can print the number of copies required by digital printing. Apparently, they would cost more than those printed by offset, but may not be in reality. There has been a specific segment, where per copy cost is secondary issue, but the availability and in real time being the primary requirement. Here, the buyers feel fully comfortable and willing to spend.

So what are the other benefits of book on demand? Some of the obvious advantages include it is possible to publish instantly and there is no need for maintaining large inventories, thereby reducing storage and handling costs. Since inventories are low, the waste from unsold products becomes zero.

Publishers even use digital printing to revive some of old titles. They print them by digital printing and test market them. If the response is good, may go for offset printing for larger print runs, otherwise they can revive the title with just a few digital printed copies and print as and when required.

Besides, it is a boon for research and scholarly books, where the demand is not too high. Here, digital printing is the answer. Also, publishers have the option to print variable content – larger fonts for people who have vision impairment or reading disabilities, personalized books, etc.

Now, becoming an author is also easy! One has a manuscript, but not a publisher – one can digitally print and market it online or other marketing channels. Thus, digital printing opens up avenues for many aspiring authors by facilitating easy production of books.

Many digital printing service providers have already set up dedicated facility for book printing, churning out digitally printed books. It seems that digital printing is now all set to take the book publishing industry by a storm.