The first quarter of the year 2011 saw another leap in the book production process – two new products were launched for book publishing industry. While one is aimed at retail bookstores, including chain stores and independent booksellers; the other is aimed at book printers. But, both deliver library quality books in just a few minutes! Another important happening was a tie-up announced between a major retail stores chain and digital printer manufacturer for producing books on demand at the retail stores. Here’s more on these technology marvels. In this jet-setting age, both print runs and delivery times are shrinking. While offset undoubtedly is the most preferred process for book production, digital printing is also picking up fast. More recently, Xerox has unveiled Espresso Book Machine (EBM) which can produce a book in the same time as you can get an Espresso coffee…and hence the name! On the other hand, Hewlett-Packard (HP) has launched the HP T400 Colour Inkjet Web Press in US; the launch was aptly attended by leading three book printers from India as well. While the former is aimed at retail bookstores, libraries, booksellers, etc, the latter is aimed at book printers with multiple orders for multiple titles.

Besides, InfoPrint Solutions announced its tie-up with Office Depot Reliance Supply Solutions to launch “Self Publishing services” powered by InfoPrint Solutions.

The Xerox Espresso Book Machine…

Classical books will now be available for purchase on demand at libraries; cruise-goers can leave their books at home and print reading materials on the ship. College bookstores can print on demand professors’ works or student theses while academic libraries can provide rare, specialized, scholarly books without taking up storage and archiving space. Self publishers can print their latest manuscripts at the corner bookstore. All this is possible with book on demand solutions, the latest in the segment being the Espresso Book Machine (EBM). Teamed with the Xerox 4112 Copier Printer, the EBM has the potential to produce 40,000 books per year and can print a 300-page book in a few minutes.

While, Epson Color Ink Jet Cover Printer prints book covers printed on 270 gsm water resistant 2-side coated coverstock. This printer is equipped with eight ink jet cartridges: Photo black, Matte black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Red, Orange and Gloss Optimizer.

“It can quickly print, bind and trim bookstore-quality paperbacks with colour covers. This device also gives businesses new ways to drive revenues and serves readers hungry for content on demand,” conveyed Pankaj Kalra, general manager, graphic communications business, Xerox India

Thus, libraries and book shops can increase their inventory by millions of titles, without warehousing these millions of books. It cuts cost by removing the need to ship books – print only what you need, at point of sale. It helps people expand into the self-publishing industry – offering them the opportunity to print professionally-bound copies of their own work. It also helps to take advantage of the ever-growing collection of public domain, out-of-print, and out-of-copyright books, besides providing custom publishing for higher education. According to Jeff Mayersohn, owner, Harvard Book Store, located in Cambridge, Mass, “For independent bookstores the Espresso Book Machine is an extraordinary technology – and now the added value Xerox brings in terms of sales, service and marketing will help us secure new business while satisfying book enthusiasts instantly.”

Developed by On Demand Books, the print-at-retail model includes the EspressNet software system, which connects the machine to a vast repository of content, allowing consumers to print millions of copyrighted, public-domain and self-published books on demand. It can access a network of unlimited number of titles from which customers can choose.

To help drive business, Xerox offers the ProfitAccelerator Espresso Book Machine Essentials kit that provides marketing and sales tips – as well as a ‘how to’ guide familiarizing owners with technical aspects of the solution.

Its compact footprint is ideal for space-conscious environments like retail stores and libraries, while optional SelfEspress tools allow customers to access editing, typesetting, proofreading, and cover design tools, in the store or online. This book on demand solution prints, binds and trims library-quality books at a speed of 110 ppm with perfect bound finish.

Colour inkjet press by HP

HP T400 is the largest, most productive commercial digital color press, bringing the concept of mass customization to printing by combining the personalization features of digital printing with the efficiencies of high-volume book production. With its unmatched width and its 600-foot/minute (183-meter/minute) speed, the HP T400 Colour Inkjet Web Press prints up to 5,200 full-colour, letter-size pages per minute.

It offers high-quality imaging by reproducing sharp text and images, as well as uniform area fills. New HP A50 process-colour inks work with new HP A10 printheads, which use HP Scalable Printing Technology in a compact, 1,200-nozzles-per-inch printhead design while advanced web tension controls and dryer systems provide reliable, fast and consistent productivity.

Users of standard-size (20.5-inch) digital web press finishing equipment can produce two jobs simultaneously on the HP T400, using an optional slitter at the end of the press to convert the roll into side-by-side webs. Scalable job impositioning tools for high-level prepress efficiency from Ultimate Technographics – a member of the HP Graphics Solutions Partner programme – allow operators to impose separate variable-data jobs side by side on the web.

HP is presently installing its first HP inkjet web press in Asia at book exporter CTPS’ plant in Dongguan, China.

InfoPrint POD solutions launched

Office Depot Reliance Supply Solutions, Bengaluru are now offering self-publishing service, which empowers independent and aspiring authors to publish and sell books through select retail stores. “Many book lovers are also writers or aspiring authors who want to share their stories but do not have bandwidth, time and money to let their work see light of the day. It is our endeavor to provide platform to these promising up-coming writers,” told Rohan Vaidya, general manager, South Asia, InfoPrint Solutions. “Self Publishing service powered by InfoPrint Solutions offers the perfect solution — authors can quickly and easily load, format and publish content, which will then be made available for sale within a short period of time in any bookstore and online bookstores. We’re excited to give new writers an opportunity to reach their audience as they foray into self publishing,” he further added.

Besides, “Self Publishing” tools at Office Depot Reliance Supply Solutions Bengaluru, will showcase how books can be chosen from an almost limitless list of digital titles and can be produced on site, the work of self published authors can be distributed instantly, fewer resources will be wasted through returns, for the author low upfront cost yet providing editorial independence, fast print time and the ability to revise content and greater share of royalties kept compared with traditional publishing.

Office Depot Reliance Supply Solutions is a JV between Office Depot (USA) and Reliance Retail. Office Depot, a Global 500 company is one of the world’s largest sellers of office products and services. It is an industry leader in every distribution channel, including 1500 retail stores as well as B2B electronic commerce.

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.