From Offset to On-Demand: Diego Radici on the Future of Book Printing
With nearly three decades of experience in the European print industry, Diego Radici has witnessed the seismic shifts that have reshaped how books are made and moved. In this candid conversation with Emma House, he discusses what’s changed, what’s ahead, and why printers must now think smaller, faster, and greener to keep up.
Emma House is an international publishing consultant based in the UK. Her previous roles included Deputy CEO of the Publishers Association UK and Head of International Development at the London Book Fair.
Diego Radici, a veteran in the book printing industry in Italy, shares more about the changes and challenges in the industry, in conversation with Emma House.
Emma: How did you start your career in the printing sector?
Diego: I started almost 30 years ago. My first role was with a company that was part of the Bertelsmann Group producing diaries, agendas and wall calendars.I then moved into book production working for a German company – Franz Spiegel Books Gmbh, that a few months later was bought by CPI Books (UK). I then became Sales Director in Grafica Veneta SpA (Italy) for almost 8 years.
Working with the owner Franceschi who is an exceptional entrepreneur was the best working experience in my career to date.
Now I am finishing my 10 years working with Elcograf SpA in Italy and I will start in the middle of June in the Italian company – Rotomail SpA. My new adventure will be in digital printing as International Publishing Sales Director, focused on developing new markets.
Emma: What are the three biggest changes you have seen in the way publishers are printing books since you started your career?
Diego: The first big change is that publishers are now only publishing books that they think are good for sales. In the late 1990s, it seemed publishers that were publishing books for the content, for the good and progressive ideas, even if they believe it will be difficult to sell them.
The second change is for sure, that all publishers are now more careful with the quantities of the first edition that they order – it’s much smaller print runs until the book has gained traction to avoid large quantities sitting in warehouses. Third big change is the Print On Demand method that is and will grow more and more.
Emma: How do you see things changing over the next 10 years?
Diego: First, I believe that all publishers will reduce the printed quantities of the orders, but they will reprint several times meaning that the number of orders will be 3, 4, even 10 times more than today. Second, I believe that the books will be printed much closer to where they should be sold.
Third big change will be the customization of the books, customers will ask more and more to have their own book with a dedication, with special finishing , with a special cover or, if we talk about children books , with the story customised for a child.
Emma: What are the three biggest challenges faced by printers today?
Diego: The biggest challenge for printers today I believe is the move from the OFFSET to the DIGITAL printing.This change will not be only a technological one but mainly a mental one, printers must move their mindset away from taking orders for a large quantity of a single book to a massive quantity of small orders.
Another big challenge for the printers will be to stop thinking at a big printing house supplying the customers around the world but to own some digital companies in different countries supplying directly the publishers of the nation where the customer is based.
Other challenge will be the possibility to develop better and more efficient relationships between printers and book distribution companies (some of them already planned to have a digital printer inside their own warehouse to be faster in delivering the books to the end users).
Emma: What impact is the drive for sustainability having on your role?
Diego: Sustainability is and will be more and more important for the world and obviously for printers and publishers, we will have many new laws like EUDR (European Union Deforestation Regulation) and others that will influence the publishing industry, including my job!
We printers are trying to find different solutions to produce more sustainable books but it’s not easy because of the not so healthy situation of the book market.
Everybody knows that sustainability is something that should be done but nobody wants to have increases in their costs.
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