LightningSource, SYP Tour, 1 Oct 08

Print on Demand: Keeping Books Alive Suzanne Wilson-Higgins Commercial Director Lightning Source UK Limited

Agenda
Print On-Demand –a definition
What are the advantages of a POD model?
How is POD being used today?
Non-traditional publishing models
Author Services
“ Micro” publishers
Content Aggregators
Traditional publishers
POD: Concluding Remarks

POD: what’s that all about then?
Single copy orders printed and distributed
… when there is a demand rather than for physical inventory
Virtual inventory via digital library of files
Metadata fed out to reselling channels
Publisher direct orders via edi, spreadsheet or web
Book can be delivered …
direct to customer with publisher paperwork in the box
back to publisher/distributor
POD is maturing and becoming part of book supply chain

Supply Chain supplement: The Bookseller 29 Feb 2008

On Demand: Key Advantages
Title remains in print and always available
Titles can be brought back from the OP grave
Reduced risk – print to order, not for inventory
Reduced capital requirements
Eliminate stock write offs
Speed and certainty of supply
Print in market – virtual not physical exporting
Print in any language
Print in larger print for visually impaired

How is POD being used today?
Traditional and Non-traditional publishers
Make a new titles available
Keep conventionally printed titles available & in print
Eliminate reprint decisions
Reduce or eliminate on-hand inventory
Export via Distributed Print/Reselling
Publish in large print or special editions
Create custom publications “web to print”
In 2009… Espresso machines in retail outlets

Non-Traditional Publishing Models
Print On-Demand Book Printing is …
Reducing the barriers to entry for new publishers to start up
Allowing more titles to be published
Keeping more books in print
Making out of copyright works available
Driving the development of completely new publishing models

Non-Traditional: Author Services
Self publishing boom in last decade
Internet authoring, internet bookselling and POD
POD: single copy, ultra short-run (10), short-run (100+)
POD: global distribution via distributors and resellers: Amazon, book wholesalers like Gardners and Ingram
Author pays to have book designed and put into POD: can start as low as £500 or may be free
Author markets own book
Who? Author Solutions Inc, Lulu, Xulon, now
New frontier is POD for social networks: Ancestry.com
Needs POD model to make it work

Non-Traditional: “Micro” Publishers
Publishers with no more than 2 titles
300+ in the UK, 3,000+ in the US
Use POD to do all their printing and distribution
No need to invest in stock: LS is virtual warehouse
POD reduces barriers to entry to market
Order direct via a web account
Orders received by LS via selling channels
Often niche - do their own marketing
Maybe authors who have rights after OP status
Needs POD to make the model work

Non traditional: Content Aggregators
Totally new model, enormous growth
Combination again of POD and internet bookselling
OP or out of copyright material scanned or may take digital files from Gutenberg, University of Michigan …
Generic covers or individual design
Virtual stock: orders driven from internet books and book wholesalers, LS prints and distributes
US: Kessinger in the US, 25,000 plus titles
UK: Read Books, Echo Library, Dodo Press
Germany: Pedia Press – New Books?
Needs POD to make model work

Traditional Book Publishers
Academic & Professional, Technical, Ref publishers
All deep backlist and most backlist
First reprint
New titles 100% on-demand
Improved ROI as distribution costs are reduced
Trade and publishers
Still struggle with low retail price/high unit cost
Set-up/digitisation costs reducing & more EDI
Colour printing attracting attention
Agents & author’s estates

POD: Concluding Remarks
“ New lease of life” to the book as a physical product
Majority of titles coming from non-traditional publishers
Bricks & Mortar bookshops reducing on-hand range – supported by next day of on-demand titles
Fuelling new titles in US, UK and increasingly rest of EU
Plugs into internet SEARCH and internet bookselling reaching niche markets
International & local Distribution from virtual inventory

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LightningSource, SYP Tour, 1 Oct 08

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