Entries tagged with “print on demand” from Tools of Change for Publishing
At TOC: A Different Way of Doing Booth Books
Andrew Savikas
February 9, 2009
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At most of our conferences, we sell books from our booth, and last year's TOC Conference was no exception. This year we're trying something a bit different -- including a way to browse those books virtually:
- Test drive the Espresso Book Machine. Near the O'Reilly booth we've arranged a very special debut of the 2nd-generation EBM, and pre-loaded it with about 10 O'Reilly titles (including keynoter Jeff Jarvis' new book, What Would Google Do?, and a special "Best of TOC" compilation of some of the best writing from the past year about the future of publishing from our blog and around the Web.) You can buy any of the available titles, and have it printed on the spot. We did our best to pick titles that were well-suited to the Espresso.
- Try all the books on Safari. You'll hear a lot about digital books and reading at TOC, and while standalone ebooks and devices are a hot topic, Safari Books Online has been delivering subscription-based access to digital books for nearly a decade. We've set up something special for TOC attendees, and started off your virtual "bookshelf" with 10 of the titles on display at the O'Reilly booth. It's a chance to experience a successful digital delivery model (now on your mobile phone too) while exploring thousands of books, videos, and articles.
The EBM is brand new, so thanks in advance for your patience when checking it out -- it'll be on display next to the O'Reilly booth in the exhibitor room next to the main ballroom. The exhibit space is open from 10 am - 4 pm on Tuesday (plus the exhibitor reception from 6-7:30 pm), and then 10am - 5pm on Wednesday.
Slides from "Making the Case for POD" Webcast
Mac Slocum
December 5, 2008
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Brian O'Leary had made his slides available from this week's TOC Webcast, "Making the Case for POD." A complete recording of the event will also be posted here soon.
[TOC Webcast] Tomorrow: Making the Case for Print on Demand
Mac Slocum
December 2, 2008
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Tools of Change for Publishing will host a free webcast tomorrow at 1 p.m. eastern (10 a.m. pacific). Presenter Brian O'Leary will discuss "Making the Case for Print on Demand."
Webcast Overview
Publishers who dismiss the use of print-on-demand (POD) technologies as too expensive may be missing an opportunity to better manage their inventory, total costs and the unit costs of books sold. This session will provide an economic rationale for more extensive use of POD services, based upon analysis and real-world use cases.
Slots are limited, so register for free today.
[TOC Webcast] Making the Case for Print on Demand
Mac Slocum
November 19, 2008
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Tools of Change for Publishing will host "Making the Case for Print on Demand," a free webcast with presenter Brian O'Leary, on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. eastern (10 a.m. pacific).
Webcast Overview
Publishers who dismiss the use of print-on-demand (POD) technologies as too expensive may be missing an opportunity to better manage their inventory, total costs and the unit costs of books sold. This session will provide an economic rationale for more extensive use of POD services, based upon analysis and real-world use cases.
Slots are limited, so register for free today.
Open Question: How Can Publishers Capitalize on Hot Topics?
Mac Slocum
October 15, 2008
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You can't fault Newsweek and Amazon for cashing in on pre-election interest with a series of Kindle-only candidate biographies. There's certainly nothing wrong with profitable aggregation of content, either. But the efficiencies gained from ebooks, e-readers and print on demand raise secondary questions I'd like to explore with the TOC Community:
- Can long-form content (print or digital) effectively capitalize on trendy subjects?
- Is there still a market for quickie books? Can they compete with Web content?
- Should publishers use Web/digital as a testbed for hot topics, then provide long-form content down the road? Or, will this technique spread them too thin?
Please share your thoughts in the comments area.
Amazon Launches UK POD Service; Partner Unknown
Mac Slocum
October 7, 2008
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TheBookseller says Amazon is launching a print-on-demand service in the United Kingdom:
Amazon.com owns POD publisher BookSurge in the US, but the UK business has not divulged who will be handling the printing of POD titles in the UK.
In April, a spokesperson for Amazon.co.uk said the company -- at that time -- had no plans to bring BookSurge to the UK.
Taking the Leap into All-POD
Mac Slocum
September 30, 2008
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James Bridle has launched Bookkake, a print-on-demand (POD) publisher focusing on transgressive literature. From booktwo.org:
... Bookkake is not in the fortune-building or the fortune-breaking business. Print-on-demand and direct sales mean that we cut out much of the warehousing, distribution, and discounting costs that are currently causing so much trouble in the trade. Order a book from the Bookkake website and it is printed and shipped directly to you.
POD editions can be ordered in the UK and US with free shipping. In addition, all Bookkake titles are available as free ebooks in DRM-free PDF, EPUB and MIDP formats:
... I firmly believe that by supplying interesting readers with the best version of what they can get elsewhere for free, I'll be rewarded with customer appreciation and loyalty.
POD Opens Door to Magazine Experiments and Customization
Mac Slocum
July 28, 2008
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MagCloud is a new print-on-demand (POD) service targeting the magazine industry. In the following Q&A, MagCloud consultant Derek Powazek -- co-founder of JPG Magazine and founder of Fray -- discusses the utility of POD and the evolving relationship between print and Web content.
How did you get involved with MagCloud?
I came into the project over a year ago -- it had been percolating in HP Labs for a long time before that, led by Andy Fitzhugh, Udi Chatow, and Andrew Bolwell. Andy is the one who brought me in. We had this meet and greet lunch to talk about the future of publishing and it turned out we had the same vision. He kept saying, "Right, now push that further."
When did you first encounter POD?
Years ago, when Heather [Champ] and I were exploring ways to make a photography magazine, Lulu was really the only game in town. We learned so much creating JPG there, and starting with a POD service allowed us to experiment, develop the voice and vision of the magazine, and build an audience. I think it's a very natural way to start a magazine.
How did you gravitate toward a POD model for magazines?
It's all about the Giant Pile. I've worked on a lot of newspaper and magazine projects, and they all had one thing in common: A huge print run, followed by the slow, terrible realization that you've gotta get rid of all that paper.
POD banishes the Giant Pile to the dustbin of history where it belongs. Because, with a POD system, you don't print it until somebody wants it. It avoids the pile. It avoids creating trash (70 percent of all magazines are never bought). It brings some of the elegance of the Internet to this very old industry.
But mostly it was just a financial decision. Heather and I weren't out to become publishing magnates. We just had an idea that we thought people would like. We wouldn't have been able to do it at all if not for POD.
What types of magazine publishers (large, small, individuals, etc.) are best suited for MagCloud?
I think that magazines are about nurturing a community. If you look at the most successful magazines (Rolling Stone in the '60s, Wired in the '90s, Make now), they've always been the ones that surfed the zeitgeist. They found a growing community of people and reflected it, and in that reflection, began to lead it for a time.
But if you tell people in the publishing industry that they're really in the community business, they'll say "shut up, hippy" and go back to monetizing their audience metrics.
So the trick is to find those niche audiences that need a voice. And there are a lot of them. And the truth is, they know who they are better than we do. So, with MagCloud, the idea is to open up the tools so that those communities can create their own magazines. We think they're going to make amazing things.
Do you see larger magazine publishers eventually moving to POD, or will this be a niche option?
Not only do I think that large magazine publishers will move to digital printing, but I think that the idea that we used to print millions of things that were exactly the same will someday be seen as a cute historical artifact. "You mean every copy of this magazine was the same for everyone, Grandpa? Weird!"
For the biggies, it's just a matter of economics. As soon as the price per page for printing on digital is cheaper than traditional offset printing, the biggies will move. The quality of POD is already the same or better than offset.
It'll start with smaller publications because they're the most agile, and they don't see the real price savings of scale anyway. Right now, if you're printing a few thousand copies, digital printing is the same cost as traditional offset. (I've been wrestling with this for Fray.com -- we're right at the cusp. Our first issue was printed via traditional offset, but issue two will be printed with MagCloud.)
And once magazines move to POD, they'll realize it opens up opportunities they never had before. When you can really tailor each issue for each subscriber, what will you do? Exciting, huh?
Book publishers often focus on the short-term elements of POD, most notably POD's higher cost per page. Some industry folks try to cite the long-range benefits, such as efficiency, higher retail prices via customization, etc., but the per-page discrepancy continues to be a sticking point. Have you encountered similar obstacles on the magazine side?
Magazines are a better fit for POD because, unlike books, they're usually all color and timeliness is much more of a factor. Plus, the price per page for digital print is falling fast, while the price per page of traditional offset has remained very steady. Still, the exciting part is all the opportunities digital printing enables. Ultimately, POD services like MagCloud will enable a degree of customization that is not only cheaper, but just plain impossible to do via traditional means.
Beyond strict numbers, what do you see as the upside to print editions? Does a print product carry a higher level of esteem for a writer or consumer?
I love the Web. I think it's still a publisher's dream come true. But, inconveniently, we humans are still real world creatures. And no matter how much connectivity blankets the planet, and how good our devices get, there will still be a role for print.
I don't say this because I'm some ancient technology fetishist. I don't own a tube amp. I sold all my CDs. It's just that print is a really good delivery mechanism for some kinds of experiences. Reading a physical magazine is a different experience than surfing hypertext online.
And, yes, I think the scarcity of print does give it a higher level of importance for its creators and consumers. On the Web, where every page is just a click away from any other, there's no relative importance communicated. But in a magazine, you know that a team of writers and editors picked this story to go here. That has a profound effect on how that media is consumed.
Budding Authors Use Espresso Book Machine to Publish
Mac Slocum
July 17, 2008
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The future of print on demand might lie in personal expression. Customers at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT are using the Espresso Book Machine to produce their own titles. From Vermont Public Radio:
Since it was installed, some of the store's customers have been using the machine to produce hard-to-find books from a huge online database of titles in the public domain. But the store has discovered that the machine is most popular with would-be authors who want to turn what they've written into a book.
The full audio feature goes into more detail.
Magazine POD Service Looks to Help Publishers Experiment
Peter Brantley
July 3, 2008
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Folio interviews the founders of MagCloud, a print-on-demand (POD) service that provides the ability to aggregate magazine content from multiple publishers:
Large publishers are as challenged as anyone to reach niche segments efficiently, and likewise have no way to do the kind of hyper-targeted publishing that digital print can provide. We hope MagCloud can help in these ways, not just to enable niche publishing to flourish, but to enable traditional publishers to experiment with and find these new opportunities.
UK Book Chain Installing Espresso POD Machines
Mac Slocum
June 23, 2008
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UK book retailer Blackwell will test the Espresso Book Machine at one of its locations this fall with an eye toward installing the print-on-demand device at additional stores. From a Blackwell press release:
Blackwell CEO Vince Gunn -- "From a retailer's point of view, even allowing for the first-generation technology and publisher challenges, this is a fantastic opportunity -- sell to demand with no risk to inventory and an opportunity to create incremental revenue streams for ourselves and publishers."
Publishers Pushing to Meet Russert Book Demand
Mac Slocum
June 19, 2008
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Random House and Hyperion Books are rushing to meet demand for Tim Russert's two books, Wisdom of Our Fathers and Big Russ & Me. From Newsday:
Carol Schneider, executive director of publicity at Random House, reports that the company is immediately printing 100,000 paperbacks of "Wisdom" that began shipping yesterday [6/16/08].
Likewise, Hyperion Books has gone back to press for another 100,000 copies of "Big Russ," according to Beth Gebhard, executive director of publicity.
Amazon's listing for Wisdom says Kindle and paperback editions are currently in stock; Big Russ will be available through the online retailer on July 2.
Ebook companies and print-on-demand firms have in recent months used examples of limited print availability to showcase the strengths of their formats, but similar announcements haven't emerged in this case.
Print on Demand for Magazines
Mac Slocum
June 18, 2008
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Derek Powazek has taken the wraps off of MagCloud, a pilot print-on-demand service for magazines:
Did you know the average sell-through rate for a magazine is about 30%? The sell-through rate is the rate which a given issue of a magazine will sell from a store. That means 70% of all printed magazines are just stopping by the newsstand on their way to the garbage dump or recycling center. All that time, work, and energy, just to make trash.
There must be a better way. And I think MagCloud is a step in that direction.
Open Question: What is the Best Use for Print on Demand?
Mac Slocum
June 11, 2008
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PublicAffairs Books recently used POD services from Lightning Source to manage demand for Scott McClellan's What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception.
From a Lightning Source press release (pdf):
PublicAffairs' experience with this title demonstrates how POD can be used to supplement offset printings in specific cases in which demand exceeds supply for a short term. In this instance, the POD copies of the book will supplement large scale conventional offset reprints, which are underway.
PublicAffairs used POD as an insurance policy, and panelists in a Digital Custom Publishing session at BEA also noted POD's use in short runs, niche titles and its importance as a Long Tail tool.
But do insurance policies, niche books and Long Tail plays represent the extent of POD's opportunities? What options do you see for POD? How have you used it in your own organization? How will POD evolve? Please share your thoughts in the comments area.
Targeting Small Companies with Small Products
Mac Slocum
June 5, 2008
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Bill Taylor's short profile of 37 Signals looks at the upside of building small products for small companies:
Most technology companies are obsessed with the "enterprise" market -- Fortune 500 giants with complicated problems and big budgets. 37Signals builds software for entrepreneurs and small companies where the executives who buy the product also use the product -- a market that they call the Fortune 5,000,000: "We solve the simple problems and leave the hairy, difficult, nasty problems to everyone else," the company likes to say.
Software and publishing aren't completely analogous, but with ebooks, digital delivery and print-on-demand, there's certainly an opportunity for book publishers to serve smaller markets with smaller publications.
Blogger Begins Amazon Boycott
Andrew Savikas
May 21, 2008
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Over on O'Reilly Radar, blogger and author Allison Randal announces that in light of recent events, she's decided to abandon Amazon:
In light of Amazon's attempts to lock print-on-demand publishers into their own printing services, I've made a personal decision not to buy from Amazon any more. Since the site first launched over a decade ago, I've spent thousands and thousands of dollars on Amazon feeding my addiction to tech books and fiction, on music, DVDs, electronics, and gifts for friends and family. I realize my spending is a tiny drop in the bucket of Amazon's total revenue, but it's a decision I feel good about, the same way I feel good about using low-energy lightbulbs, reusing plastic bags, and buying a car with environmentally friendly fuel economy and emissions ratings. One of the fundamental principles of capitalism is that when one source of goods and services isn't meeting your needs, you switch to another. The power to decide which businesses succeed and which fail lies in the collective hands of millions of individual consumers.
If anyone else decides to join her, let us know.
POD Publisher Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Amazon
Andrew Savikas
May 19, 2008
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On his blog Morris Rosenthal reports on a class-action lawsuit filed today against Amazon by POD publisher BookLocker.com:
Today a class action lawsuit was filed in response to Amazon’s threat to remove the "Buy" buttons of publishers who refuse to sign up with their on-demand printing subsidiary, Booksurge. If certified, the class action will most likely include all publishers who use on demand printing to print their books for distribution. If it functions like the class action lawsuits involving credit card or telephone billing that we all find ourselves party to on a regular basis, publishers will automatically be included unless they opt out. The primary plaintiff in the suit is BookLocker.com, Inc., the company that first broke the silence about the heavy-handed tactics Booksurge was using against Lightning Source's larger publisher customers.
The full complaint is available as a PDF, but I've taken the liberty of posting it here via SlideShare as well (click here if you don't see the embedded doc below):
Essentially, the complaint alleges Amazon is in violation of the Sherman Act by engaging in "tying":
An arrangement whereby the seller of some product or service requires, as a condition to the sale of that product (the tying product), that the buyer purchase some additional product (the tied product). The tying arrangement is unlawful when the seller has some power over the market for the tying product. Tying arrangements are generally per se illegal, assuming that the selling firm has the market power to force the arrangement upon its customers.
The meat of the complaint is in paragraphs 38 and 39:
Amazon forces POD publishers to use BookSurge for printing services when they might otherwise prefer to purchase such printing services elsewhere.
Amazon’s practice of tying printing services to sales in the Online Book Market unreasonably restrains trade and is unlawful per se under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.
In light of recent moves by Amazon (including reports of bullying in the UK), litigation was an inevitability. And this isn't the only pending lawsuit Amazon's involved in (it's not even the only anti-trust lawsuit Amazon is involved in -- Gerlinger v. Amazon.com is still under appeal). Amazon lists seven items in the "Legal Proceedings" section of its 2007 annual report, among them patent infringement and breach of contract, fairly standard for a public company of their size (and they're on the plaintiff side of the aisle against New York State on sales taxes). It will be interesting to see whether other POD publishers join the fray.
News Roundup: Web Focus Yields Revenue for Tech Publisher, Out-of-Print Books Return Via POD, UK's First E-Reader, TorrentSpy Hit with $110+ Million Judgment
Mac Slocum
May 9, 2008
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Tech Publisher Finds Path to Web Revenue
Tech/trade publisher International Data Group (I.D.G.) rolled one of its largest magazines, InfoWorld, into a Web-only publication in April 2007. A profile of the company in the New York Times reveals encouraging first-year results from InfoWorld's digital transition:
There were nervous months after the switch as the company awaited the reaction from advertisers and readers, but before long InfoWorld’s Web audience was growing and its business improved. Today, I.D.G. says, the InfoWorld Web site is generating ad revenue of $1.6 million a month with operating profit margins of 37 percent. A year earlier, when it had both print and online versions, InfoWorld had a slight operating loss on monthly revenue of $1.5 million.
Lessons for Publishers in IDG's Digital Success
PersonaNonData talks about the recent story in the New York Times on IDG's transition to digital publishing:
Since their [IDG's] market is technology they have some advantage over other types of magazines; however, their navigation of this transition is instructive and predictive of the manner in which publishers will ultimately become successful.
... In IDG's case they have remained faithful to the mission of providing content their core market wants, aggressively managing the performance of their titles and shutting down those that don't perform and they have combined staff into cohesive and focused groups. Companies that make this transition early and successfully will establish difficult to surmount positions relative to their competitors ...
Faber Brings Out-of-Print Titles Back Through POD
Faber & Faber is launching Faber Finds, a print-on-demand (POD) imprint specializing in out-of-print titles. From The Guardian:
The new titles, which will retail at about £9, and be printed with automatically generated cover designs, will not be stocked in large quantities by booksellers, but will be available to order through most major booksellers and the majority of internet-based book retailers ... The publisher aims to publish up to 20 new titles every month, after the launch list of 100 books to be made available this June. Faber is the first mainstream non-academic publisher to invest heavily in the POD model, and actively to source material previously published elsewhere for a POD imprint.
Iliad Book Edition E-Reader Coming to UK
Just in time for our discussion on the ideal e-book reader comes a new product that will be the first e-reader sold in the United Kingdom.
Trading Wi-Fi for increased storage and an overall price drop, the iLiad Book Edition is a successor to the iLiad 2. Both use the same iRex e-ink technology and feature a tablet-based touch screen. There is no bundled online service or book store, but both iLiads have support for open formats such as PDF. 50 public domain books are preloaded. (Continue reading)
TorrentSpy Hit with $110+ Million Copyright Judgment
Defunct BitTorrent index TorrentSpy has been ordered to pay more than $110 million in damages for copyright infringement. From News.com:
The judge ordered TorrentSpy to pay $30,000 per copyright infringement -- for 3,699 films and shows. That works out to be worth $110,970,000.
TorrentSpy shut down its site in March. Ira Rothken, TorrentSpy's attorney in the copyright suit, tells News.com the company declared bankruptcy last week, a fact he says will be lost amidst the judgment's large dollar figure. (Continue reading)
Amazon POD: Friend or Foe to Indie Publishers?
Peter Brantley
May 5, 2008
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An interesting editorial by Lloyd Jassin from the NY Center for Independent Publishing relating to the Amazon print-on-demand (POD) move:
Physical distribution of books is largely the preserve of large conglomerate publishers and a handful of large independent distributors. It’s not a pretty business. It employs the equivalent of Yankee peddlers who hand-sell books to brick and mortar stores, with full return privileges for oversold books. If we extrapolate, the BookSurge gambit may be seen as a relatively painless first step in managing the digital distribution of titles to e-tailers and licensees. Amazon has the amazing ability to manage and organize content. It also offers a painless online experience for the consumer.
Instead of Amazon merely being the recipient of digital assets, it’s easy to imagine Amazon providing comprehensive consultancy services to our members, helping them prepare their content for digital distribution for and beyond the traditional Amazon platform. Is the Book Surge gambit a disguised opportunity for indie publishers? Perhaps. Indie publishes are the small furry mammals scurrying around the legs of large dinosaur publishers. The digital meteor has hit. To survive, indie publishers need to be able to present content in a variety of digital formats. Is Amazon a friend or a foe? Only time will tell.
Faber Brings Out-of-Print Titles Back Through POD
Peter Brantley
May 5, 2008
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Faber & Faber is launching Faber Finds, a print-on-demand (POD) imprint specializing in out-of-print titles. From The Guardian:
The new titles, which will retail at about £9, and be printed with automatically generated cover designs, will not be stocked in large quantities by booksellers, but will be available to order through most major booksellers and the majority of internet-based book retailers ... The publisher aims to publish up to 20 new titles every month, after the launch list of 100 books to be made available this June. Faber is the first mainstream non-academic publisher to invest heavily in the POD model, and actively to source material previously published elsewhere for a POD imprint.
The Guardian also asked a number of writers which out-of-print books they'd like to see return.
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