Digital Technologies for Books Reshaping All Production

A CONTROVERSY is brewing about the future of book and manual production. Some people say they are going away; I believe book production is evolving from a labor intensive, manual process to an automated, template-based digital process.

The argument that book and manual production are dead cites evidence of dwindling book readership, numbers of book publishers, comparisons of the costs of long offset runs verses shorter digital runs and the book distribution model. On the other side of the coin is the argument that print production is morphing with digital printing and online technologies; those who take advantage of this evolution will be able to use it for any printing application capable of digital transference.

What makes books and manuals good applications for these technologies? The answer is simple: books and manuals have very standard size formats and binding requirements which makes them easier to automate. The form factor of a book is well established in terms of the size, weight, page count, chapters and quality of the printed page.

Books and manuals are an important application for in-plants because they print a lot of this type of material. According to recent In-Plant Graphics surveys, in-plants report high levels of production for reports (78 percent), manuals (77 percent), directories (63 percent) and annual reports (60 percent).

An Interquest study entitled “The Digital Book and Manual Printing Opportunity” (2005) grouped both books and manuals together. This makes sense because many of the size formats and equipment required for books are the same as those for manuals.

The study concludes that the compound annual page growth from manuals will increase 7 percent and the page growth from books will increase 26 percent from 2004 to 2009. Though less than 5 percent of books and manuals are printed in color today this will grow to 15 percent, the study says, because of lower total costs associated with digital color printing.

Unlike books, which tend to be produced by conventional book printers and specialized digital printers, manuals are produced by a variety of providers, including book printers, commercial printers, quick printers and in-plants. Some in-plants create more books and manuals than others. According to a 2005 IPG survey, 85 percent of U.S. insurance in-plants produce manuals. And universities and colleges create a large number of manuals known as course packs. Overall, according to a 2006 IPG survey, 77 percent of all in-plants print manuals.

The reprographics department at University of California-Davis is producing educational materials, syllabi, readers and course binders. Course packs represent up to 60 percent of the print volume the in-plant produces on its four Kodak Digimaster 9110 black-and-white systems and Heidelberg conventional presses. However the technology to print color is switching from offset presses to digital presses.

While high volumes of course packs are not unusual, combining color covers with monochrome “book blocks” to make more attractive course packs is unusual. Simon Fraser University Document Solutions, in Vancouver, British Columbia, does this, using a Xerox iGen3 to create covers. Business professor Peter Tingling says the old packs were of low quality and didn’t look professional. Holding up a current example he says, “This looks like something students will want to pay for, use and reference.”

According to the 2005 Sigma Information report entitled “College Publishing Market Forecast” the growth in course packs has been around 12 percent.

New Technologies Create New Opportunities

A variety of new digital services are available with Web-based products. They include online estimates, ordering, job submission, preflight, proofing, job tracking and template-based design. Template-based design has been increasing in popularity because staff don’t need to recreate designs. It has been used successfully with Microsoft Office Suite applications such as Word and Powerpoint and is often used for with Web page creation.

In the simplest example of print production, template-based design can be used to create business cards. The staff of a large organization can log onto a Web page and input their data into the template or shell of the business card. The unchanging shell or template would include the design, the address and the company logo. Once input is complete the system can create a PDF which is sent to the client for approval.

Examples of more complicated templates would include promotional post cards, newsletters, and books and manuals. Many of the self publishing book sites already use templates that allow customers to “flow” text into different size formats.

Template-based production is a digital and online technology that is used for very specific niches today. For example, let’s say you’re Pizza Hut and you want all of your franchises to create similar pieces with different specials, but maintain brand integrity by creating documents with the right look and feel. Then you can allow them to design their ads online from templates and have them printed unattended at night.

Today there are self publishing companies that use template-based strategies to allow anyone to create books. This same technology can be used by any in-plant.

Anyone with a computer can use a template-based publishing strategy with a company such as Lulu.com, which allows the prospective author to choose a layout from a bunch of available templates on the site. They “flow” the text into the layout and print it. The book is available for purchase via Lulu.com or, as the case may be, through Amazon.com. Lulu software automatically takes care of fulfillment (the printing and mailing), so the book is never touched by a human hand.

Lulu uses Lightning Source to print many of its books and get them into Amazon and Ingram. Lightning Source provides the backbone for many self-publishers in the Print On Demand (POD) industry, though BookSurge may become more of an option now that Amazon owns it.

Companies such as Lightning Source, Xlibris, iUniverse and dozens of others use new computer equipment to print and bind single book copies that can be finished in minutes. Setup fees typically range from $80 to $120. Many self publishers pay a 15 percent royalty on any books sold. But Lightning does not pay royalties, but pays its publishers compensation from books sold (wholesale price of the book less print cost). Each book costs $4 to $7 to produce, but can be printed in runs of one or a dozen, compared to $3 to $5 for books produced by a traditional printer, in runs of hundreds.

Tip of the Iceberg

We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg of applications and use of template-based design. Today pioneers use this technology for a variety of printed projects and help their clients reduce costs and eliminate turnaround times.

The Washington State Department of Printing won a 2005 PODi (Print on Demand Initiative) Award for its use of template-based production. The in-plant worked with PageFlex to develop a Web-to-print application that allowed its 1,023 users from 367 state agencies to access design templates, customize them and produce business cards, stationery and brochures.

By using Web-based interactive editing technology the Washington State Department of Printing saved more than $10,000 in just the first four months without reducing the actual printed product. The savings were associated with less proofing, shipping of proofs and preflighting. And the Web-to-print application reduced turnaround times—by 67 percent for business cards over traditional ordering processes.

According to Amy Bamberger, account manager at Printable Technologies, “Printable’s core technology allows for the building of custom books too. In one case a technology company sends their training teams all over the world to train customers. The trainers go online and select the specific chapters they need, put them in the desired order, they can personalize the covers, add cover graphics and request a PDF proof. The book is then assembled, the pages numbered, a table of contents created and the book is printed, bound and sent to the location. This streamlines the creation and ordering process.”

Eventually, this type of book building capability will make its way into university settings. Professors will be able to select chapters from different text books, upload worksheets, articles or syllabi and design their own course pack and text book, pulling in information from many different sources—in essence personalizing their class content.

Other companies such as EFI and XMPie (now part of Xerox) offer variable and/or templated workflows for books as well as stationery, marketing literature and advertisements.

Fact or Fiction

There is anecdotal and quantitative evidence that books are not dead. Informally we know that readers form a relationship with their printed books. They look forward to the end of the day when they can lay in bed or sit in a comfortable chair and read a good novel. People often like to take a book with them while traveling or if they have some down time while waiting for an appointment.

According to Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology “The future of books is on-demand printing. There will be more titles than ever before as individuals and families self publish short runs of books to preserve memories or express themselves for many reasons.”

In the study entitled “The Future of Paper” (April 2003), InfoTrends concluded that 87 percent read books and about nine out of 10 said they read paper-based books. Three percent said they preferred electronic and 9 percent said they preferred a mix of both. Interestingly age and household income did not play a role in these preferences.

Of the 1,100 responses, the vast majority or about 80 percent do not expect the way they read books will change over the next five years. In fact, books were the only type of document where a higher percentage of consumers expect less electronic.

Not Dead Yet

Predictions that books are dead are not new. Take this one, for example: “Our grandchildren will no longer trust their works to this somewhat antiquated process (i.e. printing), now become very easy to replace by...”

That was written in 1894 in response to a new technology. The author, Octave Uzanne, completed his prediction with the word “phonography.” For him, the reproduction of sound heralded the end of print mediation between author and audience. Hence the saying the more things change the more they stay the same.IPG

Howie Fenton, senior digital technologies consultant for NAPL (www.napl.org), provides an array of technology and workflow-related services, including new equipment audits, workflow maximization, productivity enhancements, and quality control initiatives. For more information, call (800) 642-6275, ext. 6328, or e-mail

hfenton@napl.org