Publishers Turn to Digital Printing

"There has not been a bestseller that has sold more than 40 million copies since 2007," noted Boer, "and that was Harry Potter." With less volume per title, continued Boer, publishers are suffering substantial losses from returns and warehousing costs.

Boer, as well as several of the other speakers at DigiBook, lamented that the book industry employs printing and inventory strategies from a bygone blockbuster era of book publishing. Yet market forces have compelled many to reassess the entire life-cycle costs of a title. Though it's certainly no panacea, digital printing presents some solutions for altering how publishers procure and distribute physical books. Technology advancements have enabled more efficient, cost-effective digital printing and higher-quality products than what publishers may have experienced from digital in the past.