If the honour of being the UK’s first digital book printer belongs to Anthony Rowe, Lightning Source is not far behind. The Milton Keynes business is the British offshoot of US company Ingram Content Group and has provided print on demand services for the likes of Amazon from the early days of the internet’s leading retailer. The UK subsidiary opened in 2001, announcing its deal with Amazon UK a year later.
For almost all that time, the company has been mono only, with colour covers, initially with IBM continuous feed machines, and more recently with Océ inkjet presses. More recently still that arrangement, now with Canon, has expanded to include colour printing. A second ColorStream 3700 is now on order for the UK operation.
Despite the strides taken in inkjet colour quality, Lightning Source is not about to start printing the oeuvre of Jamie Oliver on demand.
“Colour is really important and it will continue to improve,” says group marketing manager Andrew Bromley. “We’re not yet at the level of high gloss books, mainly because that sector of the market is still in the old world of offset. These are still celebrity led books which sell in high volumes. “Inkjet is being used very much on STM and professional titles where colour is used for illustrations, graphics and charts. And this sort of colour is being used very much by micro publishers who do not have that inbuilt structure and process for how a book should be produced.”
The micro businesses, and indeed self published titles, have been a growth phenomenon of the digital age, where thanks to online sales channels authors can publish their own work, whether or not it deserves to see the light. Many opt for fully digital publication on to Kindles or other e-readers. Partly as a consequence of this, book volumes are in slow decline across most segments says Bromley, the exception being children’s books.
This is pushing more business in the direction of the digital only printer, not just because shorter production runs become viable for inkjet and electrophotographic printing, but also because print in this way reduces other supply chain costs, notably warehousing. “When we get new customers on board, decisions move faster when the managing director is looking to reduce the amount of cash that is tied up in stock and wants to manage inventory better. This is where we find people amenable to our business model rather than those where production departments have worked in the same way for 30 years.”
It is easier for a start up to take the digital choice than a business that has been around for 100 years. Despite this, one of the biggest customers has been around even longer than that. Cambridge University Press can trace its roots back to the early days of printing and while it no longer has a Printing House, print remains crucial to its publishing ethos.
Using digital printing has enabled it to keep its back list alive, and for CUP this includes monographs that were first published in the 18th century. “By scanning and printing digitally we can bring those back to life,” he explains. None will ever be best sellers again, but for the right customer the £60 cost for a hard cover book is worth it.
In the US, says Bromley, there is a growing business in creating compendiums of material on a single subject compiled from articles spread across magazines over several years. These are known as book-azines and, along with graphic novels, are deemed ideal for the inkjet presses. “We see that becoming popular over the next two or three years,” Bromley predicts.
In the meantime inkjet colour will improve. The company also uses Indigos for covers and where high quality colour illustrations are needed, but the price of this is out of kilter for most publishers. “They love the Indigo quality but not the cost. Inkjet is a compromise between the optimal quality for print on demand and pricing that makes the business viable,” he adds.
Lightning Source has stumbled on a market where the inkjet quality is proving acceptable as a result of work it has done in making files suitable for journal printing. With a standard book cover there is no printing on the reverse, but a journal needs a Page 2. As does a catalogue. It means that the same supply logistics can apply to the marketing material as to the books themselves. Publishers have had to invest in web offset printed catalogues, sometimes featuring artwork for books which changes before publication or giving launch dates for titles which then run late. This is inevitable for a product creating several months ahead at best.
But with digital all the short run calculations apply: order frequently, update the content; build customised catalogues for one part of the list rather than the full list. “Some are even giving the catalogues an ISBN number so that it can be order through Amazon. “We have found that the sales teams at the publishers are very interested in the printed catalogues. The publishers have cut out the litho printed catalogues, but not everyone wants to order online and in some markets online is not part of the culture.”
For Lightning Source the second press will add a further degree of flexibility. One of the restrictions with digital printing is the limited selection of papers, partly the fault of the paper mills, partly due to the hassle of switching reels. It is far easier to keep production to one type of paper. A second press will increase the options, allowing interruptions to production to switch reels.
Digital may never match the full versatility of litho, but it is edging closer.
Lightning Source has provided print on demand services for the likes of Amazon from the early days of the internet’s leading retailer. For almost all that time, Lightning Source has printing in mono only, with colour covers, initially with IBM continuous feed machines, and more recently with with Océ inkjet presses. That arrangement is now with Canon and has expanded to include colour printing. A second ColorStream 3700 is now on order for the UK operation. Although colour inkjet has improved enormously, Lightning Source is not about to start providing products such as full colour cook books on demand. “Colour is really important and it will continue to improve,” says group marketing manager Andrew Bromley. “We’re not at the level of high gloss books, mainly because the sector of that market is still in the old world of offset. These are still celebrity led books which sell in high volumes.”
