NexPress Solutions, Inc., part of Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, is highlighting strong growth in the digital book publishing market, driven by innovative and successful users of the company’s digital printing systems. NexPress is presenting the latest information on its KODAK DIGIMASTER digital production systems for high-volume monochrome printing, along with KODAK NEXPRESS 2100 digital production color presses, at the BookTech Conference and Expo in New York City, March 7-9, 2005.
There are numerous applications being produced in the digital book publishing market, many in short or individual one-off runs. These include trade books of varying types, such as galleys, large-print editions, and foreign language versions; textbooks for all grade levels; professional and scientific publications; and college and university titles. Overall industry growth is expected to continue as more publishers discover the cost and efficiency advantages of digital printing. NEXPRESS production systems are specifically engineered to support these applications, thanks to high-speed throughput, advanced raster image processing (RIP) architectures, and a streamlined workflow.
According to Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology and a leading publishing industry expert,
digitally printed books will represent one-third of all books printed within five years. "Digitally printed books are the future of book publishing," said Romano. "Every category is ripe for digital printing, and we will see many more titles in short runs rather than fewer titles in very long runs. Big publishers will not drive the market–the individual will. Instead of 15 minutes of fame, all of us will have one book printed."
The reasons behind this trend to digital book publishing include:
- Increasing demand for backlist and out-of-print books–with online booksellers exerting pricing pressure on conventional retailers;
- Continuing, rapid growth of publishable material–more authors and specialized titles are creating a demand for shorter-length print runs;
- Increasing numbers of returns to publishers due to the impact of online sales–publishers typically allow retailers to return unsold books for credit up to a year from purchase;
- Growing use of digital technologies– allowing publishers to see the advantages of creating a file in one format that can be used for offset presses, digital printers and online;
- Increasing cost of educational materials, especially at the university level–forcing curriculum developers to customize texts and course packs specifically for their use.
NexPress Customers Set the Pace in Digital Book Production
As the digital book publishing industry continues its expansion, NexPress customers in the U.S. and abroad are among the leading innovators driving this market. Most have multiple presses, both black-and-white and color, and many have implemented web-to-print ordering capabilities to optimize convenience and throughput. The following customers exemplify the use of NEXPRESS technology to create new and unique publishing applications that are produced with the high quality and fast turnaround the market requires.
Ken Cook Company
Ken Cook Co. has been a full-service provider of product and training document publishing services for more than 60 years. They specialize in all aspects of document production, from planning and design to printing and fulfillment, and produce hundreds of millions of pages each year at their Milwaukee, Wis. facility. The majority of this work is produced on KODAK DIGIMASTER systems.
"The key for us is quality and efficiency," says Kenneth J. Cook, president, Ken Cook Co. "We’ve developed a highly automated web-to-print capability that enables customers to print any book from a library of thousands of titles. They order it tonight and it’s printed, bound and shipped tomorrow. Our DIGIMASTER systems are incredibly fast, and the quality of halftones, text, and graphics is exceptional. We’re getting the productivity, quality, versatility and uptime necessary to meet our high standards – and those of our customers. We couldn’t have accomplished this with any other equipment."
Signature Printing
Signature Printing, an award-winning digital print shop headquartered in Chantilly, Va., offers a wide gamut of printing services, including prepress, traditional offset, and digital printing, along with a full range of bindery services. Signature relies on four DIGIMASTER 9110 print systems and a NEXPRESS 2100 digital production color press to produce high-quality books, training manuals and event materials in short runs for corporate and government markets. With more than five million pages printed each month, Signature’s business is thriving– and one reason is cost effectiveness.
"My previous equipment cost me much more per month to operate compared to the NEXPRESS equipment," says Scott Watkins, president and founder. "The DIGIMASTER system image quality compares to offset, and I can produce short runs of ready-to-finish books with the fastest turnaround time anywhere."
Butler & Tanner
Founded as a book printing company in 1850, Butler & Tanner Ltd. has evolved into one of the largest and most innovative print communications companies in the U.K. The company produces 30 million books a year, relying on KODAK DIGIMASTER systems and two NEXPRESS 2100 digital production color presses for more than half a million books produced digitally.
Tim Taylor, group marketing director, says: "This is a very promising market where we see a pent-up demand for personalized publishing of books and games. Our online `Dream Books’ publications allow soccer fans to order a customized book in which they’re seen playing for their favorite team. The NEXPRESS 2100 press allows us to fulfill orders within a few minutes of receiving the order and we get perfect results every time. The horizon is wide open, and the capabilities of our NEXPRESS systems offer us many possibilities."
About NexPress Solutions, Inc.
NexPress Solutions, Inc., is part of Eastman Kodak Company’s Graphic Communications Group. Headquartered in Rochester NY, NexPress designs, develop and markets advanced solutions and consumables for digital color and black-and-white print production. Its award-winning portfolio includes the KODAK NEXPRESS 2100 digital production color press and the family of KODAK DIGIMASTER digital production systems for high-volume monochrome printing. For more information, visit www.nexpress.com.
This article was last modified on March 12, 2005
This article was first published on March 12, 2005
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