How To Contract the New Opportunities for Print Buyers

A little RE what should be included in publishers’ contracts in today’s world of multi-platform publishing.

You see, as I always suspected and posted in previous posts, the growing popularity of digital publishing would produce a tail long enough to also pull print publishing into a new more streamlined, cost-effective era that would synergize its popularity with that of digital…

You can get print fast and cheap today…If you know what to include in the print bid contract.

Interesting stuff!

Details by Bert N. Langford in FOLIO magazine through Writers Welcome Blog:

Multi-Platform Publishing Offers New Opportunities for “Print” Buyers

If you have not bid out your work to the printing marketplace in the past three or more years, you are likely missing out on a great opportunity, not only in your print deal, but also the growing synergies between digital and print that printers now offer.

Within the following I’ll offer some tips (but not all, due to limited space) on how to conduct printing negotiations in a manner that maximizes your company’s benefits and opportunities.

Your first step is to form an aggressive yet adaptable strategy for how to conduct negotiations and track the comparative results. In all cases, create the comparative

printing analysis based on the same issue makeup found on your printer’s invoice (and reported by the same fiscal month) for the most recently completed fiscal year.

Then below the line, adjust the basic pricing results to consider all costs of doing business with each printer that can occur over the contract term.

This includes each printer’s ROI-proven digital/print Value-Added Program (VAP) of interest to your company. Consider each as another “adjustment” category (as the printer’s pricing is offset by savings/income). But contractually require that your company retains ownership of the data and can move to another printer later, without losing the program’s benefits.

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Despite E-Book Popularity, Traditional U.S. Print Title Output Increases

Traditional Print Publishing is Not Going Anywhere...Just Yet

I have touched on this subject several times in the past…Who the hell said print is dead? Because the figures damn sure don’t back up that postulation!

 

This even fresher evidence comes by way of the Bowker bibliographic information database as reported via press release in the Sacramento Bee:

 

Print Isn’t Dead, Says Bowker’s Annual Book Production Report

Traditional publishing grows a modest 5%, while POD sends print total over a record 3 million 

Bowker, the global leader in bibliographic information, released its annual report on U.S. print book publishing, compiled from its Books In Print® database.  Based on preliminary figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that despite the popularity of e-books, traditional U.S. print title output in 2010 increased 5%.  Output of new titles and editions increased from 302,410 in 2009 to a projected 316,480 in 2010. The 5% increase comes on the heels of a 4% increase the previous year based on the final 2008-2009 figures.

The non-traditional sector continues its explosive growth, increasing 169% from 1,033,065 in 2009 to an amazing 2,776,260 in 2010.  These books, marketed almost exclusively on the web, are largely on-demand titles produced by reprint houses specializing in public domain works and by presses catering to self-publishers and “micro-niche” publications.   

“These publication figures from both traditional and non-traditional publishers confirm that print production is alive and well, and can still be supported in this highly dynamic marketplace,” said Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services for Bowker. “Especially on the non-traditional side, we’re seeing the reprint business’ internet-driven business model expand dramatically. It will be interesting to see in the coming years how well it succeeds in the long-term.”

In traditional publishing, SciTech continues to drive growth

Continuing the trend seen last year, science and technology were the leading areas of growth as consumers purchased information for business and careers.  Major increases were seen in Computers (51% over 2009, with an average five-year growth rate of 8%), Science (37% over 2009, with an average five-year growth rate of 12%) and Technology (35% over 2009, with an average five-year growth rate of 11%).  Categories subject to discretionary spending were the top losers, perhaps still feeling the effects of a sluggish economy.  Literature (-29%), Poetry (-15%), History (-12), and Biography (-12%) all recorded double digit declines.  Fiction, which is still the largest category (nearly 15% of the total) dropped 3% from 2009, continuing a decline from peak output in 2007.  Religion (-4%) fell to 4th place behind Science among the largest categories.

Top book production categories:

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Self-Publishing a Printed Book–A New Niche?

When you hear of self-publishing today you mostly think of “digital”…Even though most self-publishers offer both digital and POD (print on demand).

However, Blurb, a popular self-publisher in San Francisco who delivers first-quality printed products, has set up a “pop-up” store in SoHo, New York to teach the process of developing a first-class printed book for those who want a physical product…a product allowing them to print their own books easily and relatively cheaply, without the help of a literary agent or trade publisher.

Julie Bosman, New York Times, reports:

Self-Publisher Comes to SoHo

To make a book using an online publishing service, you create the design, add text or images, pay the fee, and in a few days or a week, the finished product is delivered to your door.

But there is the nagging question: Will it look homemade?

Blurb, a popular self-publishing company based in San Francisco, has tried to assuage that fear by planting a pop-up store, its first, in the middle of SoHo in New York. It will be there until the end of the month, complete with displays of finished books created by real customers.

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