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18 Q U I C K P R I N T I N G / M a y 2 0 1 4 w w w. M y P R I N T R e s o u r c e . c o m "There are so many equipment choices out there, [and] finding the right partner is critical to help you grow." Working with Publishers A second strategy in enter- ing the on-demand book field is to offer book publishers an intermediary service. So said Nick Clements, global publishing seg- ment expert with HP Indigo. Say a publisher already has sold 2,000 copies of the first edi- tion, and has a sales forecast for 300 or 400 more copies. But the publisher's minimum print run is 1,000 copies. The print provider serving the on- demand book market could produce those additional copies. The publisher's cost would be higher, but the sale of addi- tional books would mean incremental revenue for the publisher because the PSP is enabling the publisher to sell 300 copies of a book that otherwise would be out of print. However, serving this market will require a bit more of an upfront outlay. "You need to recognize there will be a capital investment," Clements explained. "You need the software for job handling, preflighting, prepress, and imposition. You need the digital press, digital finishing equipment, and all the fulfillment sys- tems, because you need to be able to deliver those books either to the retailer or to the customer. It's a fairly complex and com- prehensive system." One way around making a large upfront capital expenditure is to approach the market with baby steps. Find customers who want to produce books in very, very short runs, which will allow you to invest on a limited basis. "Then you can start automat- ing your links to those publishers one by one, with the capital investment funded by revenues coming in on those first orders," Clements said. As for necessary equipment, Clements recommended an HP Indigo digital press, along with the finishing equipment needed to cut the sheets and stack the book blocks that are ready for binding. Another investment is in the casing end, where the pages and cover are put together to create a book. In addition, "you need to invest in the front-end software system that will allow you to automate the job order," he shared. "You need to automate that whole order and entry process where you take in orders and process those orders in a cost-effective fashion. Each one of these available options is scalable. The HP Indigo press is scalable. Investing in faster, more efficient presses and corresponding finish- ing equipment are steps to take once the cash flow exists." Along the way to that ongo- ing cash flow, you should pur- sue every means to cut your operation's expenses through stan- dardization, added Clements. For instance, it's recommended that you try standardizing around three or four substrates, or specific formats that fit nicely on the press. "You need to have a conversation with the publisher that goes, 'You have to help me help you. You need to allow some compromises.' This is a conversation that leads to some standardization, where everyone gives a little," he said. Upselling e-Books? What about offering e-books, as well as the printed versions? According to Conley, if you offer e-book services, you must have in-house talent to create the e-books, or outsource it. "It's not a service you will add right away," he said. "You can find a service provider who will do it for you. And you know what? You can put an upcharge on it. If [customers] want it bad enough, they will pay." Summing up, Hess said, "This is a growth area. Publishers want quicker turnaround and less waste and inventory. Print on demand is the solution." Conley feels on-demand books offer the promise of sizable growth. "'On-demand' is not a book, it's a manufacturing capa- bility," he explained. "The ultimate goal is that a customer first purchases a book, and then it is printed." ◗◗ I n the bindery, On Demand Machinery's Book-Trac barcode technology is matching book blocks with covers. ODM has partnered with Productive Solutions (Data Integrity Control Systems) and combined their expertise to expand the Book- Trac family of products, creating the ability for customizable automation controls and production reporting capabilities to all of its book manufacturing clients. The ODM Book-Trac solution now is available for the Super Sticker. It can be ordered with a new Super Sticker or retroftted in the feld to existing ODM automated casing-in systems. Here's a look at how it works: First, the cover spine adjustment is automated with the ODM Super Sticker Auto-Sizing Option. This inline reading system allows users to group similar book layout siz- es (all 8x8's or 6x9's, for example) into one production session. By reading the Book ID Barcode, ODM is able to instruct the Super Sticker to automatically adjust for the next book's spine thickness. This all occurs before the book block carriage has been reposi- tioned, so throughput increases. Secondly, the cover is matched to the manually loaded book block. If they match, the process continues. If they do not match, the Super Sticker is unable to proceed and visually warns the operator of the mismatch. The marriage of capabilities delivers near real-time reporting directly from the production floor. Each book (green represents a "good cover" while red is "bad") is recorded and time stamped in an SQL type format table. Because the process is stopped before the book is bound, this virtually eliminates scrap and rework, thereby increasing production throughput as well. Production reporting can be recorded on the supplied host PC, or "pushed/pulled" to a local SQL Server. It is fully compatible with Productive Solutions' STRATUS Job Tracking & Reporting System. Finishing Books On Demand QP_16-18_0514_OnDemand Books.indd 18 4/15/14 4:55 PM