Over recent years, pressure on printed book sales has been tough with the advancement of digital mediums combined with changing habits.
As always though, the print industry, when it is under pressure, reacts and innovates! Combining both digital methods and traditional printing runs, digital book printing machinery has taken huge strides forward.
A very cost-effective way to produce books without sacrificing quality
Fast forward just a couple of years, and digital book printing is now a very cost-effective way to produce books to the same level of quality that publishers have been used to from longer run presses previously. Long gone are the days when digital meant sub-standard. Paper stocks are now the same – as is the quality, feel and finish – which is great news if your print runs are lower; if you want to test a book in the market before a longer run or if you just want to hold a minimum stock level.
So what does this mean and how can you benefit?
Technology continues to march on, and now, not only can we get great unit costs for short-run book print but we can also really add value to a standard book print run without destroying the unit cost.
Here are some cost-effective options that you can now add to digital book printing to deliver more impact:
1. Colour sections
Previously, adding colour at all wasn’t cheap. Now, with 4-colour digital units and efficient finishing machines, adding colour sections has never been easier (or more cost-effective). When a mono book costs £1 to £2 to print, why would you spend £800 just for an 8pp colour section? Especially if you only wanted 100 books.
Now the colour can be done at an equally effective unit cost, so very much worth a look!
2. Shorter runs
With set up still playing a small part of the cost, it used to be that the lower the run-length the more the unit cost. Now, however, with digital printing, as low as 50 off is very much cost-effective. This is ideal for storing at home, testing your book in the market or just getting some books ready for an event.
3. Cover finish
Making your book stand out has always been an important factor. With longer run lengths, adding a foil or special finish, costs could be amortised over the total quantity. With shorter runs though, this was just not effective. With these same new technologies, however, some have introduced cover finishes like foiling to shorter run lengths, giving more options than ever before!
4. Upgrade to Hardback
Sometimes a book deserves that luxury. We all love the feel of a hardback book and I don’t know about you, but some that I own, just stay on my shelves as my pride and joy. Again, shorter runs, even with full colour, using the right equipment is much more cost-effective per unit than previously. We have just printed 100 A5 colour diaries for a client to hand out to her premium accounts. They said it was cheaper than buying standard pre-printed diaries direct from a stationer!
With new machines coming online all of the time, the limitations may not be what you have come to know or what you may expect when it comes to your print. So, reach out; let’s get adventurous and see what we can do.
If you have any projects that you would like to talk through. Please feel free to get in touch – [email protected]
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Need more help from us?
- See our video about buying effectively
- Take a look at the range of book print we cover here.
