At the London Book Fair, PrintWeek asks book production professionals about their evolving print requirements.

Are Publishers and/or  Authors producing shorter run books, more frequently?

Absolutely, yes.  There’s a push for short runs and faster runs. This is where a smaller publishing company come in. Sometimes we only need 20 copies. We would rather have tight stock where we know we can replenish it. Of course, we will plan and aim to sell ‘x’ number of copies based on expectations and the level of promotion for any particular title, but we don’t just print books and hope to sell them.
 
In the case of paperbacks, we are producing a lot of short run books. For short-runs the numbers we are printing is changing all the time. It was up to 500 last year, it’s 900 now, next year it will probably be 2,500. Reprint quantities are reducing while the amount of orders is increasing. We’ve been doing short-run production for about three years now. Titles that might have been out of print are still in stock. Our print quantities are shorter than the page extents.
 
Do you require your print suppliers to provide additional services?

There is greater call for our suppliers or publishing companies to help with fulfillment. This might mean making direct deliveries and occasionally we require storage.

Often we need the printer/publisher to  fulfill the order and deliver books to the warehouse, ensuring they don’t go out of stock.

If your publishing company needs help with short run book printing, or additional services, contact The Country Press, Inc.

Excerpts from Print Week