Archive for February, 2012

The Reinvention of the Book Publishing Industry – What’s the Next Chapter?

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Marco Boer, Vice President, I.T. Strategies

The book publishing marketing is revolutionizing.  Electronic technologies today are helping to expand the popularity of e-publishing applications while encouraging the printed book markets to become more creative.  There are a number of technologies out there that can enable this creativity including inkjet solutions, data analytics, precision marketing capabilities and many more.  So when I began to think of the focus of my presentation at The Next Chapter event, presented by Ricoh, this is where my train of thought led me.

During my session at next week’s event, I will debate the following points and share insight and research I’ve gathered about them through my work with I.T. Strategies. These points include:

-       Electronic technologies jump on the merry-go-around.  What will succeed?  Will it be all Apple, all the time or will others make an impact on this e-publishing space?
-        What exactly is the value of the stakeholders in the publishing/printing/distribution chain?  How will these values shift as the market transitions to welcome in more electronically published documents?
-        A chain reaction: college texts; trade books, K-12. Which will lead the way? Will electronic be more relevant to a specific group over others that will more slowly transition from printed books?
-       Digital print: the savior of book printers?  Since its early days, digital print has steadily grown in market share – at a slower pace that originally expected.  Will the book publishing market be the key to its ongoing gains?  What will help it expand market share?  What challenges could it face?
-       Electrophotography vs. Inkjet digital printing technology: what are the technical trade-offs?  Which is more suited for book printing? Are there certain applications more optimal for one or the other?
-       Inkjet printer owner experiences: I’ve spoken with many through my research and I will share their insight to my audience. I’ll highlight what we can do to better understand their needs; share what they feel is working and what isn’t; and provide thoughts on what the next hit applications will be

Simply, I am looking forward to this Next Chapter event as it will be the first of its kind to really hone in on the next-generation possibilities of the publishing space.  There’s a lot of talk out there about the benefits of printed vs digital – and this forum will provide us with one place for all relevant players to discuss them all.

Hope to see you there!

Best,

Marco Boer

Marco Boer is recognized as a trusted consultant to the digital printing industry.  Mr. Boer is Vice President of I.T. Strategies where he focuses on product planning for graphics, transaction and publishing printers and emerging industrial digital printing applications such as label printing, packaging printing and other non-document applications.

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The Next Chapter – Everything I Look For In an Event!

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Jim Lichtenberg, founder of Lightspeed, LLC, sheds light on the upcoming book publishing event and his excitement to ‘turn the next page’

Jim Lichtenberg, founder of Lightspeed, LLC


There is a lot of excitement surrounding the next generation of publishing and I’m thrilled to consider myself a part of it. Between industry demands shifting to an on-demand model and customer needs expanding to support new devices, the publishing market has entered a time of sustained evolutio n.  So when Ricoh invited me to speak at “The Next Chapter” event, it’s first-ever, books-driven event, I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. This gathering aims to bridge the gap between publishers and book manufacturers by addressing the challenging business issues facing the market – I knew this was right up my alley.

Perhaps only a few years ago, there was still debate about the anticipated transformation of the entire publishing industry – especially around its speed, direction, and extent. But today, that debate is over. Well, the transformation is here and it’s radical. Yet, we’re still finalizing the details, especially about how, where and when we will reach a new plateau of stability – establishing a new standard different from the 250 year old structure.   Clarity about this is a long ways off.

What we do know is that publishing continues to grow in popularity as digital product.  There’s a collapse of retail for physical product, and there’s a trend toward shorter runs and less to zero inventory. Print on demand and, the equally important, new digital print engines have also garnered tremendous movement and development.

This development and resurgence of technology isn’t the only issue. Rather, companies have to consider the transformation of the business model and the pressures facing the entire supply chain. Printers included, the new business model requires adjustments to allow businesses processes to accelerate to meet new forms of customer demand.

One of the most important ways to address these new demands is through automation. Automation it is the key to creating a sustainable business in this new environment.  Even more importantly, the key to automation is understanding and evolving the workflow, ideally from author to reader, but at least and at first across the printing industry.

During my presentation at the Next Chapter I will highlight how transformation in workflow is now mission-critical, or addressing how a change in business model puts industries in peril. This event will undoubtedly explore the challenges and possible solutions in print, e-delivery and workflow.

All in all, I am very excited for the opportunity to discuss these issues, with a range of players in publishing, because it is only through dialogue across the supply chain that sustainable and sustaining solutions can be found.

What do you think?  Are you joining us to hear more about The Next Chapter?

Best,

Jim

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