...Demand has shifted towards a fast supply of
up to date information, created by end users of
publishers' products such as libraries and other
public institutions, and authors of books and
their consumers. However, the established chain
of author-publisher-printer-distributor-wholesaler-bookseller-consumer
is far too slow to satisfy authors' demands to
make and keep their work available, or the demand
of consumers to receive the most up-to-date content
whenever they wish to buy it, and at an affordable
rate.
Print on demand technology fulfils the requirements
of both author and consumer: On demand titles
never go into stock - reducing hard copy storage
and inventory, carrying and recycling costs; it
enables on-demand reprinting - titles no longer
fall 'out of print'.
POD services can be used to produce small, pilot
runs of a book as a marketing tool or test of
potential demand. The flexibility of the on demand
model provides sensible economics for short runs
that traditional dot to plate printing cannot
match: Customers receive exactly the number of
copies needed at any given time; reprints are
available, as often as desired, in whatever numbers
needed.
Publish and print on demand is particularly suited
to: Businesses who are in the process of building
a customer base and do not wish to invest large
amounts of capital in speculative print runs;
Academic projects such as conference proceedings
or scholarly monographs, which may generate slow
but steady long-term demand; Small publishers
who need to control printing, inventory and warehousing
costs; Self-publishing authors who need to bring
titles to print with minimal resources, recover
their initial investment quickly and reprint small
quantities of books, as required; Authors, marketers,
small business owners and web publishers wanting
more assistance with typesetting, repro and pre-press
work.
US pundit Sam Vaknin proclaimed
in 2005 that: In the foreseeable future, 'Book
ATMs' placed in remote corners of the Earth would
be able to print on demand any book selected from
publishing backlists and front lists comprising
millions of titles. Vanity publishers and self-publishing
allows authors to overcome editorial barriers
to entry and to bring out their work affordably.
The internet is the ideal e-book
distribution channel. It threatens the monopoly
of the big publishing houses. Ironically, early
publishers rebelled against the knowledge monopoly
of the Church. The industry flourished in non-theocratic
societies and languished where religion reigned.
With e-books content is once
more a collaborative effort. Knowledge, information
and narratives were once generated through the
interactions of authors and audience. Interactive
e-books, multimedia, discussion lists and collective
authorship efforts restore this great tradition.
Authors are again the publishers
and marketers of their work as they have been
well into the 19th Century when many books debuted
as serialised pamphlets in daily newspapers or
magazines or were sold by subscription. Serialised
e-books hark back to these intervallic traditions.
E-books may also help restore the balance between
best sellers and midlist authors and between fiction
and non-fiction. E-books are best suited to cater
to neglected niche markets.
E-books, cheaper than even
paperbacks, are the quintessential "literature
for the millions".
