[China Print 2013]: “By 2020, 95% of all the book titles will be printed digitally,” predicted James Kirby Best

James described the complex and slow process of book being published and delivered from writer to the author with many intermediates such as publisher, printer, distributer, retailer etc. He said, “Tomorrow, there will emerge an intermediary centralised mass distribution company which will make this process easy and much simpler.”

“Anybody can order any book from anywhere and the computer system will figure out whether the book is available closely or it needs to be printed locally,” said ???. Thus the concept of book-on-demand becomes more viable and emerges a new concept of one off printing which refers to the capability of printing one copy profitably.

He observed that the traditional model of publishing is shifting from speculative inventory to the one increasingly based on micro or virtual inventory. Thus, number of book titles published is surging rapidly whereas the shelf life of a book in the market is reducing. ??? said, “This results in short print runs leading to a shift towards digital printing from offset.”

He also focused on various issues faced by the publisher which include the discoverability of books in the market, keeping content creators happy, delivering content instantly and reducing costs. “Going digital is the solution,” says James. He shared 16 reasons why digital printing of books needs to be implemented.

1.   Never miss a sale

2.   Keep titles alive

3.   Bring back ‘out of print’ titles

4.   Minimal risk

5.   No inventory

6.   Eliminate warehouse cost

7.   Reduce cash tied up in inventory

8.   Print any amount

9.   Already digital when created

10.  Global sales

11.  Other formats – large prints

12.   Environment

13.  Availability

14.  Managing inventory costs

15.  Ability to test the market

16.  Ability to automate workflow

For this, according to James, one requires access to content, systems to eliminate costs and time, best IT team possible, and access to global network.

In his concluding comments he said, “Currently we are looking at some of the trends in industry such as the reading habits of children and young adults, the price of reading devices, global rights and government intervention.”