Apr. 3, 2006—PrintMedia/BookTech, held at the Hilton New York, March 20–22, drew a large crowd of exhibitors and publishers looking for information about the latest trends in the magazine and book publishing segment. The expo, which was open Tuesday and Wednesday, featured nearly 100 exhibitors, offering a wide range of goods and services, from book covers to presses to finishing work.

A New Market
One of the themes that emerged was the concept of one-off books, especially in the education segment. Several vendors noted that interest for that type of service has been growing, and at the show this year they were starting to move toward an active interest in the process. Universities are starting to look at the possibilities of combining texts to produce one book a class can use, instead of teaching from several, for instance. Additionally, professors are interested in creating books that include their own notes. While this market is still mostly in the concept stage, it is a huge opportunity for printers who have or plan to purchase a digital press.

This is the type of job a digital machine can handle cost-effectively. Further, if print shops do not begin to offer this type of service in the next few years, it is likely that universities will start to bring the capabilities in-house. It is important to note that other than a few exceptions, most educational institutions are currently not looking to bring the bulk of their print work in-house.

Competition from Clients
One market segment seeking to move work away from the print shop is book publishers. They are looking to save money by bringing color correction and proofing in-house, which means a shop can charge less for a job and profit margins will suffer.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel. While printers may lose market share on the prepress side of the equation, several seminar speakers advised publishers to educate themselves and their clients by using printers as a resource.

PrintMedia/BookTech served as a wake-up call for commercial printers. To not only stay in business, but to grow, shops must look for opportunities outside of ink-on-paper.

This article ran as a sidebar to Don Monkerud's piece, Digital Book Printing Has a Bright Future.