NexPress Solutions is highlighting strong growth in the digital book publishing market, driven by innovative and successful users of the company’s digital printing systems.

There are numerous applications being produced in the digital book publishing market, many in short or individual one-off runs.  These include trade books of varying types, such as galleys, large-print editions, and foreign language versions; textbooks for all grade levels; professional and scientific publications; and college and university titles.

Overall industry growth is expected to continue as more publishers discover the cost and efficiency advantages of digital printing.  NEXPRESS production systems are specifically engineered to support these applications, thanks to high-speed throughput, advanced raster image processing (RIP) architectures, and a streamlined workflow.

According to Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology and a leading publishing industry expert, digitally printed books will represent one-third of all books printed within five years. “Digitally printed books are the future of book publishing,” said Romano. “Every category is ripe for digital printing, and we will see many more titles in short runs rather than fewer titles in very long runs. Big publishers will not drive the market—the individual will.  Instead of 15 minutes of fame, all of us will have one book printed.”

Ken Cook Co. has been a full-service provider of product and training document publishing services for more than 60 years.  They specialize in all aspects of document production, from planning and design to printing and fulfillment, and produce hundreds of millions of pages each year at their Milwaukee, Wis. facility. The majority of this work is produced on KODAK DIGIMASTER systems.

“The key for us is quality and efficiency,” says Kenneth J. Cook, president, Ken Cook Co.  "We’ve developed a highly automated web-to-print capability that enables customers to print any book from a library of thousands of titles.  They order it tonight and it’s printed, bound and shipped tomorrow.  Our DIGIMASTER systems are incredibly fast, and the quality of halftones, text, and graphics is exceptional.  We’re getting the productivity, quality, versatility and uptime necessary to meet our high standards – and those of our customers.  We couldn’t have accomplished this with any other equipment.”

Signature Printing, an award-winning digital print shop headquartered in Chantilly, Va., offers a wide gamut of printing services, including prepress, traditional offset, and digital printing, along with a full range of bindery services.  Signature relies on four DIGIMASTER 9110 print systems and a NEXPRESS 2100 digital production color press to produce high-quality books, training manuals and event materials in short runs for corporate and government markets.  With more than five million pages printed each month, Signature’s business is thriving— and one reason is cost effectiveness.

“My previous equipment cost me much more per month to operate compared to the NEXPRESS equipment,” says Scott Watkins, president and founder.  “The DIGIMASTER system image quality compares to offset, and I can produce short runs of ready-to-finish books with the fastest turnaround time anywhere.”

Founded as a book printing company in 1850, Butler & Tanner Ltd. has evolved into one of the largest and most innovative print communications companies in the U.K.  The company produces 30 million books a year, relying on KODAK DIGIMASTER systems and two NEXPRESS 2100 digital production color presses for more than half a million books produced digitally.

Tim Taylor, group marketing director, says: “This is a very promising market where we see a pent-up demand for personalized publishing of books and games.  Our online ‘Dream Books’ publications allow soccer fans to order a customized book in which they’re seen playing for their favorite team.  The NEXPRESS 2100 press allows us to fulfill orders within a few minutes of receiving the order and we get perfect results every time.  The horizon is wide open, and the capabilities of our NEXPRESS systems offer us many possibilities.”